Phil Ivey Battles Mercier In $425K Poker Hand on TV

This  hand generated quite a buzz after being aired on TV show High Stakes Poker in March 2010. People love Phil Ivey - arguably the greatest poker player today. Jason Mercier is a fresh and likable face in tournament poker who already won two bracelets. Two poker pros had a chance to show off their skills in $400/$800 No Limit Holdem cash game setup on TV. The lineup of the table included many top US poker pros. At the bottom of this post there is a link to the video. I highly recommend it.

A Squeeze Gone Awry

In this hand Gus Hansen opened with a raise to $4200 with Q6o. A very typical Hansen’s steal attempt. A signature move that, according to Gus, helped him win many world class poker tournaments such as Aussie Millions in 2007, which vividly described in his book Every Hand Revealed. Eli Elezra calls and so does Phil Ivey with 99. Jason Mercier acting in small blind position goes for a squeeze play.

A squeeze play is textbook no limit holdem move where initial raiser get trapped between and  a re-raise and live caller behind who can raise more. The caller(s) are squeezed between two raisers. The initial raiser is also squeezed because they have to fear a third raise behind them making them fold their hand a high percentage of the time.

Mercier raises to $22.1K with A♥4♥ significantly overbetting the pot. Hansen and Elezra fold but Ivey decides to stick around with 99 by calling the re-raise. Flop comes 7♥ 3♦ 2♠ giving Mercier a straight draw and backdoor flush draw and an overcard. Regardless of the cards Mercier would have likely continued to keep pressure on Phil Ivey. In fact, Mercier bets $28.7K and Ivey raises to $50K. After a very short pause Mercier raises $110K more and is allin. Ivey’s face shows he is uneasy. However after a bit of deliberation he comes out with a call. Ivey’s pair of nines holds up and he wins $425K pot, knocking Mercier out of the game (Mercier chose not to re-buy).

High Stakes Poker is Tough

After exiting the stage Mercier gave a quick interview where he hinted that Ivey played badly. Later that week he gave another interview to pokerlistings.com  where he explained his thinking through the hand and sort of apologized for his on-the-spot unfriendly remarks toward Ivey. We can forgive Jason  for momentary loss of composure. Imagine yourself, in your twenties, walking away after losing your $200K buy-in. It is tough. That is why most of us never play high stakes no limit poker. However, it is not all grim for Jason. I do not know how much TV exposure is worth to Jason, maybe not full $200K, but it is certainly is worth something.

Who Played Better Poker?

As I mentioned earlier this hand was discussed widely on the Net. Essentially all comments could be divided into three categories:

• Category 1: Ivey’s fanboys (and girls) - No discussion of the technical merits of the hand. Ivey won because he is Phil Ivey. His poker prowess was confirmed once again. Period.
• Category 2: Many poker players noticed that Mercier actually played this hand in a very straightforward “aggressive” style. His play might even be described as pretty orthodox no limit tournament poker, if such word can be applied to poker at all. He was not scared to put $225K behind one hand projecting maximum pressure on his opponent. Indeed he would have played the same way if holding QQ. It was a gutsy, forceful, well executed move. Mercier later said in his interview that he would play the same way again. If I had to say something and I am nitpicking here: He might have done better by choosing a somewhat stronger hand though. Also he overbet the pot on the flop indicating he would be happy to win the hand before seeing the flop.
• Category 3: Ivey’s poker play generated the most controversial and insightful comments. Indeed many, including Mercier, said it is not a profitable play to call an allin with 99 after Mercier consistently represented a premium pair.

I am going to give Phil Ivey credit for a more nuanced play. A play which incorporated much more context and higher level thinking. Ivey knew that Mercier is capable of a squeeze play. He also knew that Jason is an aggressive world class poker player who did not make waves in the previous two days of the TV Show. Thus he knew Mercier was itching for action. In other words Ivey correctly discounted allin move as “I have Aces or Kings” statement by Mercier. Mercier’s overbet preflop just might indicate he was not holding a monster. It seems like Ivey studied other players. All together those little clues allowed him to come up with a decision that his pair of nines was just too good to muck.

Watch - Phil Ivey vs Jason Marcier