Aaron Mermelstein Wins WPT Maryland Live! For $250,222

2015 is proving a golden year for Aaron Mermelstein, and after winning the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open in January for $712,305, and capturing a number of five figure scores in the meantime, the 28-year-old poker pro has now taken down the WPT Maryland Live! for $250,222. In total, Mermelstein now boasts $1,291,025 in live career earnings, $1,153,209 of which has been won this year alone.
The seat of his latest victory was the Maryland Live! Casino, in Hanover, where 337 runners entered the $3,500 WPT Main Event to create a prize pool worth $1,063,000. Thirty-six players would subsequently see a return on their investments, including such notable pros as Andy Spears in 32nd ($7,228), Corey Hochman in 31st ($7,228), three-time WPT winner Anthony Zinno in 30th ($7,228), Mike Wang in 25th ($8,291), Jamie Kerstetter in 13th ($14,032), and two-time WPT champ Darren Elias in 10th ($17,114).
Aaron Mermelstein then entered the six-handed final table second in chips (76bb), behind the table leader and 2012 WSOP ME Winner Greg Merson (109bb). Mermelstein soon took the lead, however, after a battle of the blinds with Merson,and on a later hand Merson shoved (10-8) on 10-4-3-9 board and was called by Mermelstein with (J-J). The K on the river sealed his fate, and so Greg Merson exited the competition in 4th for a $78,449 payday.
With Tom Wang (Q-Q) taking care of Andjelko Andrejevic (K-6) in 3rd for $105,981, the final heads-up battle was set with Mermelstein holding a roughly 3:1 lead over his remaining opponent. Twenty hands later, Mermelstein (6-6) won a preflop all-in encounter against Tom Wang (A-8) to claim his second WPT title of the year, while Tom Wang had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $164,765.
Final Table Results
1 Aaron Mermelstein $250,222
2 Tom Wang $164,765
3 Andjelko Andrejevic $105,981
4 Greg Merson $78,449
5 Cate Hall $58,589
6 Ken Holmes $47,091