Six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jason Mercier’s love affair with the WSOP has been rekindled in spectacular fashion. In a field of crushers, Mercier, who sold to his $103,000-entry Event #3 of the 2024 WSOP Paradise on PokerStake, sits atop the Day 2 field with an incredible 149 big blinds. With crushers like Jared Bleznick and Jeremy Ausmus also still in the hunt, nothing will be easy for the Floridian, but Mercier is in the box seat.
With a round-up of PokerStake’s finest in action across the first three events, it’s time to get under the lights in Paradise.
Mercier On Top in PLO
Event #3 of the 2024 WSOP Paradise schedule is a huge one. The Pot Limit Omaha Super High Roller costs an eye-watering $100,000 to enter and with 62 entries, just nine players will make the money. Jason Mercier is the man who sits atop the leaderboard after a pulsating day of action on Day 1 ended with the six-time WSOP champion ahead.
Bagging up a massive stack of 3,745,000 chips, Mercier’s stack is just under 150 big blinds, with Chinese player Ding Biao (3.4m / 136BB) close behind him. Jared Bleznick (3.18m / 127BB) who last week scooped the High Stakes Duel V battle he’d enjoyed with Patrik Antonius 3-0, will be a force to be reckoned with too. Samuli Sipila (2.38m / 95BB) will be one of Mercier’s biggest rivals, with the Finnish pro having won the 2024 PokerGO PLO Series in April of this year with over $1 million in cashes across the series.
Mercier’s WSOP history is the stuff of poker legend, with bracelet wins in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016 (twice) and 2023, where he took gold in the No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw event, outlasting legends of the felt such as Erik Seideil, Richard Ashby and his heads-up opponent Mike Watson at the final table to take home $151,276.
This latest bid for WSOP gold and his seventh bracelet would win him the largest share of what is currently a $6.2 million prizepool and Josh Arieh, who welcomed Mercier as a PokerStake player with the compliment that Mercier is “one of the best to ever do it” is looking wise at this moment in time.
Opening Event Sees Zobian Go for Gold
There have currently been an incredible 1,661 entries into the opening event of the WSOP Paradise series, with a guaranteed prizepool of $5 million in the Mini Main Event, which costs $2,500 to play. Just 125 players remain after Day 1a and Day 1b, with Jerry Wong (974,000) holding a big lead over the field from that flight. With poker crushers such as Bruno Volkmann (567,000) and Joseph cheong (499,000) both in the top six too, there is no end of talent to wade through for any potential champion.
One interesting player a little lower down is the PokerStake player Aram Zobian, who has won over $1.7 million in staked events on the site. Zobian – who is also selling to the $25,000-entry Suer Main Event – is on a stack of 272,000 and has every chance of running very deep in the event and making yet more profit for his investors.
Others still in with a big chance of grabbing gold include Chris Brewer (247,000) Anthony Zinno (225,000) and David Peters (182,000) from Zobian’s flight with Ole Schemion (676,000), Stoyan Madanzhiev (567,000) and Jesse Lonis (480,000) among the top 15 players to end Day 1a with chips.
Chidwick and Mateos Chase Historic Triton Million Win
With an impressive 96 entries in the $500,000 buy-in Triton Million Invitational event, there is a real chance that whoever wins from the final 14 players will change the current look of The Hendon Mob All-Time Money List. Should Adrian Mateos win, then the Spaniard’s current results mean that by adding the top prize of $12,070,000 to his coffers, he’d move into third place on the list behind only Justin Bonomo (2nd) and Bryn Kenney at the top.
The potential victory story is even more exciting for British superpower Stephen Chidwick. Should he claim the $12 million top prize then he leapfrog Bonomo and move to within less than $300,000 of Kenney at the top of the charts. It’s a phenomenal potential story, with any major cash in high rollers in the rest of 2024 potentially seeing a change in leader on the list for the first time in years.
With Michael Moncek (12.5 million) the current chip leader in the event, Daniel Dvoress (12.35 million is a very close second. Behind the top two, Argentinian Alejandro Lococo 10.77m) has the chance to move into second place on the Argentinian all-time money list, while Mateos (9.8m) and Chidwick (8.65m) round out the top five with dreams of glory.
Want to invest in others in the forthcoming Events #4 through #15 at the 2024 WSOP Paradie? Head to the PokerStake staking page for the tournament series right here.
