Obrestad vs Tabatabai
World Series of Poker Europe, Main Event, 2007. The final hand.
Heads-up for a bracelet and a record
The hand
John Tabatabai and Annette Obrestad. Blinds 15K / 30K, ante 4K.
Before the flop
- Blinds 15K and 30K. Tabatabai has the button.
- Tabatabai calls.
Obrestad raises to 100K. Why
Obrestad. Heads-up, a pair of sevens is well above an average hand. A raise builds the pot while it is likely ahead.
- Tabatabai calls.
The flop
Obrestad bets 250K. Why
Obrestad. A set on a board this connected wants money in now: straights and flushes can arrive on any turn, and a bet gets called by pairs and draws.
- Tabatabai raises to 750K.
Obrestad moves all in. Why
Obrestad. Top set is ahead of everything but a made straight. Moving all in now charges every draw and pair the full price.
- Tabatabai calls all in. The famous decision
The turn
The river
The flop
The famous decision
Tabatabai. Two pair is a big hand heads-up, and a player who leads and then moves in could hold an overpair or a draw. But a lead and an all in on seven-six-five also mean sets and straights, and two pair loses to both.
Obrestad had top set. The turn left Tabatabai drawing dead.
The result
Obrestad wins at the showdown with Three of a kind, Sevens.
- Tabatabai6♦5♠
- Obrestad7♥7♠Wins
Why it is famous
Annette Obrestad won the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event and £1,000,000 with a set of sevens against John Tabatabai’s two pair, and became the youngest player ever to win a World Series bracelet, as PokerNews reported it. Tabatabai raised her lead on the flop, she moved all in, and he called; the turn left him drawing dead.
What to take from it
When you raise a lead on a connected flop and get moved in on, a set is very often what you face.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The stacks are from Wikipedia only. Tabatabai’s flop raise is to 750,000 in PokerNews’s live report; Wikipedia says he raised an additional 750,000. The size of Obrestad’s all in is not given.
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