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Home / Uncategorized / WCOOP 2010: Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier wins Event #42 and $435K
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And… we are back in action after that 12 hour nap after knocking our field of 3122 to just 176. To catch up on how this massive $1,050 buy-in tournament got to this point check out day one’s write up. We would welcome back several Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online players such as Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Florian Langmann, and Steven Paul all shooting for that WCOOP bracelet and the potential $491,715.00 first prize.

Action starts early

While seated at the same table as fellow Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, Thomas Bichon would survive the first hour but found himself getting short stacked mid-way thru the second hour. With the blinds at 3,500/7,000 ante 875, Bichon would shove UTG for 72,676 and found a caller in siola. A suited ace for the French pro A♣ 9♣ as siola turned up pocket tens 10♣ 10â™  . Bichon would flop a gutshot straight draw, but never threatened siola’s pocket pair on the 5♥ 2â™  3â™  J♣ 7♦ board and retired in 111th place ($4,370.80). Humberto Brenes and Greg DeBora would suffer a similar fate finishing in 112nd place and 124th place respectively while Jason Mercier managed to leap to the top of the leaderboard after nearly tripling his stack.

We would end the second hour with 93 players left as the average stack still had over 60 big blinds as Florian Langmann, Barry Greenstein, Steven Paul, Chad Brown and number two in chips Jason Mercier sailed into hour three with that potential $491,715.00 payday awaiting at the final table.

65 left after hour three

After being knocked down to 186,867 chips and the blinds moved up to 7,000/14,000 ante 1,750, Team PokerStars pro Florian Langmann would shove over the top of APerfectGent and UpperKandy. APerfectGent gracefully folded but UpperKandy made the call with pocket nines 9♦ 9♥ as the German pro flipped up a suited big slick A♥ K♥ . On a coordinated board 4♦ 6♣ 5♥ 9♣ 7♣ UpperKandy would connect for the unneeded set as Langmann finished in 53rd place ($5,931.80). Also taking leave during the fourth hour, liberace (60th place $5,619.60) who took home a SCOOP watch last year in Event #5 and finished runner-up to ckingusc in the 2008 WCOOP Main Event taking home $1.3 million but much like today, no bracelet.

It was bound to happen

With 41 players remaining, Team Online’s Steven Paul was facing a four-bet shove from Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier for his remaining stack. Holding pocket jacks Jâ™  J♣ Paul would make the call and it was off to the races against Mercier’s big slick Aâ™  K♥ . An all-low flop 3â™  6â™  6♥ would only pause the ace from hitting on the turn A♣ and a third jack failed to find the river 2â™  . Steven Paul received $6,556.20 in 41st place, as Mercier took in the million chip pot and back into a healthy chip stack with 1.16 million and blinds at 8,000/16,000 ante 2,000.

Rough exit for Greenstein

Ick. It is the only way to describe Barry Greenstein’s exit from the tournament. Watch his pocket aces go down in flames on the river below:

RSS readers click thru to view the video

Barry would finish in 35th place earning $7,492.80 as Greg “Duck U” Hobson who final tabled the SCOOP Main Event-High this year (4th place $473,550) also busted hour five approached and 29 players went to the break.

Soups on for 22!

22 players made it to the dinner break where after 13 hours of play yesterday and another six hours today they were able to throwing something quickly into the microwave before the 15 minute break was up. DHUSTLER15 and Jason Mercier both held over four million in chips with the blinds at 15K/30K ante 3,750 as the average player still held almost 70 big blinds. Fellow Team PokerStars pro Chad Brown was also holding a sizable stack in fifth place with just over three million in chips.

Bubble time

Newly minted Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst dropped by table 90 which Jason Mercier and Chad Brown have been seated at for nearly three hours and offered some advice on how to not get your chat banned. As for the poker action, nearing the eighth hour of play had to say good night to needdollarz in 11th place after Chad Brown min raised from the button with the blinds at 25K/50K ante 6,250, loooser17 popped it to 328,800, then needdollarz shoved over the top of both of them for 2.08 million. Brown would fold as loooser17 took a few moments before calling with pocket jacks Jâ™  J♦ . needollarz would flip up big slick K♦ A♣ for the race that appeared to be won after the 3â™  5â™  A♥ flop. However, 10â™  on the turn opened up some “uh ohs” from the railbirds and sure enough the fourth spade would hit the river Aâ™  giving loooser17 a flush and the 4.3 million chip pot. needdollarz would take away $19,512.50 tonight in 11th place, and add that to the $98K banked for a Sunday Warm-up win in June .

