Jason Mercier Wins Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open High Roller Event

American poker player Jason Mercier has carved out a reputation in recent years for being one of the best high level live poker tournament players in the world.

The 28-year-old has a vast array of poker accolades on his resume, including three World Series of Poker (WSOP) Gold Bracelets, 11 WSOP final table finishes, 43 WSOP money finishes, a European Poker Tour (EPT) event win and total live poker earnings of over US$15.2 million.

Mercier can now add a win in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open High Roller Event to that illustrious list, after he won the event in Hollywood, Florida last night.

He beat out a total field of 83 players, which included the likes of Phil Laak and Tom Marchese, to win the event and its US$652,800 prize for first place.

Mercier claimed the first scalp of the final table when he eliminated David Peters from the event, while eventual runner up Ian O’Hara claimed a final table scalp of his own after he knocked Laak out in eighth.

The winner then went on to claim his second scalp of the final table after he knocked out Ashwin Sarin from the event in a showdown with Pocket Kings.

Not to be outdone though, O’Hara also claimed a second final table scalp when he eliminated David Hands from the High Roller event after he hit a pair of queens.

Mercier then set the bar to a new high in the final table after he eliminated the next two players from the event.

The first of those was Barry Hutter, whose Ace Five of Hearts was initially ahead of Mericer’s King Jack of Spades. A King came on the turn, though, and the event was soon down to its last four players.

Next to go at the hands of Mericer was Ankush Mandavia, whose Ace King was actually beating Mercier’s Ace Seven on the flop and the turn. However, Mercier was able to river a Seven to win the hand.

However, O’Hara showed that he was nowhere near done when he eliminated Sean Winter from the event in third.

Winter went all-in pre flop with King Queen of Spades and was called by O’Hara, who had Pocket Tens. O’Hara managed to hit a full house on the board, which put him and Mercier in heads up play.

O’Hara had slightly under a 1.5 to 1 chip lead over Mercier when play got underway.

The chip lead seesawed between the two poker sharks throughout play, but Mercier eventually came away with the huge win.

In the last hand of the event, O’Hara went all-in pre flop with Ace King off suit, and was called by Mercier, who was slightly ahead with Pocket Jacks.

O’Hara hit a King on the flop to give a pair, but Mercier hit a Jack to give him Trips. That was all that was needed to win the hand as the Four of Diamonds on the turn and Seven of Clubs on the river did nothing for either player.

While the cash prize is high, it is average when compared to some of Mercier’s previous earnings, at least three of which are more than US$1 million.