2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 18
$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  41
Prize Pool:  $1,988,500
August 8-9, 2019

Two years ago, Jason Mercier’s wife Natasha was seven months pregnant when he entered the $25K High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, and Mercier won that event — his last tournament victory before he pulled back from the tournament circuit to focus on fatherhood.

Yesterday, Jason Mercier’s wife Natasha was seven months pregnant when he entered the $50K Super High Roller, and today Mercier steamrolled the final table with an overwhelming chip stack to win $715,860.

“We’ve been talking about that the whole time,” said Mercier after his victory. “Even before the event, Natasha said, ‘I’m seven months pregnant. This is exactly when you won the $25K two years ago, so you have to win the $50K.'” Mercier added, “It’s kind of weird that it actually happened this way. I wish she could always be seven months pregnant, but I don’t think she wants that.”

With 41 entries, this was the biggest $50K Super High Roller in the history of Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, creating a total prizepool of $1,988,500 that nearly doubled the $1 million guarantee.

Mercier entered the seven-handed final table with nearly a 5-to-1 chip lead over everyone else, and none of the other players ever acquired enough chips to pose much of a threat.

The key hand for Mercier came last night to burst the Money Bubble. Mercier raised, and Dan Shak — who was second in chips at the time — reraised. Mercier called and the flop came . Shak shoved with , and Mercier thought for a bit before calling with . The best hand held up for Mercier to eliminate Shak and end Day 1 with a monstrous chip lead.

Today’s final table was a quick one, finished in a little more than 90 minutes, with the other six players effectively battling for second place. Franklin Fok knocked out Tom Boivin in third place to get heads-up against Mercier, though Fok was still down nearly 7-to-1 in chips. In the ninth hand of heads-up play, Fok got it all in with , but never improved against Mercier’s .

“I won a ton of hands that I probably shouldn’t have, just because of stack sizes,” said Mercier. “I had over half the chips in play when we were seven handed, so I was playing a ton of hands and just taking advantage of spots. But I also got dealt really good hands, and was able to call all ins when I was in the big blind, and those hands won.”

Mercier has won more than $19.5 million in live tournaments over his career, but this was actually his first cash in nearly a year as he’s been spending most of his time with his wife Natasha and two-year-old son, Marco. “I didn’t realize it until I got in the money,” said Mercier. “I hadn’t cashed in a year, so this was a really nice one to win.”

Final Results:

1st:  Jason Mercier  –  $715,860
2nd:  Franklin Fok  –  $457,355
3rd:  Tom Boivin  –  $288,330
4th:  Giuseppe Iadisernia  –  $198,850
5th:  Manig Loeser  –  $139,195
6th:  Sam Sweilem  –  $109,370
7th:  Albert Daher  –  $79,540