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Jason Mercier’s return to poker culminated with a victory Thursday.
The onetime superstar-turned-family man gained the World Collection of Poker’s $1,500 buy-in No-limit 2-7 Lowball Draw at Horseshoe Las Vegas. The victory places Mercier in elite firm together with his sixth profession WSOP bracelet, that are awarded to match winners.
Mercier defeated Mike Watson heads-up for the $151,276 first prize. The result was a repeat of 2016 when Mercier beat Watson for the title within the $10,000 buy-in No-limit 2-7 Lowball Championship.
“It was positively a little bit of deja vu,” Mercier instructed WSOP.com. “Going into heads-up, I used to be a little bit apprehensive that he was lastly going to get me. However fortunately I ran sizzling and was in a position to beat him once more.”
Mercier was one of many dominant figures in poker for a decade, profitable 5 WSOP bracelets from 2009 to 2016 to go together with quite a few different titles. However beginning in 2018, Mercier’s quantity decreased as he devoted his time towards household.
He skipped the winter WSOP in 2020 in the course of the coronavirus pandemic and once more in 2021 earlier than returning to play a restricted schedule final 12 months.
However Mercier, who has three younger kids, has been seen on the poker tables extra typically in 2023. In February, the resident of Davie, Florida, gained the PokerGO 10-Recreation Championship for $367,500.
Mercier and Watson traded the chip lead early of their heads-up match, which lasted about 90 minutes, earlier than Mercier’s stress finally wore down his opponent.
Along with his newest win, Mercier has greater than $20.7 million in reside profession match earnings, in accordance with the Hendon Mob Poker Database.
“Everybody’s rather a lot higher. The sport is completely different. There’s simply not as many individuals which can be drawing lifeless on the sport,” Mercier instructed WSOP.com.
“I’m not a lot of a studier. I simply type of play and get my expertise by enjoying extra arms. So it’s type of like using a motorcycle, you realize? I simply hopped again on.”
Erik Seidel, who was looking for his tenth profession WSOP bracelet, completed fifth.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Observe @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
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