Jason Mercier Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $50K High Roller

Jason Mercier won his first live poker tournament title in over two years by taking down the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller event. Mercier and his wife Natasha had their first child, Marco, in late 2017, and Mercier told Card Player at the 2019 World Series of Poker that he had played less than 50 hours of poker since last summer.

Despite being a little out of practice, Mercier managed to outlast a field of 41 entries in this high-stakes event, dominating the final table in just 82 hands to win $715,860. The score, his first in almost a year, brought Mercier’s career earnings to $19.4 million.

Mercier began the final day with more than half of the chips in play. His stack of 132 big blinds was almost five times larger than the next biggest stack of 28 big blinds, which belonged to Giuseppe Iadisernia. As a result, he was able to finish off the final table in about 90 minutes. In truth, most of the work Mercier did came before the final table.

“I won a ton of hands that I probably shouldn’t have, just because of stack sizes,” said Mercier after the win. “I had over half the chips in play when we were seven handed, so I was playing a ton of hands and just taking advantage of spots. But I also got dealt really good hands, and was able to call all ins when I was in the big blind, and those hands won.”

Here are the five key hands that propelled Mercier to the title.

Tournament: Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Buy-In: $50,000
No. of Entries: 41
Prize Pool: $1,988,500
1st Place Prize: $715,860

The Action

With ten players left, Imsirovic moved in for 105,000 from under-the-gun and Mercier called from the small blind with A 10, which was ahead of his opponent’s K J. Imsirovic got a bit of a sweat as the board fell 10 6 3 9 A, but was ultimately unable to catch up.

The Action

Just two spots away from the money, Veneziano moved in for 360,000 from under-the-gun and ran right into Mercier in the big blind with pocket kings. Veneziano had some outs with A K, but failed to connect as the dealer brought out a board of 10 9 6 2 10. Veneziano left the tournament empty handed while Mercier chipped up in a big way, allowing him to punish the shorter stacks on the bubble.

The Action

Mercier raised to 40,000 and Shak three-bet to 150,000 from the small blind. Mercier called in position and both players saw a flop of A 4 2. Shak opted to shove for his last 740,000, and Mercier called relatively quickly with A J for top pair. Shak had two black kings, and was angry to see that Mercier had called his preflop three-bet with that hand. The turn and river were no help to Shak, and he was busted right before the money in eighth place.

The Action

On just the second orbit of the final table, Daher moved all in from the small blind for a little less than 24 big blinds, and Mercier looked him up with A 10. Mercier was slightly ahead of Daher’s K Q, and he held as the board never produced any paint. Daher pocketed $79,540 for his mincash in the event. Mercier then held more than 60 percent of the chips in play.

The Action

Sitting on just about 20 big blinds, Fok limped in, and Mercier shoved. Fok called off his last 515,000 with A J, and was up against Mercier’s pocket fives. The board ran out ten high, and Fok was eliminated in second place, earning $457,355. Mercier dragged the final pot of the tournament, and with it, secured the win, the trophy, and the $715,860 first-place prize.

Final Table Results

1. Jason Mercier — $715,860
2. Frank Fok — $457,355
3. Thomas Boivin — $288,330
4. Giuseppe Iadisernia — $198,850
5. Manig Loeser — $139,195
6. Sam Sweilem — $109,370
7. Albert Daher — $79,540