Jason Mercier Wins Again at Million Pound Showdown

Filed in archive Tournament News on October 8, 2008

image from PokerStarsBlog.com

If anyone knows the secret to Jason Mercier's and John Juanda's recent strings of success please let me know before my miniscule bankroll ends up in Sweden via Full Tilt and PokerStars playing Pot Limit Omaha.

First Juanda's success over seas started earlier last week pulling down another World Series of Poker bracelet into his collection by winning the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. He wasn't done there as Juanda skipped across town after the EPT London main event finished and the £1 Million Showdown was starting up.

The $35,000 (or £20,000) buy-in was one of the biggest on any poker tour and gathered up a sizable £516,000 first prize. Juanda couldn't quite pull off the double victory in London as he succumbed to an even hotter player in Jason Mercier. As you can read in the media release from PokerStars below, the 21-year old Mercier has been on a tear overseas as he too found success at the WSOPE by making the final table of the Pot Limit Omaha event.

Check out the details of Mercier's victory in the Million Pound Showdown over Juanda and a table of well-respected pros below:

AMERICAN JASON MERCIER WINS £1 MILLION SHOWDOWN AT EUROPEAN POKER TOUR LONDON HIGH ROLLER EVENT

LONDON, UK, October 6, 2008 - Jason Mercier, a 21-year old math teacher from Fort Lauderdale, Fl, took home $903,080 (£516,000) after winning the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) London £1 Million Showdown at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. Mercier beat out over 86 of the world's top players in the first $35,000 (£20,000) buy-in high roller event held at an EPT tournament.

"I'm feeling pretty good right now," said Mercier. "It's been a great 2008 for me so far and I look forward to continuing my success. It's funny to think that this all started by winning a satellite tournament on PokerStars that sent me to my first EPT and first live tournament win."

Mercier found himself on a final table with three WSOP bracelet winners including the legendary Scotty Nguyen, John Juanda and David Benyamine. Also joining Mercier at the table was Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier who finished ninth for $ 89,347 (£51,000) and Canadian Michael Watson captain of the Canadian team at the PokerStars World Cup of Poker last year in Barcelona.

Mercier was able to manoeuvre through the star-studded final table to find himself heads up with Juanda, who recently won the World Series of Poker Europe main event. Mercier was able to make short work of Juanda by doubling up through the recent champion on their first hand against each other. Mercier eventually eliminated the four-time WSOP bracelet winner when he was dealt KQ; the same hand, that won him the San Remo event. John raised from the button and Jason Mercier moved all-in. Juanda called and turned over AJ, but the flop gave Jason a winning King-high straight.

Mercier first started to make a name for him self in April 2008 when he won the EPT San Remo, Italy event for $1,372,893 in the fastest final table in EPT history. Mercier won his seat to the EPT San Remo through a PokerStars satellite tournament. The EPT London High Roller Event is Mercier's eighth professional cash, fourth final table and second major win in 2008. Mercier's victory in one of the toughest fields ever assembled in Europe, came only a week after he made the final table of the WSOP Europe Pot Limit Omaha event and less than a month after his sixth place finish at EPT5 Barcelona for $310,354 (€227,800).

The stars who played in the high-roller event included Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Joe Hachem, Dario Minieri, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Luca Pagano and Greg Raymer as well as Gus Hansen, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey.

Five of the PokerStars 'Million Dollar Men' competed, as well as five players who won their seats online at PokerStars including Sorel Mizzi and Soren Kongsgaard. PokerStars 'Million Dollar Man' Dennis Phillips finished tenth.

Name Country Dollars Pounds
1 Jason Mercier USA 903,080 516,000
2 John Juanda USA 572,871 327,000
3 Michael Watson Canada 422,207 241,000
4 Peter Jetten Canada 331,109 189,000
5 Scotty Nguyen USA 240,886 137,500
6 Isaac Haxton USA 180,445 103,000
7 Masaaki Kagawa Japan 150,663 86,000
8 David Benyamine France 120,881 69,000
9 Isabelle Mercier Canada 90,222 51,500

The next stop on the PokerStars European Poker Tour is the $5,926 (€4,350) buy-in Budapest event running from October 28 - November 1 at the Las Vegas Casino, Sofitel Hotel. This is the first EPT Open in Hungary, following on from the success of recent EPT launches in Prague and Warsaw during Season 4. For more information, please visit http://www.ept.com.