The bubble hand did not have the same excitement as APerfectGent opened for 123,133 and was three-bet by cmmjjt to 420,987 with the blinds still at 25K/50K ante 6,250. Back to APerfectGent who four-bet to 843,133, cmmjjt would commit the rest of his 3.3 million chips preflop holding big slick K♠ A♦ . APerfectGent had cmmjjt well covered and made the easy call holding aces A♠ A♥ . A king would hit the turn but the two-outer failed to hit on the 7♥ 4♠ 5♣ K♦ 8♠ board and APerfectGent collected the 6.8 million chip pot on his way to the final table as cmmjjt picked up a check for $19,512.50 for tenth place.

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Seat 1: osten (1396140 in chips)
Seat 2: TeamWispy (6395189 in chips)
Seat 3: bastet2004 (4038808 in chips)
Seat 4: Dani “supernova9” Stern (3947328 in chips)
Seat 5: JasonMercier (4487801 in chips)
Seat 6: DHUSTLER15 (6414317 in chips)
Seat 7: ChadBrownPRO (2377371 in chips)
Seat 8: loooser17 (9563571 in chips)
Seat 9: Justin “APerfectGent” Schwartz (8209475 in chips)

APerfectGent said it right before catching that cooler that set up the final table. “The structure tonight plays like a live tournament”, indeed no hurrying here with 30 minute levels and deep stacks after 13 hours of poker last night, and eight hours tonight our final nine still had fairly deep stacks as we play down to one. The blinds started off at 30K/60K ante 7,500 as the average stack held 5.2 million chips giving our players plenty of room to raise and fold if needed.

Chad Brown eliminated in ninth place

The deep stacks mostly meant we would need to see a cooler or two if players were busted in the first blind levels of the final table. Just before the blinds moved up to 40K/80K ante 10K bastet2004 would raise to 144,000 chip as Stern called in the cutoff and Brown in the big blind. Flop comes out 7♥ Jâ™  Q♦ as Brown check and bastet2004 followed-through with a 240,000 chip bet. supernova9 would fold as the Team PokerStars pro raised to 600,000. bastet2004 was not giving up and three-bet to 1.38 million as Brown made the call. 10♣ on the turn and Brown shoved for 2.26 million and got a snap call by bastet2004 who covered. Top two pair for Brown J♦ Q♣ got smushed on the turn by bastet2004’s nut straight Kâ™  A♥ . No jack nor queen on the 9♦ river meant Chad Brown’s marathon quest in Event #42 was done in ninth place ($26,537.00).

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Chad Brown – 9th place ($26,537.00)

I think we have seen that flop before

Shortly after the ninth hourly break and a rise of the blinds to 50K/100K ante 12.5K loooser17 let loose with a raise from middle position to 258,800 and only found a customer in Dani “supernova9” Stern in the big blind. A flop of Qâ™  7♦ Jâ™  (which was eerily similar to the one that knocked out Chad Brown) got Stern to check (just like Brown) as loooser17 bet 358,800. A check-raise for 870,555 total for came out of Stern’s stack and just as quickly a shove from loooser17 who covered supernova9’s bet. Back to Stern who would call the bet just as fast creating a 7.6 million chip pot holding top two pair Q♦ J♦ (just like a certain Team PokerStars Pro did…). But, unlike Chad Brown, his opponent did not flop a set like loooser17 did as he exposed pocket sevens 7â™  7♥ . The four outer did not hit on the Aâ™  turn nor 4♦ river and the man that some call “Anksy” was our eighth place finisher ($42,209.44).

Grab your red bull/five hour energy/rockstar or ask for whatever APerfectGent has

Hour 10 of tonight’s day two has APerfectGent running commentary and jokes for the railbirds, reporters, and Team PokerStars pros like Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Selbst, and David Williams. And he did not miss a beat even after running into a blind versus blind cooler while doubling up osten.

