Jason Mercier runs out of steam at the finishing line of the $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship; Sam Soverel tries a lower buy-in event and wins, and much more.
Jason Mercier has failed in his attempt to win two bracelets in the space of a week after Ray Dehkharghani denied the Team PokerStars Pro during an epic heads-up encounter in Event #20: $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship.
It’s not a tournament that stands out. This year it had more eyeballs on it than an episode of Game of Thrones. There was one reason for that: Jason Mercier and the $1.8m prop bet with Vanessa Selbst.
Reading through the lines of various 140-character messages on Twitter it seemed Selbst had offered Mercier odds of 180:1 that he wouldn’t win three bracelets. Mercier took the bet for a $10,000 outlay meaning he stood to gain $1.8m had he managed to dispose of Dehkharghani and win one more with over 40 events remaining.
However, it seems the poker community’s vested interested was not worth the Tweets it was typed on.
@TomJeffersonLeo I bought out long before any of this crap went down. Ppl like drama and they read what they wanted to from the situation.
— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) June 16, 2016
Iranian Dehkharghani had been heads-up for a bracelet once before, only that time he lost. It was in 1998. His conqueror was none other than Doyle Brunson. It seems Dehkharghani can pick them.
The event attracted 100 entrants and $940,000 in prize money. Dehkharghani picked up $273,338 for his efforts. A bitterly disappointed Mercier collects $168,936, and it would have been a whole lot more had he won that second bracelet.
Final Table Results
1st. Ray Dekharghani – $273,338
2nd. Jason Mercier – $168,936
3rd. Yueqi Zhu – $116,128
4th. Brian Hastings – $82,078
5th. Robert Campbell – $59,694
6th. John Racener – $44,712
7th. Bart Hanson – $34,521
8th. Jyri Merivirta – $27,499
The four-time bracelet winner, Robert Mizrachi finished 10th, German football star Max Kruse finished 13th, and Phil Hellmuth extended his WSOP ITM cash record to 117 after finishing 15th.
Sam Soverel wins Event #19: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
It’s not often Sam Soverel dips his toes into the waters of a $1,000 event. After a result like this, he should do it more often. The High Stakes cash game pro was one of 1,106 entrants that contributed to the $995,400 prizepool, and he now owns a piece worth $185,317, and a gold bracelet.
Nobody at the final table had been there before. Soverel, 25, has over $2.1m in live tournament earnings, mainly through his involvement in the $25k & $50k Aria Super High Roller events. He has also competed on the final table of two World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Events the closest of which saw him coming runner-up to Anthony Ruberto in Season X WPT bestbet Jacksonville.
Final Table Results
1st. Sam Soverel – $185,317
2nd. Kirby Lowery – $114,486
3rd. Garrett Garvin – $81,080
4th. Zachary Hench – $58,164
5th. Bruno Borges – $42,270
6th. Jeffrey Landherr – $31,126
7th. Jared Koppel – $32,228
8th. Henri Ojala – $17,570
9th. Juuso Leppanen – $13,474
Other heroes who made a deep run included Dan Shak (11th), Ralph Perry (15th), and Steve Sung (19th). Mohsin Charania, who needs a bracelet win to complete the Triple Crown, cashed in 51st place for his sixth cash this summer.
The Best of the Rest
Daniel Negreanu is making a deep run in Event #21: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em. The six-time bracelet winner is one of 26 players who have made it through to Day 2 from a field of 1,029 players. The winner will pick up $531,577. Martin Kozlov has the chip lead with (1,497,000); David Vamplew (1,310,000), and Doug Polk (728,000) are also in great shape in that one.
Danny Le leads the remaining 15 players as Event #22: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em reaches the end of Day 2. 665 players competed in the event and Le has 784,000 in chips. Daniel Idema (315,000) is searching for his fourth gold bracelet in that one.
1,419 players entered Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Iman Shahbazy leads the final 283 players at the end of Day 1. Steve Watts (130,000), Steve Gross (101,100), and Tuan Le (100,000) are a few of the most common names at the head of those counts. The winner will waltz away with $447,739.
Finally, Daniel Alaei leads the final 66 players at the end of the first day of the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship. 171 entrants created a total prizepool of $1,607,400, and the winner will bank $422,874. Bryn Kenney (264,000), James Obst (211,000), and Jason Mercier (176,500) are also excelling in that one.
