Twenty-One Year Old Online Qualifier Wins EPT San RemoAmerican James Mercier Defeats French Fancy Antony Lellouche and Local Hero Dario Minieri |
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The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour San Remo, Italy has been won by 21-year-old American James Mercier who lifted €869,000 after qualifying for the €5,000 buy-in event online with the sponsor. It was only the second live tournament for the former trainee maths teacher.
The event, which attracted a sellout 700 runners, was the first major international tournament to be held in Italy and a clutch of the game’s most recognisable names made the final table to battle it out with the PokerStars online qualifiers.
The final table make-up was:
Seat 1: Gregory Genovese (Italy) — 694,000
Seat 2: William Thorsson (Sweden) — 418,000
Seat 3: Eric Koskas (France) — 449,000
Seat 4: Jason Mercier (United States) — 1,591,000
Seat 5: Anthony Lellouche (France) —1,192,000
Seat 6: Dario Minieri (Italy) —1,832,000
Seat 7: Dag Palovic (Slovakia) — 585,000
Seat 8: Marcus Bower (United States) — 278,000
Rather predictably the short-stacked Bower was first out, earning €76,700 when he moved all-in for 155,000 on Lellouche’s 70,000 chip raise. The Frenchman called with A-J and hit an ace on the river to send Bower’s pocket fours sinking.
Palovic was next to the rail for €111,800 when he moved in with Q-Q on a 8-3-2 flop but found Minieri with pocket threes to make trips.
Swede William Thorsson busted in sixth for €140,600 when he re-re-raised all-in with A-Q and was called by Mercier and his marginal monster A-K.
Roman investment banker, 37-year-old Genovese was out in fifth for €188,500 when Mercier again raked in the chips with his A-3 finding another ace on the flop and nothing coming to help out the Italian.
Another PokerStars qualifier, Koskas, was eliminated in fourth for €223,600 when he bluffed with 10-high on the river with a board of J-5-6-8-8 and Mercier called with a pair of fives after some considerable deliberation.
Minieri, who was hot favourite to lift his first EPT title, was ousted in third for €287,000. He was joint chip leader with Mercier when the two clashed. A pot of 719,000 had been built and the pair saw a flop of 8d-7d-2h. Minieri bet 200,000, Jason moved all-in and Minieri snap-called.
Minieri showed Q-Q and was ahead of Mercier who held Ad-4d. A diamond on the river shocked the hometown crowd and catapulted Mercier into a virtually unassailable lead while sending the vanquished Minieri to the rail with his head spinning.
Two hands later it was all over. Lellouche pushed his remaining chips into the middle with 7-7 and Mercier called with K-Q. A queen fell on the flop and Lellouche got no help from the rest of the cards and James Mercier came from behind a second time in almost as many hands to win the first ever EPT event, but certainly not the last, to be held on Italian soil.
Lellouche won €505,000 while Mercier took down the first prize of €869,000.
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