Final-Table Takedown -- Sorel Mizzi

As a breakout star online, Sorel Mizzi has cashed for more than $1 million. The 23-year-old native of Toronto, Canada, also has been very successful in live events, with $1.2 million in total cashes. He most recently won a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event at the Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, for $143,050. Last September, he barely missed winning a coveted bracelet at the World Series of Poker Europe, taking second in a $9,000 pot-limit Omaha event, for $237,936. In 2007, at one of his first live events as a professional, Mizzi finished third in the Irish Poker Open, and negotiated for more than a $500,000 chopped payday.

Key Concepts: Position, representing an ace, putting an opponent on tilt, and sticking with a read




Zangbezan24 raises to 808,080 with the 8 6 from the small blind/button. Villain calls.

Craig Tapscott: I see that you have a suited connectors obsession, huh?

Sorel Mizzi: Yes (laughing). I'm a sucker for anything suited or connected. When I have this kind of hand, I'm likely to hit a flop that I'm going to either like a lot or not like at all. Here's the beautiful thing about suited connectors: When an ace or a king flops after you've raised preflop with suited connectors, you can usually represent an ace or a king and take it down with one continuation-bet post-flop. If you hit something like 8-6-6, no one's ever going to put you on 8-6, so that's a win-win situation for playing these kinds of hands, because you're kind of disguising the strength of your hand.

Flop: Q 10 5 (pot: 1,676,160)

Villain checks, zangbezan24 bets 1.2 million. Villain calls.

CT: Standard so far.

SM: Yep. And I make my standard continuation-bet.

Turn: A (pot: 4,076,160)

CT: Good card?

SM: The A was a great card for me. Not only did it give me the flush draw, it also gave me the chance to represent the ace, and I was going to represent that ace all the way. There are so many hands that I could have that he's going to have to fold to, unless he has an ace, K-J, or two pair.

Villain checks, zangbezan24 bets 2.4 million. Villain calls.

CT: What now?

SM: Just with the way he played it, I didn't think he could have two pair, because I bet 2.4 million on the turn, and I think at this point, he would have raised two pair with the flush and straight draws on the board. So, I knew that he probably had K-Q or Q-J. As soon as he called, I was like, "Wow; OK, I think I have him here." It was not like I thought I had the best hand, but I thought I could represent it big on the river if I made the right bet.

River: 8 (pot: 8,876,160)

SM: Now I have a little bit of showdown value. I have the 8, but at the same time I know that he has at least a queen, so I'm going to continue to represent an ace or better here. I could have K-J, or I could have two pair; there are so many hands that I put him on that he has to fold to my range.

Villain checks, zangbezan24 bets 6,555,555. Villain folds. Zangbezan24 shows the 8 6 and wins the pot of 8,876,160.

SM: That really got him mad. Obviously, he valued his hand enough to call on the turn, but when it came down to the river, he didn't have the heart to continue with the hand because I was acting so strong. And most of the time, I do have a super strong hand there. And, I didn't go all in; I bet only a little bit, so that it looked like a value-bet. I used that a bit to my advantage, and I got him to fold.

CT: And you showed!

SM: Here's the thing about showing hands: When you start showing hands, you're giving away vital pieces of information about your game, and when you're doing that, you have to change your game accordingly. You have to be able to think on a different level, and it adds new variables to the game, because now everyone - or everyone who's paying attention - knows what you're capable of doing, and that's the last thing you want.

You can actually use that against people, especially the opponent you made the move on, in future hands. And this is where it gets really tricky, really interesting, and very much psychological. Here's the question that he's going to be thinking the next time I play back at him: "Is this guy really stupid enough to play back at me again after showing me a bluff?"

Sometimes I think, "OK, this is an excuse to play even more aggressively against this guy, because he's going to think that I'm not stupid enough to make that kind of move again." So, it depends on how many levels you're thinking on, and how many levels you think he's thinking on.




Zangbezan24 limps in for 200,000 from the small blind/button with the K 9. Villain checks.

Flop: A 7 5 (pot: 880,000)

Villain checks, zangbezan24 bets 400,000. Villain check-raises to 1.2 million.

SM: This is definitely my favorite of the two hands; it's probably one of the top 10 that I've ever played. My read on this player was that he would have raised preflop with an ace, and this is something that I'm almost 100 percent sure of after playing with the guy.

Zangbezan24 calls.

Turn: A (pot: 3,280,000)

Villain checks.

CT: Time to take advantage of the ace?

SM: Yes. At this point, I would bet my entire roll that he doesn't have an ace, just because he checked. The ace was a good card, because now I know for sure that he doesn't have one, but he doesn't know that I don't have one.

Zangbezan24 bets 1.2 million.

CT: Why that bet amount?

SM: I'm trying to look really, really strong. I'm trying to look like I really want a call. Now, what's going through his head is this: "If I raise here, there's no way that he's shoving unless he has an ace, so I'm going to make sure that he doesn't have an ace. And I think I can take this pot down, because I'm fairly confident that he doesn't have an ace."

Villain check-raises to 3.6 million.

SM: So, his read was actually right, but he didn't think that I would take it to another level and think to myself, "OK, I'm pretty sure that you don't have an ace either, so I'm all in."

Zangbezan24 reraises all in for 14,788,270.

SM: I think at this point that he was planning on shutting down if I had checked the turn, but he decided that since I bet the turn and tried to take it away, he was going to take another stab at it and try to represent the ace. But I had already decided in my mind that I was winning this pot. I'm sure that he's making a move here, and this is one of the hands that I'm really proud of, because I went with my read, and I was right.

Villain folds, zangbezan24 shows the K 9, and takes down the pot of 8,080,000.

SM: This is a case of whoever has the last say usually wins. But on the other hand, honestly, if he pushed all in on the turn, I would consider a call with king high, because I made the decision that I had the best hand on the flop, and I really thought - and I still think - that king high was good.