In an interview with Pokerlistings.com, Jason Mercier talks about the hand on High Stakes Poker where he went broke against Phil Ivey in a $425,000 pot.


You can watch the hand below, here's a recap with Mercier's comments:

Blinds 400/800. Gus Hansen (utg) raised to 4,200 with Q6o, Eli Elezra called with 95s, Ivey called with pocket nines from the button, and Mercier raised to 22,100 from the small blind. Hansen and Elezra folded, Ivey called.

Mercier says he would normally just call here with suited aces as the stacks are over 250bb deep and he's got great implied odds, but he saw a good opportunity for the squeeze play. "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 said to Pokerlistings. "When he called, I really felt like he had a middle pair, like fives through tens."

Flop 7h 3d 2s (pot 55,000). Mercier bet 28,700, Ivey raised to 78,700, Mercier went all-in for 185,100, Ivey tanked and finally called the remaining 106,400. Pot 425,200. Mercier asked if Ivey wants to run it twice but apparently Ivey never does that. The board blanked and Mercier missed his outs. "Welcome to the Ivey World, Jason," Eli Elezra needled.

Mercier says to Pokerlistings that he wasn't expecting Ivey to fold to one bullet, but he wasn't expecting a raise either. When that happened, he quickly went all-in. "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 says afterwards.

In the interview, Mercier talks about his High Stakes Poker experience in more length. Read it on Pokerlistings.com.