The Brits are No Longer Underdogs in Mixed Games

At the start of the series I said I thought the over/under line for Brit bracelets was 4. Then after Jake Cody and Matt Perrins came flying out of the door I thought maybe upping it to five. Today I was asked several times what I thought the line was now, after Darren Woods won the $2500 six max limit event.

Probably still five, but I am starting to like the over.

 

I have theorised many times over the last 12 months why the Brits are doing so well on the world stage. The conditions are great to play poker in the UK, the live scene is brilliant to learn your craft, the communities and forums are superb, you don’t have to pay tax on winnings etc etc. One big thing I realised today which is having a (pretty obvious in hindsight) impact is that we are no longer dogs in the mixed games.

We always have the no limit, pot limit hold’em, and PLO games in our arsenal, but recently we have added O8, limit hold’em, stud, and triple draw bracelets to the collective British cabinet. Not to mention Richard Ashby showing his is one of the top all round mixed players in the world too, this year and last year.

These are games that are not traditionally played in the UK and Europe (and not so much stateside either these days), so why have we caught up? The internet is the obvious answer of course; in particular as NLHE is getting tougher, professionals inevitably look to mixed games as the next place to find value.

But I think it is more than that. Not only have we got better at them, I think the Americans have got worse. Not so much worse, it’s just the current generation of American players have only known the internet, just like most of the UK players. Outside of Las Vegas, nobody really plays games like stud, O8, triple draw, razz, 2-7 etc. It is only the ‘TV Pros’ from pre internet Las Vegas who have any significant experience advantage over European players (Case in point, John Juanda winning the triple draw the other night, and putting on a master class). The longer Americans are locked out of the online game, they could actually get overtaken. 

Whatever the reason, it excites me way more when a British player is deep in a non NLHE event. That said, I will be cheering on Alex Martin tonight as he is deep in event #20: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. You may not have heard of him, but I do not know many people who work as hard at their game as he does, so hopefully he will get a well deserved score tonight.