Jason Mercier Wins $50K Event 1 Year After Last Cash

Jason Mercier won the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller event at the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida almost exactly 12-months after his last live poker tournament cash.

Mercier, a Florida native who resides Fort Lauderdale, came out on top of a 41-strong field to get his hands on $715,860, the seventh-largest prize of his illustrious career.

$50,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Jason Mercier	United States	$715,860
2	Franklin Fok	United States	$457,355
3	Thomas Boivin	Belgium	$288,330
4	Giuseppe Iadisernia	Venezuela	$198,850
5	Manig Loeser	Germany	$139,195
6	Sam Sweilem	United States	$109,370
7	Albert Daher	Lebanon	$79,540

The $1 million guarantee on the $50,000 buy-in Super High Roller was easily hit thanks to the 41 entrants creating a $1,988,500 prize pool that was shared among the top seven finishers. Several big names busted before the prize money was awarded, including Brandon Adams, Jake Schinder, Tom Marchese, Rainer Kempe, Erik Seidel, and Elio Fox.

Day 1 ended when the money bubble burst. Dan Shak moved all-in with pocket kings on an ace-high flop only to discover Mercier was sat there with ace-jack in the hole. It was a huge pot that saw Mercier rake in half the chips in play, almost five times as many chips as any of his six remaining opponents.

Mercier Extends His Lead

Lebanon’s Albert Daher was the first player to bust inside the money place, his short-stacked shove with king-queen getting called by Mercier’s ace-ten. Neither player improved their hand by the river, Mercier did not need to, and Daher headed to the cashier’s desk to pocket $79,540.

Sam Sweilem busted on the very next hand after he pushed all-in with five-four on a nine-four-deuce flop that had two diamonds showing. Giuseppe Iadisernia called with ace-five of diamonds and he turned a flush to leave Sweilem drawing dead.

Germany’s Manig Loeser was the next player to head to the showers and it was Franklin Fok who did the damage. Fok moved all in with queen-jack of hearts and Loeser called with ace-ten of hearts. Fok paired his jack on the flop and his hand remained best to decimate Loeser’s stack. Loeser put the rest of his chips in on the next hand and lost out to Mercier.

Mercier’s position was even more dominant now play was four-handed and it was only a matter of time before he triumphed.

Four-handed play ended with the elimination of Iadisernia whose ace-nine was dominated by the superior ace-queen of Fok. The $198,850 the Venezuelan was awarded was the second-largest of his career, the biggest being for $845,000 back in November 2018.

Online Star Busts, Heads-Up Set

Thomas Boivin, known as “martomchat” when he plays online poker at PokerStars, finished in third-place to send the tournament into the heads-up stage. Boivin’s all in bet with ten-eight was called by Fok holding suited king-queen and Fok’s hand remained true through all five community cards.

Despite winning that pot, Fok trailed Mercier by 7-to-1 going into the one-on-one section of the tournament. On the ninth-hand of heads-up play. Fok limped for 25,000 and then called off his last 515,000 when Mercier set him all in. Mercier flipped over pocket fives, Fok turned over ace-jack of spades and when the board ran out ten-high, Fok busted in second place and Mercier won yet another major title.

Prior to this result, Mercier’s last live cash came in August 2018 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. Mercier finished 37th in the $5,250 buy-in Championship Event for $17,333. Usually prolific on the live poker circuit, Mercier has been taking plenty of time away from the tables to spend time with his wife Natasha and their two-year-old son Marco. Mercier even stepped down as a Team PokerStars Pro to concentrate more on parenthood.

Pregnancy Run Good!

Two years ago, Mercier came out on top in the $25,500 No Limit Hold’em High Roller at the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for $794,600. At the time, Mercier’s wife Natasha was seven-months pregnant with Marco. Ironically, Natasha is pregnant again and was seven-months pregnant at the time of this latest victory. Perhaps if Mercier needs another live tournament victory, he can wait until the poker-playing couple are seven months into another pregnancy!

Mercier now has more than $19.6 million in live poker tournament cashes. His first result recorded on his Hendon Mob profile was his fantastic victory in the European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event in 2008 that netted him €869,000 ($1,327,893).

A year later, Mercier won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. He has since won another four bracelets, a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Six Handed in 2011, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed in 2015, and both the $10,000 2-7 No Limit Draw Lowball Championship and $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship in 2016.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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