Mix-Max Episode 2 Highlights: Close Quarters Combat

Topics: Epic Poker League, December Main Event

Great poker players share two qualities: the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and the love of short-handed play. Epic Poker’s Mix-Match Championship, consequently, proved extremely popular with League members. Episode 2 of that event, premiering on Velocity on Friday, February 17 at 10 PM ET, shows the world’s best players in three- and four-handed play. The broadcast features a number of intriguing issues of poker strategy, capable of attracting the interest of casual players yet still confounding to experts.

Ace Versus Ace

It is elementary in short-handed play that you have to play more hands; initial hand-values increase. Any ace is playable and flopping a pair of aces is a powerful hand. Playing an ace short-handed can be complicated. First, how strong do you play your ace before the flop? Second, how do you get paid if you make a pair of aces? Third, if an opponent gives you action, how do you figure out if you’re actually behind, and how do you keep from losing a big pot?

Four hands in Episode 2 involved elements of these questions. Watch the different approaches Michael Mizrachi (twice) and Andrew Lichtenberger employ with strong aces. Watch the degrees to which their opponents, Jason Mercier and Scott Clements (twice), play defense with weaker aces. Finally, you will get to see a situation where Mizrachi and Lichtenberger both have weak aces, and they have Joe Tehan drawing to a flush as well.

Bet Size Matters

How much should you bet? Probably no element of poker strategy is as important to success but so difficult to explain. Bet enough to get an opponent to fold if you don’t have the best hand. Bet as much as an opponent will call if you have the best hand. But don’t give away the identity or strength of your hand by your bet-size. And consider the size of your and your opponent’s stacks, as well as the size of the pot. How do you do all that, especially the aspects that seem inconsistent?

1. Mercier A8 v. Mizrachi AJ

This first hand of Episode 2 involves three bet-size considerations: (a) Jason’s stack size – he starts the hand with 50 BB, so to what degree does that influence his (and Grinder’s) bet sizes? (b) Mercier’s decision to call in the small blind with A-8 instead of raising; and (c) Mizrachi’s river bet (50,000 into a pot of 61,000) and how Jason interprets that and responds.

2. Klodnicki A4 v. Tehan ??

The broadcast picks up this hand after a board of Q348A. There is 199,500 in the pot. Chris bets 45,000 (less than 25%). Joe calls, sees his opponent’s winning two-pair, and criticizes his small bet on the end. From the banter and the pot size, it appears Tehan was ahead before the ace on the river, but listen to Joe and Chris – there’s a little “edge” to their attitudes – and consider whether 45,000 was the right size for the river bet.

3. Mercier Q8 v. Mizrachi 44 II

This hand is a blast to watch from a bet-size perspective for several reasons: (1) Jason’s stack is getting a little short, which affects both how he wants to play the pot and, perhaps, how he believes Mizrachi thinks he’ll play it; (2) watch how they play the hand on the flop and turn, when Mercier has a flush draw and Mizrachi just a small pair; and (3) note in particular the bet sizing on the end. The post-river play is particularly interesting: with 77,500 in the pot, Jason bets more than 1/3 of his remaining stack, or 61,000, as a bluff. Does the size of the bet send a message? Has he telegraphed that he doesn’t want to get called? Or is he telegraphing that because he wants Grinder to think that and therefore call him? How deep does Mizrachi have to go in his thinking to make the right decision?

Bluff City

As just noted, poker players at this level of skill don’t need any kind of hand to display strength. In short-handed play, they have to make and detect bluffs with a higher frequency. Several hands feature successful and unsuccessful bluffs. Also recognize that the scorecard for a bluff isn’t necessarily limited to that one hand. A player known to bet without a hand is more likely to get paid off when he actually has one. If you wonder in some cases how these great players get stuck calling with mediocre hands, factor the likelihood they think the opponent is bluffing and their own hand is good.