Jason Mercier wins first ever WSOP $5,000 six-handed PLO
Tournament destroyer Jason Mercier has won Event 35 of the WSOP 2011: the $5,000 six-handed PLO, the first event of its kind at the Series. In 2009 he won the $1,500 PLO.
The 3-day event attracted a quality field of 507 players and by the end of the first day, top pros like Vanessa Selbst, Erick Lindgren, Shaun Deeband Mike Mcdonald were sitting near the top. Mercier on the other hand was languishing outside the top 50 and had a lot of work to do.
By the end of day 2, Mercier had propelled himself into the top 5 thanks to a huge pot where he knocked out Jeff Lisandro and reached the final table as chipleader.
Three-handed Mercier tussled with Hans Winzeler and Steve Merrifeld for the lead but after hitting quads for the second time that night, he just seemed dialled on to take down his second bracelet. The Devilfish who was eliminated by Mercier in 13th made his thoughts about Mercier’s run-good quite clear: ‘He’s the luckiest fucking motherfucker alive!’
In the final hand Mercier’s luck held again, when he rivered a straight with Qc-6c-5d-3s to beat Winzeler’s Ac-Kd-Kc-Js. The board ran out 9d-4s-3d-10c-7h and Mercier pocketed $619,575 and the bracelet.
We have an exclusive interview with Mercier in the August issue of PokerPlayer. On sale 28 July.
