Jason Mercier Wins His Second Bracelet of 2016 World Series of PokerMercier Earns $422,874 First-Place Prize and Fifth Bracelet Overall |
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It’s been an incredible week of poker for Jason Mercier. First he won the $10,000 no-limit 2-7 event at the 2016 World Series of Poker for $273,335. He then immediately late registered for the $10,000 razz event, and managed a runner-up finish, good for another $168,936.
The 29-year-old Floridian then late registered for the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, and somehow managed to take the chip lead into the final table. Despite many ups and downs and playing through obvious exhaustion, Mercier was able to become the last man standing out of the field of 171, picking up the $422,874 first-place prize and his second gold bracelet of the summer.
Mercier now has five bracelets overall, and with more than $17.1 million in winnings, he sits at no. 11 on the all-time live tournament earnings list.
“This feels amazing," Mercier said. "Especially after all that’s happened this week. I’m so exhausted. But I also feel so much energy right now.”
But this week has been far more profitable for Mercier than the $865,145 he has collected thanks to his various bracelet bets with other high-stakes poker pros. Although the exact numbers haven’t been made public, it is rumored that Mercier made more than first-place money for both of his wins this week in side bets. According to him, he is now “freerolling the next year” after winning two events.
Incredibly, Mercier can add another $1.8 million to his bank account from fellow PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst by winning a third bracelet this summer. Selbst has been reportedly trying to hedge her bet against Mercier ever since he refused to accept her $100,000 buy-out offer.
That would be #5 …2nd one this summer.
Shipped the 10k horse for 422k and a ton more on the side. #TwoDownOneToGo pic.twitter.com/75mXHAdmVF— Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) June 18, 2016
With his fifth bracelet, Mercier joins some elite company. Other poker legends with five bracelets include David Chiu, John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Alaei, Berry Johnston and Stu Ungar. There are now only 14 players in WSOP history with more bracelets than Mercier.
Of course, Mercier’s win wasn’t easy. He had to overcome one of the more stacked final tables in recent memory featuring Bryn Kenney (8th), Yuval Bronshtein (7th), Jesse Martin (6th), Mikhail Semin (5th), Adam Friedman (4th), Nick Schulman (3rd) and James Obst (2nd).
Other notables who made the money included John Monette (9th), Randy Ohel (10th), Ron Ware (14th), Jason Somerville (16th), Owais Ahmed (17th), Daniel Alaei (18th), David Benyamine (19th) and Roland Israelashvili (20th).
In addition to a mountain of cash, Mercier also picked up 780 Card Player Player of the Year points. He now has a total of 2,280 points this year, putting him in 16th place in the overall standings.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Jason Mercier | $422,874 | 780 |
2 | James Obst | $261,354 | 650 |
3 | Nick Schulman | $183,779 | 520 |
4 | Adam Friedman | $131,519 | 390 |
5 | Mikhail Semin | $95,817 | 325 |
6 | Jesse Martin | $71,089 | 260 |
7 | Yuval Bronshtein | $53,729 | 195 |
8 | Bryn Kenney | $41,383 | 130 |
For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.
Winner photo courtesy of the WSOP.