The latest blogs from PokerListings.com http://www.pokerlistings.com/feed/blogs Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:56:56 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 en-us http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/diagnosed-with-fancy-poker-syndrome It has now been almost 2 weeks since my last blogpost, I have been struggling I know. After my pathetic exit in Day 4 of WPT Foxwoods, I headed off to Las Vegas to try to get on <em>High Stakes Poker.</em></p> <p>I was able to get on and had a lot of fun on the show. I look forward to watching the broadcast of it and seeing what everyone had. <br /> <br /> After I was done on <em>High Stakes Poker,</em> I headed home on my birthday, and spent it with my family. I didn't play any poker over the few days I was home and headed off to Portugal with my buddy Allen Bari on the 15th.</p>It was quite a pain to travel here, as we had to change airports in London, and take a few long flights.<p>In the Main Event of EPT Vilamoura, I was playing absolutely amazing for all of day 1. I'm not sure if I have ever crushed a table like I did for the first 6 hours of that tournament. I took some hits near the end of day 1 and finished with about average chips.</p> <p>Entering Day 2, I started off really bad, but went on a heater to run my stack up and found myself sitting on about double average with 100 players left.</p> <p>With 86 players to go, for some reason, I decided that I was going to make an absolutely unnecessary play and punted 90 big blinds getting in QJo all in pre vs Antony Lellouche's KK.</p> <p>He actually took about 20 seconds to call with KK, which was pretty frustrating because for 20 seconds I felt like this ridiculous play was going to work. <br /> <br /> This is now the third straight 10k main event that I have completely melted down in one hand for a very unnecessary and ENORMOUS pot, after playing almost perfect poker up until the point where I self destruct in one hand.<br /> <br /> <strong>Bellagio 15k</strong> <strong>-</strong> I shipped the river as a bluff against an unknown player on the 5th hand of Day 2 for a 200 bb pot, after getting through day 1 playing tight and solid at a really tough table.<br /> <br /> <strong>Foxwoods 10k -</strong> Bet called off on the turn with AK high vs Sohill Shamheiden and was drawing dead for a 100 bb pot with 23 players left, in my first WPT cash and closest opportunity to win the triple crown.<br /> <br /> <strong>EPT Vilamoura 5k euro</strong> - 6 bet jammed QJo for a 180 bb pot, against a very good player who, yes is capable of 5 betting light, but is probably doing it at a very low frequency. <br /> <br /> So I went to the doctor today, and have been diagnosed with Fancy Poker Syndrome. To get rid of this disease, I have to stop punting huge stacks for the next 5 main events and also am not allowed to punt any big stacks in my next 10 side events/prelims.</p> <p>Hopefully I can do this, otherwise I could be in a world of hurting.<br /> <br /> GL me. <br /> <br /> PS. Right now, I am on dinner break in the 2k euro side event in Vilamoura. I have a good stack with 50 players left from the 86 that started. 58k euros to first, hoping to get started off good in my quest to get rid of FPS.</p><p>-- Jason Mercier</p><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:09:17 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/diagnosed-with-fancy-poker-syndrome http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/quadruple-crown-hunting-at-wpt-foxwoods Today is Day 4 of the WPT Main Event at Foxwoods. There are 27 players left, I'm 12th in chips right now, with just below average stack.</p> <p>Today we are supposedly playing down to 10 players, and then day 5 we will play from 10 players to 6 for the TV final table. I am hoping to make my first WPT final table, and hopefully get my first WPT win.</p>If I am able to pull this one off, I will become the third player to win the triple crown (WSOP bracelet, EPT title, WPT title), and also the first player to ever win a quadruple crown (WSOP bracelet, EPT title, WPT title, and online series title).<p>My table draw looks to be a pretty tough one, although at this point in the tournament, all three of the tables look pretty tough. This is kind of surprising to me, because of how soft this tournament was from the start.</p> <p>I guess it really does show that the good players should be crushing the inexperienced ones in deepstack tournaments.