The cruelest game

Warning: Contains spoilers.

On this week's "Poker After Dark," four qualifiers (two of whom are actually professional players, but not well known) are taking on Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson, the latter of which was the first one to be eliminated.

In a hand last night, the two shortest remaining stacks belong to Craig Ivey and Steve Bartlett. Each of them has a suited ace and ships it in. Hellmuth looks at 8c-3c and folds:




The first cruelty is that they both flop two pair:



Bartlett is reduced to one out. Only the 8 of hearts can save him now.

So what comes?



His 8s full of aces can now only be topped if Ivey catches one of the two remaining queens, or the sole remaining ace.

So what happens?




If the producers were to stack the deck so as to produce maximum drama and maximum pain for both players, that's how they'd do it.