Forrest on fire as Marchese falters

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 03 November 2010 / Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy of WPT.com

Thomas Marchese will have to wait until WPT Marrakech to get his hands on his first World Poker Tour bracelet after he failed to take advantage of his chip advantage at the final table of the Foxwoods World Poker Finals Main Event yesterday.

Marchese started the day as an overwhelming chip leader with over a million chips more than his nearest rival, and he looked in command of the table up until it was being played three-handed, at which point Lady Luck decided to stop shining down on him and made him run terribly!

It took 40 hands until the first elimination took place, although it was the 39th hand that essentially busted Mohsin Charania. In that hand Keven Stamman moved all-in from middle position with 8c8s and Charania re-shoved from the cut off with 7c7d. The final board ran out Ad-4c-2d-2c-5d and Charania was left with just 30,000 chips! After posting the 5,000 ante the next hand he moved his remaining 25,000 chips into the middle blind (he held 6s3s) and ultimately lost to Marchese's full house on a board reading Ah-7s-5h-Ad-5s.

The next player to exit, Keven Stamman, did not do so for another 30 hands and it was another short-stack on short-stack match-up. With blinds at 25,000/50,000/5,000a Stamman moved all for a total of 580,000 holding AhTh and was unlucky that Dave Inselberg woke up in the big blind with a dominating AdQd. The Qs-Td-4d flop left Stamman drawing very thin and when the turn and river came down 3h and Qh respectively, he headed for the rail in fifth place, worth $128,650.

Half hour later and four became three as Nikolai Yakovenko lost all of his chips despite holding a pair of aces! He elected to raise the minimum from under the gun with his AdAh and found a single caller in the shape of Inselberg sat in the big blind. The Kkc-8s-7s flop saw Inselberg check, Yakovenko bet 50,000 and then go into the tank as Inselberg check-raised to 150,000. After more than a minute of thinking time, Yakovenko announced he was all-in and within a heartbeat, Inselberg called. Yakovenko's bullets may have been a big favourite preflop but Inselberg had flopped two-pair with his Ks8c and was in great shape. The 3s on the turn was no help to Yakovenko and when the 9c showed up on the river it was game over for him and he headed to the cashier's cage to pick up $170,773 and was left to wonder what would have happened if he had made a standard preflop raise.

It was around this point that it all seemed to fall apart for Marchese. First he got his money in good with Big Slick versus Inselberg's ace-nine and lost then a number of other pots did not go his way before he shoved Ah6h right down the throat of Forrest's dominating As9d to leave him with just five big blinds. He somehow fought back from this but on hand 193 he moved all in over the top of Forrest's 275,000 open and looked set to double up as his AcKs had the Kc6h of his opponent covered but a cruel flop of Jd-8c-6s left him drawing to the three remaining aces. None appeared as the turn a river were the Qc and 2d respectively and Marchese's run came to an end with a third place finish worth $211,759.

Going into heads-up Forrest held a big chip lead over his amateur opponent, 5,335,000 to 1,980,000 to be exact and it only took him 10 hands to use this to his advantage. In the final hand Forrest min-raised to 200,000, Inselberg called and both saw a flop reading 9d-8s-5c. Inselberg was first to act and checked but when Forrest bet 250,000, Inselberg immediately check-raised to 600,000. Ten seconds later and Inselberg moved all in, only to be snap called by his opponent. Inselberg turned over 9h6s for top pair and a gutshot straight draw, a pretty powerful hand heads-up but Forrest held QdQh for an even better pair. This improved to a set when the Qs fell on the turn and when the Ac showed its face on the river it was game set and match to Jeff Forrest.

Despite finishing second, Inselberg was ecstatic as he had turned his $250 satellite entry into $325,608, more than double the total amount he has won from his previous nine cashes in major tournaments. Forrest, 22, picked up the $548,752, a WPT bracelet, a Foxwoods trophy and a seat at the $25,500 WPT World Championship. Not bad for a week's worth of work!

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