Here’s how the final seven stacked up going into hour 11 tonight with loooser17 holding a dominate chip lead:

loooser17 18,043.297
APerfectGent 7,066,214
DHUSTLER15 6,156,020
TeamWispy 5,559,402
osten 5,456,802
bastet2004 2,510,049
Jason Mercier 2,038,216

Action Action Action

Immediately and not sooner than the players returning to their seats from the five minute break Team PokerStarsPro Jason Mercier sitting on the short stack would get it in preflop against TeamWispy. Q♣ A♦ for Mercier trying to outrace the pocket fives 5♣ 5♦ of TeamWispy for a 4.2 million chip pot. Team PokerStars was the stronger in this one as an ace would flop J♣ 7♥ A♣ 8â™  7♣ and hold for the win as Mercier would live for another round. But, three hands later bastet2004 would not be as lucky. Watch the seventh place finisher’s final hand play out below:

Both bastest2004 and loooser17 would push preflop with virtually the same hand loooser17 well covering bastest2004. Ace-jack for both players, J♥ A♥ suited in hearts for loooser17 and A♠ J♣ for bastest2004. The flop would contain a couple of hearts 8♥ 10♣ Q♥ to get the murmurs of a possible flush. 8♦ on the turn calmed things for a bit, but the K♥ on the river gave loooser17 another 4.7 million chips to add to his sizable chip lead, and bastest2004 got a head-shaking exit in seventh place ($73,367.00).

101,974 chips and a chair

Three hands after loooser17 sent bastest2004 home a major confrontation took place between DHUSTLER15 and osten. After a three-bet by DHUSTLER15, play turned back to osten who would tank for about two minutes before deciding to shove his stack of 5.5 million in the middle as DHUSTLER15 covered by 101,974 chips and snap called with pocket aces A♠ A♣ . osten turned over the dominated queens Q♠ Q♥ but the flop was kind enough to expose one of the two ladies in the deck for a flopped set 7♥ 10♠ Q♣ . The board could not do the same for DHUSTLER15 as the 4♦ turn and 5♣ river gave the 11.4 million chip pot to osten and left DHUSTLER15 with less than a big blind. After folding the next hand DHUSTLER15 would double up with the following hands:

69o vs. A3o
JJ vs. 86o
K3s vs. TT
KTo vs. AQo
KQo vs. AKo

And what was a dead stack, now built back to over six million chips and right back into the thick of the tourney with blinds moving up to 70K/140K ante 17.5K.

Team PokerStars outlasts TeamWispy

After becoming one of DHUSTLER15’s victims in his amazing run from the brink of elimination, TeamWispy was down to 1.27 million chips and shoved from UTG + 1 as the table folded around to chip leading loooser17 who would make the call holding A♦ J♣ . A coin flip is what TeamWispy was looking for turning over pocket treys 3♥ 3♣ but hope did not go even beyond the flop as ace and a jack appeared J♥ K♣ Aâ™  4♦ 4♣ with a couple of fours to send TeamWispy to the showers in sixth place ($104,587.00).

Jason Mercier part man-part machine?

Back-to-back double ups right before the 11th hour break for Team PokerStars pro Jason Mercier happen all too quick. First, knocking down DHUSTLER15’s pocket queens with big slick as both players got it in preflop and Mercier was presented with a king on the flop and 8.3 million chips for his stack. Three hands later while Jason was typing out his double-up tweet he would get his new found chip stack in the middle again preflop. This time Mercier held the queens Q♣ Q♦ while the chip leader loooser17 A♦ A♣ found pocket aces. And once again the magical card came out, as Mercier wasted no time to spike the third queen on the flop as the set held on the Q♥ 7â™  9♥ 8â™  9â™  board to win the 16.6 million chip pot and take over the chip lead.

Another flip, another win

Words do not describe Jason Mercier; he may very well be part cyborg. With the blinds moving up to 80K/160K ante 20K, APerfectGent who described himself to be on several levels of tilt after watching Mercier’s and DHUSTLER15’s rises, only had 1.9 million chips and shoved with them from the cutoff. Mercier in the small blind min-raised to push out DHUSTLER15 from the hand and turned over pocket fours 4♥ 4♦ . A♦ 9♣ for APerfectGent but he knew it was over before the J♣ 8â™  K♣ 3â™  K♥ board completed its run without connecting to either player and APerfectGent took his bustout in fifth place in stride with a “gg” and the $135,807.00 he earned.

