18
The Phil Ivey Effect
For the sake of this post, let’s assume that’s there’s universal agreement on this point: Phil Ivey is the best poker player in the world. I’m not really interested in objective measures or stylistic comparisons here. I don’t want to try to define what I mean by “best.” Let’s just say that when considering the sum total of talents that make up one’s poker ability, that Phil comes out ahead of everyone else on the planet.
Okay?
Now I’d like you to imagine that you won a satellite into a major tournament—a $10k with International appeal. Maybe the Aussie Millions. Maybe the Main Event of the WSOP. And when you arrive at the table, you see that Phil Ivey is seated directly across from you.
Perfect, you think. How the hell am I going to deal with this?
Should you play more aggressively? Or is some passive play the way to go? Should you lock down and play absurdly tight? Or do you need to join the battle, let him know that you’re someone to be reckoned with?
Over the last several years, as I’ve covered poker tournaments, I’ve seen Ivey and other top players at work. And I’ve seen the less-experienced players around them apply all of these strategies disastrously. I’ve witnessed more horrid calls and impossible bluffs than you could probably imagine.
Why do they do this? Well, I believe that many of these players posed questions like the ones I put forward in the previous paragraph. And I believe they made a common, and severe, mistake: they came up answers.
Some decided to combat aggression with even more aggression; some decided that no way are they going to be pushed around, and they made “heroic” calls that in retrospect must seem more idiotic than anything else.
How should these players have adapted to the greatest player in the world—or to other players that are just slightly less great? The best answer I got to this sort of question came from a conversation I had two and a half years ago with Howard Lederer. I caught Howard on a break from the WSOP $5k PLO with rebuys. The field was small and ridiculously tough. I asked Howard if he tends to tighten up in such a field.
Howard responded with a quick and forceful “No.” All you can, he explained, is play your game. Play as well as you can. Interpret the situations you find yourself in as best as you can. Use the skills and experience that you have and do your best.
The real mistake is starting with some preconceived notion—some assumption of the style you’ll encounter and your response to it.
Play poker. Play well. It’s really all you can do.
