Sick Beat Sends Safai to the Rail

Bad beats hurt period. In a €1,000,000 tournament, they must sting like crazy and it's a feeling Bob Safai is going through right now after losing a monster pot to Andrew Pantling to bust the Big One For One Drop.

Elton Tsang lit the touch paper, making it 600,000 to go from under-the-gun, Pantling called from middle position and Safai did likewise from the big blind. The flop was checked through and the fell on the turn. Safai bet big, leading out for 1,500,000, Tsang folded and action was on Pantling. He took a look at his opponent's stack (it looked like Safai had about 9,000,000 total) and then slid out enough orange 500,000 chips to set Safai all-in. He almost beat him into the pot.

Pantling:
Safai:

It was a turned straight against turned two pair, Pantling still had four outs for the win and the river made him a full house. "So sick," said Antonio Esfandiari, who's here coaching Safai. Even Pantling winced as the river card hit the table, it was that kind of beat. A shell shocked Safai wandered away from the table to the bleachers, while Pantling, with a stack of 34,370,000 has almost 25% of the chips in play.