The State of the Bubble

Niall Farrell went all in from late position and the small blind lamented being just a few people away from the bubble. The small blind hemmed and hawed, leaned back and looked at the clock, looked back at their hand multiple times, and finally someone out of the hand called the clock.

After the countdown, their hand was declared dead and action moved to Nick Pupillo. Before Pupillo in the big blind made his decision, the small blind let it slip that they folded jacks, or so they said.

Pupillo took some time deciding and told Farrell that they thought the best hand and, "ICM is dumb..." Farrell made mention that they would bet on his hand, then backpedaled and said perhaps they had the same hand.

Pupillo, who has three top three finishes this summer and one outright win, ultimately said, "I'm playing to win this thing." and made the call, Farrell was in bad shape.

Nick Pupillo: A♥8♥
Niall Farrell: 8♣9♣

The flop rolled out with a nine and Pupillo found no help on the turn on the river, taking a bad beat on his way out.