Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier has made the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe and is looking to not only win €1,022,376 and his third WSOP bracelet but to stop Phill Hellmuth winning a record 13th.
Mercier starts tomorrow’s final table short, just 7th in chips with 652,000, some way lower than the 1,575,000 chip average, but he does have an astounding final table record to lean upon. Of 38 top ten finishes in live tournaments Mercier has won 13 of them to score a phenomenal one-in-three final table-to-win rate. And it’s not just like he blows up if he doesn’t take the title; a further seven of his final table appearances have resulted in second or third place cashes. Given those numbers it’s little surprise to see that the American has racked up $7,912,297 in winnings in live tournaments.
Mercier is also a player back on form after an uncharacteristic dip in deep tournament runs and he’ll have to channel his talents well tomorrow. This is his second final table of this WSOPE and just a couple of weeks ago he mashed the WCOOP $10,300 8-game for $253,425 stopping third-place finished Daniel Negreanu from winning his first WCOOP title. Mercier will be looking to stop another legend of the game from winning it all in Cannes.
Phil Hellmuth is the chip leader going into tomorrow’s eight-handed final table with 3,434,000 and Mercier will have to overcome the poker brat, among others, if he’s to get a career best score. Despite the wealth of cashes Mercier has only once won more than a million in one tournament which was that epic EPT Sanremo title back in 2008.
The final table
1. Paul Tedeschi, France, 543,000
2. Joseph Cheong, USA, 1,966,000
3. Stephane Albertini, France, 1,162,000
4. Christopher Brammer, UK, 851,000
5. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, 652,000
6. Sergii Baranov, Ukraine, 3,339,000
7. Phil Hellmuth, USA, 3,434,000
8. Stephane Girault, France, 664,000
Phil Hellmuth, the player many love to anti-rail, will extend his lead in all-time WSOP bracelets should he win tomorrow. Hellmuth currently has twelve and only Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan come close on 10 apiece. He’s going to be tough to beat but if anyone’s likely to spin up a short stack and win it all it’s Jason Mercier.
Payouts
1. €1,022,376
2. €632,592
3. €423,360
4. €292,320
5. €207,648
6. €149,184
7. €108,864
8. €84,672
Rick Dacey is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.
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