Player Profile - Ted Forrest

No discussion of poker greats is complete without a discussion of Ted Forrest. He is, quite simply, one of the best cash game or tournament poker players in the world. Born in 1964 in Syracuse, New York, he now makes his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he participates in the highest stakes poker games in existence.

In contrast to many modern players who gravitate towards Hold em due to its recent surge in popularity, Ted Forrest is a Seven-Card Stud specialist and is widely considered to be one of the best Seven-Card Stud players ever. This skill makes him especially dangerous in the highest limit poker games which are often played “mixed,” that is, each round or hour the type of poker is changed so that specialists in for example, Hold em, do not have an advantage. Ted was a member of “The Corporation,” a group of high stakes poker players organized by Doyle Brunson to play a series of heads-up poker matches with billionaire Andy Beal, matches with millions of dollars changing hands over the course of their run.

Sandwiching his impressive cash game successes are an equally successive slate of tournament performances. He won an unbelievable three World Series of Poker bracelets in 1993, for Seven Card Stud, Omaha Hi Lo, and Seven Card Razz (a form of Seven Card Stud where the worst hand wins). After a few years where he focused on cash game play (but still had no shortage of tournament cashes), Ted struck World Series gold again in 2004, winning bracelets for Seven Card Stud and Hold em. In 2005, Ted went after the World Poker Tour, finishing 4th at the L.A. Poker Classic and 2nd at the Mirage Poker Showdown. Ted has had other successful showings in televised poker, making the quarterfinals of Fox’s Poker Superstars Invitational 2, and winning the second National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ted had over one million dollars in tournament winnings in 2005 alone, and is well on his way to matching that total in 2006.

Like many professional players, Ted’s game was sharpened by his time as a professional dealer. Though he quit so he could return to college, which he never completed, the lessons learned in his dealing days have paid tremendous dividends. Ted’s interests outside of poker include skiing, tennis and not surprisingly, gambling. He is friends with other players on the tour, including Barry Greenstein and John Hennigan. Ted’s gambling interests spread to unusual proposition bets, one of the most famous being a bet with Hennigan that Huck Seed’s brother Lief would not be able to run from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, only sleeping twice, a bet that Ted won.Ted is regarded by most as friendly and pleasant, and is one of the most popular players on the poker tour. He is regarded to have few weaknesses in the poker arena with the possible exception of a tendency to bankroll losing players. Clearly, Ted’s wisest investment is in himself, as he continues to win day after day at the tables with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

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