Florida poker star wins fourth career gold bracelet in WSOP

Meet the latest WSOP gold bracelet champion
Name: Jason Mercier
Birthplace: Ft. Lauderdale, FL (USA)
Age: 29
Current Residence: Hollywood, FL (USA)
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Profession: Poker Player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 48
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 16
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 4
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 1st (2010, 2011, 2015)
Total WSOP Earnings: $3,865,142
Personal Facts: Mercier now has four WSOP wins, 2 WCOOP titles, and 1 EPT victory


Winner Quote:
"If I can win another (gold bracelet) really quick, it would be a sick sweat the rest of the series…now, I'm freerolling the next year."
Jason Mercier (four-time gold bracelet winner, on the prospect of winning a huge prop bet that he will/won't win three gold bracelets in 2016)

Jason Mercier is the newest member of poker's elite four-gold bracelet club. He became only the 39th player in history with four or more WSOP titles to his name. The four-gold bracelet club includes an illustrious list of legendary names, including Bill Boyd, Puggy Pearson, Amarillo Slim Preston, Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, and others. Now, add Mercier to that list.

The highly-accomplished poker pro from Hollywood, FL won the $10,000 buy-in Deuceto-Seven Lowball (No-Limit) tournament, which was played over three days and nights and just concluded on the ESPN main stage at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Aside from this being his fourth career title, at the relatively young age of 29, he also owns a European Poker Tour win and two victories in the World Championship of Online Poker. His career winnings at the WSOP alone totals more than $3.8 million.

Mercier collected $273,335 in prize money, one of many big cashes during his career. Yet oddly enough, he may have won far more money in various side bets with other poker pros which were made before the 2016 WSOP started. Mercier wouldn't disclose the amount of money won from this first gold bracelet win of the series, but he did divulge "it's more than the first place prize for this event."

Mercier went on to say he has a number of other gold bracelets still pending, including multiple win propositions. If he wins a second WSOP title in 2016, he stands to make far more money in side bets and should he somehow get in the position to win three gold bracelets this year, some poker players are going to be in for the sweat of their lives.

"I'd say this was the second best of the four," Mercier said when asked where this victory ranks among the four gold bracelet victories. "The first one you get is always the most special. But I have been wanting to win this event for a long time and to get here against this kind of field was really nice. It also helps that I had lots of side action riding on winning a bracelet this year."

Mercier won his victory by prevailing at a tough final table which included four gold bracelet winners – (Mercier), Benny Glaser, David Grey, and Jesse Martin. The moment of triumph came when Mercier was up by about a 3 to 2 margin and scooped the final pot of the tournament against Mike Watson. Mercier tabled 8-6 low to Watson's 9-7 low, which was the decisive hand of the tournament. Hence, Watson after coming close many times to victory, finished as the runner up. The highly-skilled Canadian poker player from Toronto collected $168,936 as a consolation prize. This marked his 41st time to cash at the series.

This tourney attracted 100 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $940,000. The top 15 finishers collected prize money. The number of entries was up significantly over last year's tournament, which drew 77 players.

No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball has been called "the purest form of poker." It's been a staple on the WSOP schedule since 1973. Although not played as widely as other forms of poker, it's been a favorite game for high-stakes cash game players for many decades.

Aside from the winner, here's a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:
Second Place: Mike Watson, from Toronto, Ontario continues to be on the list of "best players without a WSOP win," although he came as close as ever in this tournament to winning what's been an elusive gold bracelet. Watson had the chip lead at various times during Day Three, but wasn't able to hold it. Watson now has three runner-up finishes at the WSOP, and nine final table appearances. It should also be noted he won the Majestic Super High Roller at WSOP Europe in 2012, although that was not a gold bracelet event (it did pay €1 million). Second place in this tournament paid $168,936.

Third Place: Lamar Wilkinson, one of the owners of the California Grand Casino, made his sixth WSOP final table in this event. His cashes date back to 1994. Wilkinson now has a 2nd, two 3rds, two 4ths, and a 5th on his WSOP resume. His payout for this nice finish came to $120,025.

Fourth Place: David Grey, from Henderson, NV posted his second cash of the series with a deep run in this event. The two-time gold bracelet winner hung in short stacked for five hours at the final table before finally busting out. With this cash, which paid out $86,302, Grey officially crossed the $1 million mark in career WSOP earnings.

Fifth Place: Benny Glaser, from Southhampton, U.K. ended up as the fifth-place finisher. He also finished 12th in the $1,500 buy-in version of this tournament. Glaser won a gold bracelet at the 2015 WSOP in Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, so he's clearly on a big run this lowball games and looks to be a player to watch closely in future tourneys of that kind. Glaser's take amounted to $62,810.

Sixth Place: Stephen Chidwick, from Deal, U.K. posted this third top-25 finish of the 2016 WSOP with this debut final tabe appearance. Chidwick earned $46,277.

Seventh Place: Alex Luneau, from Paris, France is enjoying a profitable WSOP. He made it as far as the semi-finals in the $10K Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship. This deep run paid $34,522.

Eight Place: Herezel Zalewski, a longtime attendee of the WSOP and cash game regular, made his first series cash in six years with an eighth-place finish. The Houston businessman collected a payout totaling $26,078.

Ninth Place: Jesse Martin, winner of this event in 2013 which was good for a gold bracelet, was the first player to be eliminated from the finale. He earned $19,953. This was the 16th event on this year's schedule. That leaves 53 gold bracelet tournaments still to be played.

Other notable in-the money finishers:
Ant Zinno, who won a gold bracelet last year and was in the running for WSOP "Player of the Year," finished in 10th place.

Brain Hastings, winner of three gold bracelets – including two victories last year – made his deepest run of 2016, so far, by finishing 12th.

Mike Matusow, a four-time gold bracelet winner, took 13th place.

Daniel Negreanu, a six-time gold bracelet winner and member of the Poker Hall of Fame, finished in 14th place.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)