Jason Mercier Talks About his Encounter with Phil Ivey on HSP

[TomasJ]

During the past days there has been a lot of conversation concerning the hand Jason Mercier played against Phil Ivey on the sixth season of popular poker TV show High Stakes Poker.

In this hand Mercier went broke against Ivey after losing a $425,000 pot. Blinds were $400/$800, Gus Hansen raised to $4,200 with Q 6, Eli Elezra called with 9s 5s, Ivey called with pocket nines on the button and Mercier decided to raise to $22,100 from the small blind with Ah 4h and only Ivey called.

At an interview with PokerListings, Mercier commented on the hand described above. "I was really expecting to get re-raised or everyone to fold. My image was really tight and I figured that they would put me on a big pair, maybe ace-king, and they really wouldn't want to mess with me at this point," Mercier stated. "When he called, I really felt like he had a middle pair, like fives through tens."
The flop ran 7h 3d 2s and Mercier fired $28,700 and Ivey raised to $78,700. After thinking a little bit Mercier moved all-in for $185,100 and Ivey decided to bet the remaining $106,400. The pot is $425,200 and Mercier asks Ivey to run the hand twice but Ivey says he never does that.

Mercier missed all of his outs and went broke on the show. He mentioned in the interview that he did not expect Ivey to raise. "The thing is, I hadn't really been involved in any big pots, so I felt like he was going to give me credit for an overpair at this point. I was 100 % sure he didn't have a set and I really felt like he was just trying to see where he was at with a pair," Mercier said. "Plus I had an over card, the gutshot and the back-door flush draw."

"I don't think that's the optimal way to play nines against me, but what can I say? He's Phil Ivey. He's one of the best in the world, if not the best in the world. But if I had to play the hand again, I don't think I could do anything else," Mercier states.