Jason Mercier: Back to His Best

Jason Mercier: Back to His Best

Lee Davy sits down with Jason Mercier for a quick fire chat about his showing at the World Series of Poker.

Jason Mercier: Back to His Best
[img courtesy of WPT Flickr]
Rewind the beta max of life to 2012 and you will find Jason Mercier telling reporter after reporter that he had just experienced the first losing year of his career. Add a painful separation from his fiancée into the mix and it was very definitely an annus horribilis for the Floridian.

If you have your shit together you take it on the chin and wade through the treacle. If you don’t, you drown.

Mercier is still breathing.

He is made of stern stuff.

In 2013, he rebounded with over $1.8 million in live tournament earnings and so far this year he amassed over $2.2 million with six months of the year left to roll out.

Things seem to be back to normal, so how has the summer been for Mercier?

“The series started out really good. I had a couple of good runs: got ninth in the $10K Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and third in the $10K No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball. I cashed in three of my first six events but after that I have not cashed in anything. I’ve bricked my last 20 WSOP events or so but I did chop the $100K at the Bellagio for $1.6 million during a day off.”

I usually spend my days off lying on the couch. Does a 0/20 run bother Mercier?

“Yeah, it’s a little disappointing, but I was going deep in a lot of the events. I was probably 10 off the money in five or six of the evens that I didn’t cash in, so I think I have been playing well; took some pretty horrendous beats, and so you have to roll with the punches and get on with the game.”

What is Mercier got going on outside of poker?

“I have a boat that I got earlier this year and I’m really looking forward to taking it out when I get back to Florida. I have been playing a decent amount of basketball at the series this year. I have had no bracelet events and I am just trying to get a little bit of rest in between events.

“I like to play a lot of sports, watch sports, hang out with my family and friends and do stuff on the water—either on my boat or hanging around on the beach.”

And when he takes a day off?

He wins $1.6 million in a poker tournament.