With the exception of finishing last or in the place before the money starts being awarded, the worst position for a tournament player to finish is the final table bubble.

Similar to the money bubble, the final table bubble is the last position before each player redraws their seat to see where they will sit on the final table. At the World Series of Poker Europe, the final table consists of nine players, therefore tenth position is considered the final table bubble.

The main reason players despise finishing just before the final table is due to the nature of the payout structures for large multi-table tournaments. Of course, players earn more kudos from their peers for final tabling a tournament but it is money that talks for many of the entrants.

As is the case of the World Series of Poker Europe, the prizes awarded to the first few money places is significantly less than the money available for finishing in the top three places. Finishing in 36th at the 2007 WSOPE netted the player £27,150, which although a large amount of money is nothing compared to the £1,000,000 awarded for first place.

Gus Hansen of Demark was the unlucky player who failed to claim his place at the final table at the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe at The Empire casino. As a player who plays to win, Hansen would have been extremely disappointed not to make the final table, as he would have been the favourite to win the entire tournament, the £1,000,000 in prize money and a coveted gold bracelet.

Annette Obrestad opened for a raise on the button, with the weak holding of eight-four offsuit, a raise designed to steal the blinds and antes already in the pot. She was unfortunate though as Matthew McCollough woke up with a pair of kings and duly raised the action by another 144,000 chips.

Hansen, who was seated in the big blind directly to McCollough's left, looked down to find two red queens looking back at him and quickly announced to the table that he was all-in.

Obviously, Obrestad quickly folded but McCollough failed to see her do so and sat patiently for around a minute before being informed by the table's dealer that the action was on him!

McCollough quickly called once prompted, much to the disgust of Hansen who threw his queens onto the felt, realising his hand was 4/1 underdog to the Cowboys of his opponent.

A board of Jh 9h Ad 9s 6c, improved neither player and Hansen was eliminated in tenth position and awarded £61,540 for his troubles. Not bad for four days work.

However, any fan of Gus Hansen, who is aware of his mentality, will know he would have seen this as £1,000,000 lost and not £61,540 won.