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The Poker Play II: On The Mac Aces Millions

Part II Sees Jesse "On The Mac" McKenzie Discuss Key Hand In Heads-Up Play In Sunday Million

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Continuing on from part I, Jesse “On The Mac” McKenzie discusses the reasoning behind his play in a key hand from the $215 Sunday Million (July 10).

Here is a brief reminder of the cards and the action:

On The Mac is holding AClub Suit KSpade Suit and his final opponent Rizih (the Villain) has 5Club Suit 4Club Suit. The blinds are 300-600 and On The Mac opens for 1.2 million, Rizih calls. The flop comes QSpade Suit QClub Suit JClub Suit, the Villain checks, as does On The Mac. The turn is the 9Diamond Suit, the Villain bets 1.2 million and On The Mac calls. The pot is now 4,920,000. The river is the 10Club Suit and the Villain shoves all in for just over 15.5 million. On The Mac tanks and folds.

Jesse “On The Mac” McKenzie: Initially I think this is a money card, I mean I see the 10 and think I have the best hand here a lot and would probably call a pot-sized bet on the river but he jams for 15 million into 4.9 million and from what I had seen of Rizih from 18 out was that he jammed his nut hands especially on the river.

I thought long and hard because I beat a king-high straight but I tanked for a minute and 30 seconds of my 2 minute time bank wondering if you would jam a single king which A-K obviously beats. Then factored in with his jamming nut hands, a paired board, and my skill edge with relatively deep stacks heads up for the Sunday Million, 50 bbs effective, I thought that there would be better spots as he jammed nut hands there a lot and was happy to play out of position. I basically thought I could grind him away but ironically I get in a flip when I four-bet jam 6-6 and he calls with K-J off-suit and I win.

Part of the reason I check back the flop is because I am calling a lot of turns knowing I am ahead with A-K high, so he semi-bluffs the turn with his flush draw and I am still ahead. The river is the worst card in the deck for my hand versus his and I think if he makes a pot-sized bet I have to call.

Rebecca McAdam: So he would have to bet the pot in order for you to call…

JM: Yeah or even a 1.2x-1.4x pot bet like 6-7 million. I mean it is a very hard hand to fold (A-K) on that board but he made it as easy as it possibly can be to fold by 3x potting it. I think he must have got excited to be honest, I don’t think he paid too much attention to pot size, more just looked at his hand, and to be fair a lot of MTT players would never be able to fold that there, but in the weeks following I got a lot of good feedback from heads-up players. It was the only hand on the final table that afterwards I worried I may have possibly folded the best hand.

RM: Yes but with pot control you made it less damaging even if you did…

JM: I still lose less when he has a better hand, yes. It sort of forced him to try and maximise by jamming but I don’t think it was the best play by him versus me.

RM: Were you worried at all that he hit something pre-river because even though you have A-K you only have ace high…unless a 10, A, K comes on the river.

JM: Well I thought he just wouldn’t jam those because he would have to be concerned about me possibly having a flush or a full house on that board even though I rarely would having checked back that flop.

RM: His bet on the turn, did you just really believe he had nothing still?

JM: Yeah I did, a large percent of the time I thought he had complete air or was semi-bluffing with flush draws, gut shots, small pairs, all of which A-K has significant equity against. When he bets 1.2m into 2.5m, and I have position, I am not a big maths guy but it seemed like a pretty easy call when I check back the flop for that purpose to allow him to have air in his range. I don’t want to be check-raised off my hand on the flop or have to four-bet over him, I wanted to keep pots small, play in position, and let him spaz out. When I had my aces cracked earlier on the final table I was as calm as a hindu cow, I said to myself ‘well this is why I have chips’ and tried to continue making the best play.

It was a combination of favourable conditions, run good, and good play. Obviously to beat almost 6,000 runners, you have to get lucky, basically I had aces cracked twice and indeed I cracked aces with A-10 of hearts and cracked K-K with A-Q but I am surprised I didn’t have to get luckier. I was happy with the way I played the final table, I played a lower variance style, a lot of pots in position, against other players I would definitely have to c-bet more flops and barrel more turns but the guys on this final table were a bit frisky and they didn’t mind doing some spazzy plays out of position, so I let them.

On The Mac’s Tips for Success in Major Online Tournaments:

  • Play tournaments that have satellites into them that have good structures and that are within your bankroll so that you can make the best play when you see it
  • Be well rested
  • Have snacks
  • Drink lots of water
  • Be mentally prepared
  • Be process driven not results driven
  • Control the controllable
  • Be relentlessly aggressive
  • Mostly in tournaments you lose or break even, be prepared to play thousands of games

Jesse “On The Mac” McKenzie took down this Sunday Million for $179,679. A long way from the US$27 he originally deposited, from which he has grown his bankroll immensely. The Australian has been making a mark on both the live and online circuit since 2010 but appears to be really coming into his own of late. At time of writing he is in second place on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Player of the Year leader board.