Five things from the world of PokerStars heading into the weekend.

1. The last of the WSOP (for now)

And so after six weeks in Las Vegas, the sun has set on the World Series of Poker for another year, at least until the final nine player return later this year to play down to a winner. This week our own coverage from the Main Event concluded, and with some style. Much great writing has come out of the Main Event, but Anatomy of an Elimination and November Nine ball, corner pocket from this week are particular stand outs and well worth reading.

The same goes for all of our WSOP coverage, which you can find here for a few more days.

2. The summer of Jason

Arguably the biggest story of the Series outside the Main Event itself was that of Jason Mercier.

To say the Team Pro’s summer was eventful would be a ridiculous understatement. Not only did he win not one, but two bracelets (narrowly missing out on a third) he got engaged (proposing to his girlfriend Natasha as she finished third in an event), but also earned the WSOP Player of the Year title, the third Team Pro to do so in four years.

Jason Mercier: two wins, a second place, a future wife and the PoY title. Not a bad summer

As Brad Willis wrote, all of that adds up to nearly $1 million in earnings this summer, and makes him “A walking, talking, laughing, soon-to-be married poker phenomenon the likes of which we will not see anything like ever again.”

No argument here.

3. Micro Millions

From one high stakes series to a low stakes one. MicroMillions 12 began last weekend with the first of 90 events that will award millions in guaranteed prize money, with events at micro stakes running until Sunday July 31.

It’s a series with countless selling points, not just the buy-ins. For while they may be small it doesn’t stop the big names from contesting them, allowing players of any sized bank roll to pitch themselves against professionals and amateurs alike. Although they’ll still take some beating, as Team Pro Tyler “frosty012” Frost demonstrated this week when he won Event #17.

Here are the latest results:

Find all the details you’ll need about the series on the MicroMillions homepage, which has the tournament schedule and statistics ready to browse. Meanwhile keep tabs on the day to day results from micro Millions on the PokerStars Blog.

4. Lee’s latest

Sometimes great poker stories come from unexpected places, away from major tournament championships or high stakes competition.

Lee Jones is a regular contributor to the PokerStars Blog and seldom do his stories fail to inspire or make you think. His latest, “Poker as Distraction” ticks all the boxes, and makes for perfect, uplifting reading going into the weekend. Check it out here.

5. Top five bad beats?

Finally we’ll send you into the weekend with the consolation of knowing that however bad your beats get sometimes, few count as being worse that the top five we picked out from PokerStars.tv.

As the video below demonstrates, not all bad beats are of the “heard it all before kind”, as Vanessa Selbst, Phil Hellmuth and others will testify. Watch the video below and let us know if you can think of any we missed.

That’s all for this week. Good luck to everyone at the tables this weekend. As always you can get in touch with us with your comments via Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.
WSOP Photos by PokerPhotoArchive.com

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog. Follow him on Twitter: @StephenBartley.