Ted Forrest (born September 24, 1964) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

player, currently residing in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Tournament wins

Forrest won three bracelets at the 1993 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After the mid-1990s, Forrest turned his attention full-time to cash games. He made a triumphant return to the WSOP by winning 2 bracelets at the

2004 World Series of Poker The 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January. Harrah's announced that future WSOP tournaments will be held in a moving circuit of ...

. Since then he has moved his focus from seven card stud to

hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fac ...

with some success, including reaching 5 final tables on the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

and winning a championship on the

Professional Poker Tour The Professional Poker Tour (PPT) was a series of televised poker tournaments, spinning off from the World Poker Tour (WPT) television series. It billed itself as the first professional poker league, and was limited to players who have establishe ...

. Forrest competed in the second season of

Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament The Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament was a series of no limit Texas hold 'em poker tournaments. The first season is available on NTSC DVD. It airs on Fox Sports Net in the United States, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and Ftn in the United K ...

, where he advanced to the quarter-final stage. He did not fare as well in season three, being mathematically eliminated early in the preliminaries. He played in the first two seasons of the GSN series

High Stakes Poker ''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ra ...

. In March 2006, Forrest won the annual

National Heads-Up Poker Championship The National Heads-Up Poker Championship was an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.

, defeating (in order)

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early life ...

, Chad Brown, Ernie Dureck,

Sam Farha Ihsan "Sam" Farha ( ar, إحسان فرحة; born 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2003. He has won three bracelet ...

, Shahram Sheikhan and

Chris Ferguson Christopher Philip Ferguson (born April 11, 1963) is an American professional poker player. He has won six World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ferguson is a ...

to win the $500,000 first prize. Continuing with his history of tournament success, in March 2007 Ted won the Bay 101 Shooting Stars Tournament, outlasting J. J. Liu in the longest heads up duel in

history. For the victory, Forrest collected the first prize of $1,100,000. In June 2014 Ted defeated notable poker player Phil Hellmuth in the final table of the WSOP Razz event, bringing his total number of WSOP bracelets to 6. As of August 7, 2015, his total live tournament winnings exceed $6,200,000. His 31 cashes as the WSOP account for $1,922,990 of those winnings.

Strategy differentiation

Forrest's no-limit Texas hold 'em strategy vastly differs from that of many other established pros who believe that pre- flop one should always

raise Raise may refer to: Music *''Raise!'', the name of a 1981 album by Earth, Wind, and Fire * '' Raise'' (album), the name of a 1991 album by Swervedriver Place names * Raise, Cumbria, England *Raise (Lake District), the name of the 12th highes ...

or fold, Forrest has repeatedly stated and demonstrated in his play, that

limping A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absence ...

, or simply calling a raise, is not a bad play and should be frequently employed.

Andy Beal Showdown

Forrest is well known as a competitive high-stakes gambler. He has been a key part of a consortium of poker players who pooled their money together to play Texas billionaire

Andy Beal Daniel Andrew Beal (born November 29, 1952) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and amateur mathematician. He is a Dallas-based businessman who accumulated wealth in real estate and banking. Born and reared in Lansing, Michigan, Beal ...

in a series of very high limit, heads-up, Texas hold 'em games, with limits ranging anywhere from $20,000/$40,000 to $100,000/$200,000.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Forrest's first three bracelets were stolen. He gave one of the remaining two to his daughter; and has the other locked away. Ted also owns one WSOP championship bracelet that formerly belonged to Hamid Dastmalchi, which he purchased from Dastmalchi after the 1992 World Series of Poker world champion complained that the bracelet wasn't worth what the Binion family claimed. Hamid told him, “They say it’s worth $5,000, but I’d take $1,500 for it” to which Forrest replied "Sold" and tossed him three $500 chips.

Bad check charges

In September 2016, Forrest was charged in the Las Vegas Justice Court with two felonies: drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with the intent to defraud, and theft.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Ted 1964 births Living people American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Poker Tour winners National Heads-Up Poker Championship winners Sportspeople from Syracuse, New York People from the Las Vegas Valley