Jason Mercier Wins Seminole Hard Rock High Roller For $652,800

Jason Mercier has just won the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open high roller event, after overcoming a tough field of 83 players over two days on his way to capturing the title, as well as its $652,800 first place prize. Making the 28 year-old Florida pro’s victory all the more sweeter was the fact he won the tournament in his own home state, and following his latest triumph commented:
“It’s pretty awesome because for as many tournaments as I’ve won, I’ve never actually had my family here.. My Dad got here for the start, took off some work, and it was cool to have both of my parents and my sister here to watch me win.”
Even before taking down the high roller event, Mercier was enjoying a blistering 2015 having earned a third career WSOP bracelet at the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed event for $633,357, and a runner-up finish at the WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship event for $572,989. Now with his win in Ft. Lauderdale, Mercier boosts this year’s earnings to $2,258,854, and his life-time winnings to $15,879,774, placing him in at number 11 on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’.
The $25,400 buy-in high roller featured a prize pool worth $2,075,000, with many notable pros turning out for the event. On the last day of action, the final table then lost David Peters in 9th ($57,500), Phil Laak in 8th ($74,400), David “Doc” Sands in 6th ($116,600), Barry Hutter in 5th ($141,900) and 2015 Bellagio Cup XI champion Sean Winter in 3rd ($245,500), before the heads-up phase got underway between Mercier and Ian O’Hara for the title.
Following a hard-fought battle, the deciding hand was played with O’Hara 3-betting all-in holding A-K, only to be called by Mercier with J-J. The dealer subsequently laid out a K-2-J-4-7 board to consign Ian O’Hara to a runner-up finish worth $391,700, while Jason Mercier became the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open high roller event champion.
Final Table Results:
1 Jason Mercier $652,800
2 Ian O’Hara $391,700
3 Sean Winter $245,500
4 Ankush Mandavia $186,200
5 Barry Hutter $141,900
6 David Sands $116,600
7 Ashwin Sarin $93,400
8 Phil Laak $74,400
9 David Peters $57,500