WSOP Event #5: Jason Mercier Hijacks First Place
After entering day two as a dominant chip leader, things were rather silent around Jason Mercier in day three. On the final table, he doesn't take back his chip lead until heads-up, where he takes it all.
After a rather cautious start on the final table, Chris Biondino was the first to double up. The action started rather slowly as five players got to the flop in an unraised pot, but when An Tran lead out on the 
board, Biondino pushed over him with his 
.
After tanking for a while, Tran made the call with his 
, but the 
on the turn completed Biondino's flush and the 
on the river didn't really matter anymore.
After Victa Park's elimination on 9th place, An Tran tried to recover from the previous hit by shoving all-in after hitting his set of deuces on the flop. Unfortunately, he was way behind against Steven Burkholder's set of aces and the river didn't bring him the case deuce - he had to leave on 8th place. After raking in several uncontested pots, Jason Mercier, who had come in as the chip leader on the second day, doubles up Chris Biondino again.
Next to leave the table was Dario Alioto. Re-raising all-in pre-flop, he finds a call from the original raiser and has his 
run into Kevin Iacofano's 
. Even though you are almost never a huge pre-flop underdog in Omaha, Iacofano's hand held up by pairing his queen.
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| Photo credit: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP |
As the levels continued rising, Chris Biondino didn't manage to double up again and was out - the same fate awaited Jonathan Tare who busted out before reaching the final four, in spite of his average chip stack.
Matt Giannetti then decided that he had come far enough with his short stack and took a shot by shoving his 
. Jason Mercier didn't get away from his 
and busted Giannetti on 4th place when he hit his six on the board.
Moving on to three-handed play, it wasn't long until the next victim was found. Kevin Iacofano pushed all-in with his 
and was favourite against Steven Burkholder's 
. Luck wasn't on Iacofano's side, though, as Burkholder hit a third queen and went on to meet Jason Mercier in the final heads-up.
While they started out about even in stacks, Jason Mercier was able to get into the lead by about 2.3 million to 1.35 million when Burkholder bluffed into his full house.
In the final hand, the flop in the raised pot came and after a bet, raise, 3-bet and shove, both of them of course showed a jack.
Although Mercier's was behind against Burkholder's 
, the on the turn left Burkholder with a single out to the better full house. The on the river however sealed the deal for Mercier, who carries the bracelet for this Pot Limit Omaha event home.
| World Series Of Poker Event #5 Results |
||
| Rank | Name | Prize |
| 1st | Jason Mercier | $237,415 |
| 2nd | Steven Burkholder | $146,748 |
| 3rd | Kevin Iacofano | $96,128 |
| 4th | Matt Giannetti | $66,544 |
| 5th | Chris Biondino | $48,533 |
| 6th | Jonathan Tare | $37,192 |
| 7th | Dario Alioto | $29,882 |
| 8th | An Tran | $25,122 |
| 9th | Victa Park | $22,053 |
