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Day 2
Play was delayed for an hour due to space limitations with Events #7 and #8 starting today.
Action resumed with just a few minutes left in level 10 with blinds at 600/1200, 1200 call or
make it with 2400/4200. When things got underway at 3:00 PM, the eliminations commenced! Robert
Mizrachi had his pair of Queens punished by the two pair (K's and 9's) of Jesse Rios. Others
who followed the call of the busted siren were Tom Chambers, Jonathan Jaffe, Steven Rothstein,
Matt Stout, Shannon Shorr, Alexander Kostritsyn, Alexander Kravchenko and Jan Von Halle.
Steve Burkholder became the chip leader for 15 minutes after making quad Aces and taking down
two other players at the same time.
After dinner break, there were 27 players left with large chip stacks. Matt Giannetti was
a beneficiary of the big money as his elimination of Brian Alioa with a full house (A's/2's)
shot him over the 530K mark. The bust of Jae Chang by Kevin Iacofano put him over 675,000,
eventually paving his way to become chip leader for Day 3.
Others who made the money today were Samir Khoueis from the UK (29th place for $5,797), Kirill
Gerasimov from Russia (22nd spot for $7,012), Philippe Marbleu of France (20th position for
$7,012) and Alex Jalali from Germany (15th position for $11,583). Here are the final table players
with chip counts:
Day 3 Final Table
Here are some champion highlights from the WSOP:
The 2009 World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha champion is Jason Mercier.
Mercier is a 22-year-old professional poker player. Prior to joining the pro poker circuit, Mercier worked
for a year coaching high school basketball.
Mercier has enjoyed an astounding 14-month run. He cashed for the first time ever in a major poker
tournament in April 2008. Since then, he has won five tournaments -- including two European Poker
Tour championships and a WSOP gold bracelet. He already has accumulated $3,069,194 in career earnings,
at age 22. His first tournament victory at San Remo (European Poker Tour) still stands as the
shortest final table in EPT history. His victory in this event clocked in at five hours, a
relatively quick finale given the starting distribution of chips and tough lineup at the final table.
Note: Mercier is not related to tournament pro Isabelle Mercier, from Quebec (Canada).
Action continued at level 18 with blinds at $5000/$10,000, call at $10,000 or make it at $20,000 to
$35,000. An hour into play, Victa Park busted in 9th place from the two pair (K's and Q's) of
Matthew Giannetti. Twenty minutes later An Tran left the event in 8th place when his set of 2's
was overcome by the set of 5's belonging to Steven Burkholder. A pair of Queens was enough to
send Dario Alioto to the sidelines in 7th place, courtesy of Kevin Iacofano. Then it was Jonathan
Tare who went to the rail after seeing the set of Jacks that were property of Jason Mercier for
a 6th place finish. Two hands later, Mercier made another two pair (9's and 8's) to take out
Chris Biondino in 5th. Mercier claimed another victim when a 10 high straight bounced Matthew
Giannetti to the rail in 4th. The poker gods then said Kevin Iacofano would be next to go in
3rd place, losing to the set of Queens belonging to Burkholder.
Interestingly enough there was not a lot of difference in stack size for the heads up. Jason Mercier
had 1,650,000 and Burkholder shouldered 1,992,000 on his side of the table. Chips went back and forth
for about 17 hands when both players pushed to the middle after seeing a flop of J J 6. Burkholder
showed A A J 7 and Mercier had Q J 8 2. Turn card was a Queen giving Mercier the full house and the
river card was a King. So with a tiny fist pump move, (they are giving penalties for excessive
celebrating this year), Jason Mercier continues his streak of great luck and receives a WSOP gold
bracelet for his efforts.
Jason Mercier