It’s Jason Mercier’s world and we are all just living in it

Immediately the next hand after APerfectGent tipped his cap on the way out, Mercier was at it again, this time taking on DHUSTLER15. Watch the video below for the ooh’s and aah’s:

DHUSTLER15 found himself behind once again with pocket fives 5♥ 5♦ versus the pocket sevens 7â™  7♣ of Mercier. Until a five popped up on the 5♣ Q♣ Q♦ flop giving DHUSTLER15 a boat and the lead. The four million chip pot was sorely need for DHUSTLER15 down to just under two million and blinds at 80K/160K ante 20K, but Mercier runs good and the 7♥ on the turn proved that as the 9♣ hit the river and sealed DHUSTLER15’s fate in fourth place ($179,515.00).

Sealing up the big cash

To make the three-handed deal, the players cut out the money so there would be a reason to fight for second. $15,000 was set aside for our runner-up this evening as any deal had to include the champion automatically getting $60,000 and the WCOOP bracelet. After fiddling around with 1K here, mortgage payment going there, we had the deal set up below:

Jason Mercier $375,862.07
loooser17 $367,500.80
osten $302,435.13

And with that the players got back down to business as the blinds moved up to 100K/200K ante 25K.

Run good still intact

In the biggest pot of the tournament loooser17 would lead off with a raise to 500,800 from the button as osten called from the small blind. Mercier had no intentions of calling as well; he would three-bet to 1.428 million instead. Back to loooser17 who would four-bet to 3.2 million. osten folded and the Team PokerStars pro would put in the last raise of 16 million effectively putting loooser17 all-in. loooser17 counted off a few ticks of the time bank then made the call holding pocket tens 10♥ 10♠ . Mercier rolled over big slick suited A♠ K♠ for the race that ended quickly with the ace on the flop which held up thru the A♣ Q♥ 4♦ 2♠ K♦ board and loooser17 would take home $367,500.80 from the three-way split in third place. Unfortunately, loooser17 would not be able to add a WCOOP bracelet to the SCOOP watch he won this spring during the Event 29-medium tournament.

Heads up for bracelet and $60,000

osten had not only a 14.3 million to 32.4 million chip disadvantage to manage but Mercier’s very aggressive game as well. Things would stay even keel for the first 15 minutes as the chip stacks did not move leading up to the 12th hour dinner break.

Only delaying the ending

For one hour the final pair would battle it out as osten was not about to easily give up that $60,000.00 plus the right call himself a WCOOP champion. At one point osten would double up off the Team PokerStars pro catching two pair on the flop after Mercier called the all-in with the hammer to take a brief 28 million to 18 million lead. But, Jason came back with a flourish and hammered away at that lead until he re-took the chip lead 34 million to 11.8 million going into the final hand. With the blinds at 125K/250K ante 31,250 Mercier started the betting with a raise to 500,097 as osten made the call to see a 4♣ 4♥ 6♠ flop. osten checked as Jason bet 428,273 and osten came back immediately with a check-raise to 1.25 million. Mercier was NOT giving up the pot and three-bet to 2,582,373 and this time osten just called. J♥ on the turn and osten checked again as Mercier thoughtfully bet 2,728,322 and osten again went for the check-raise, this time shoving all-in for his remaining 8.7 million chips. Jason was not bluffing this time and snap called with flopped trip fours 5♦ 4♦ . osten could only muster up second pair 6♦ 7♦ needing a six on the river to survive. 7♥ did give osten two pair but the trip fours gave Jason Mercier his first WCOOP bracelet and $435,862.07 for his win!

Like he said in his blog post a week before the WCOOP began: “The structures are so great and the variety of tournaments is so amazing, it’s such an awesome experience just playing in the WCOOP on Pokerstars”. “But this year… I WANT TO WIN!”

Well Jason, you got your wish. Congratulations!

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Jason Mercier – WCOOP Event #42 Champion ($435,862.07)

$3,000,000 Guarantee WCOOP 2010 Event #42 NLHE Results (09-21-10)
(*denotes part of three-way that left $15,000 for second and $60,000 for first)
1. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier *$435,862.07
2. osten (el segundo) *$317,435.13
3. loooser17 (or yehuda) *$367,500.80
4. DHUSTLER15 (Tulsa) $179,515.00
5. APerfectGent (Milford) $135,807.00
6. TeamWispy (Wcoops) $104,587.00
7. bastet2004 (Münster) $73,367.00
8. Dani “supernova9” Stern (New York) $42,209.44
9. Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown $26,537.00

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