The Hand I'll Never Forget: Tristan Wade Spikes a Huge River

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Jun 17, 2019 4 min read Last updated Apr 21, 2020

Over time, poker players have a ton of hand histories saved in the vault. Some are meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but others can make or break one's career.

Back in 2011, Tristan Wade played a huge hand against Joe Ebanks with just two tables left in the World Series of Poker $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship. While he did not win this event, Wade talks about his mindset and why it was the biggest moment of his career.

Saved by the River in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship

There were only eight players remaining at the WSOP in the 6-Handed Championship and they were one elimination away from making the unofficial final table of seven players. A ton of heavy hitters were still in the mix, including the likes of Chris Moorman, Bertrand Grospellier, Ben Tollerene, Joe Ebanks and Taylor Paur.

Tollerene imped in on the button, and Ebanks completed from the small blind. Wade was in the big blind and raised to 124,000. Tollerene folded while Ebanks decided to call.

The flop came 9♦3♣2♠ and Ebanks checked. Wade bet 137,000 and Ebanks check-raised to 280,000. Wade moved all in for 591,000 total and Ebanks quickly called.

"Ignore the hindsight and ignore the post-vision and just accept what you did in the moment for why you did it."

When asking Wade about his mindset here, he explained: "I just thought his range was more or less weak here. I thought there was a chance he could maybe have some of those suited wheel aces, or just a bluff in his own right. I just put it in hoping I would get a fold. I got a shrug call. I was definitely not happy about it," laughed Wade.

Wade was at risk with A♣K♦ for ace-king high, in rough shape against Ebanks' A♦9♣ for top pair. The turn changed nothing with the 10♥, but the river was the K♠ to give Wade a pair of kings and a huge double.

"Luckily he didn't turn over a set or anything like that, but he had the second-worst hand I could've seen there. I was in a very bad spot in a pot where I didn't think I would be drawing dead hardly ever. I thought I could still have the best hand even," Wade told PokerNews.

Wade eventually finished in fourth place in the event, collecting what is still his biggest score to date, $292,866.

A Career-Changing Moment

After that huge summer in Las Vegas, Wade won a WSOP bracelet that same year in Cannes, France. He topped a field of 258 entries in the €3,200 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout for €182,048, defeating a worthy opponent in Mike Watson on the way to victory. While it was a huge moment in Wade's career, it wasn't as defining of a moment as the one for him as the one described above.

"Winning the bracelet was really nice too, because that also had a really tough final table, but [the WSOP 6-Handed final table] had to be the toughest," explained Wade.

"It was definitely a lucky spot that changed the course of my poker history," he explained. "That was probably the hardest final table I've been at with all of the accomplished players who were there all the time, especially playing six-handed."

"I was in a very bad spot in a pot where I didn't think I would be drawing dead hardly ever. I thought I could still have the best hand even."

With over $1.7 million in career earnings including a WSOP bracelet, a Circuit Main Event title and a WPT Deepstacks title, Wade still treasures that fourth-place WSOP finish as the best moment so far of his career, and he is yet to best it in terms of cash value.

With the WSOP almost three weeks in, Wade offered some advice for those trying to break through. "Sometimes you're gonna find yourself in a spot that's very difficult where you thought you had the best of it. Or, you thought you could have the best of it, or you had a really good hand and you ran into the worst of it. It's just a really important mindset to not be hard on yourself."

Wade said this is especially true when up against tough competition. "Ignore the hindsight and ignore the post-vision and just accept what you did in the moment for why you did it. It helps when you get lucky, but I made a play that I thought was going to be a winning play, and it turn out to not be."

• Tags Joe Ebanks Tristan Wade World Series of Poker WSOP
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