</p> <p>My day 2 and 3 were both somewhat of a roller coaster. I played some pretty absurd pots on day 2, one of which would have put me in the chiplead with 390k, at 1k/2k, but I got sucked out on and had to work with an 80k stack.</p> <p>I finished day 2 with 139k, and quickly got things going in day 3. I got my stack up to 240k, before running AK into Nenad Medic's AA, and then losing another big pot to get down to 94k at 2k/4k.</p> <p>I ran my stack back up and then hovered around 180k on the bubble. When the bubble broke, my table did as well. I got moved to a really tough table, where I sat for about 5 hands before I was moved to an even tougher table.</p> <p>Fortunately, I was dealt AKs on the very first hand at that table and got it in pre against my good friend Christian Harder's jacks. An Ace hit on the flop and I doubled up right there.</p> <p>I got my stack up to around 520k at its highest point and ended up playing a few pots which I lost to end the day at 367,500. Feeling really good though, I got a good night's rest and am really looking forward to getting started.</p> <p>Look for more updates on worldpokertour.com or personal updates from me on my twitter page or jasonmercier.com</p><p>Peace!</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:25:58 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/quadruple-crown-hunting-at-wpt-foxwoods http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wpt-foxwoods-main-event-day-1 Yesterday was Day 1 of the WPT Foxwoods Main Event. I finished the day well above average stack with 84,750 chips. The average is around 51k.</p> <p>I had a fairly interesting table draw, with Kathy Liebert, who I really enjoyed talking to all day. She was very entertaining and funny.</p> <p>She even made a bet against the guy next to her who was saying that Miami John is a really good player. She took me vs Miami John, but only if one of us wins the tournament. Obviously, I would be the favorite in this bet.</p> <p>I think she was also really impressed with the way I played, as I pretty much played perfect all day. Not to mention the fact, I called her hand about 5 times.</p> <p>I just looked at my table draw for day 2 and it seems to be a fairly tough one. I have Adam Levy, Tommy Vedes, John Hennigan, and Isaac Baron all at my table, who are all pretty solid players from what I've seen.</p> <p>Isaac is the only one with position on me and I have the whole table covered, so it's not a terrible draw.</p>Hopefully I can get off to a good start and make my first day 3 on the WPT, then day 4, 5, final table, shippage. WPT title yesssir! You can follow my personal updates on either my twitter page or on <a href="http://www.jasonmercier.com/">www.jasonmercier.com</a><p>-- Jason Mercier</p><div id="refHTML"></div><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:49:34 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wpt-foxwoods-main-event-day-1 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/november-nine-prediction-slash-personal-update With the final table of the main event of the WSOP coming up, I wanted to make a prediction. My prediction is not about who is going to win, but about who I think is going to make a run at the win. <br><br> I'm predicting James Akenhead to go on a rush, early, and finish in the top 4, possibly even win it. I had the chance of playing against James in the WSOPE main event for a ton of hours, and let me tell you, the kid's game is SOLID. <br><br> Also, he's a super nice guy, and I would like for him to take that shortstack and run it up. <br><br> As for an update on me, I played the 5k at Caesars a few days ago, and that obviously didn't go so well. Played pretty well, just had aces cracked twice for big pots near the end of day 1 to bust. <br><br> I played on Stars a ton in the last week, making the final two tables of seven online MTTs with zero final tables. 11th, 13th, 14th, 13th, 13th, 14th, and 18th, UGH, it hurts so bad. <br><br> I'm going to play MTTs on Stars all day today, and then tomorrow I'm off to Foxwoods to play the last prelim (5k) and the main event. <br><br> I will probably be going home after that and then heading to Portugal for the next EPT. <br><br> Big Sunday coming up, then my WPT title. One time?<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:07:51 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/november-nine-prediction-slash-personal-update http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/quadruple-crown-on-hold I don't know what it is about WPTs, but somehow in almost every single one I play, I bust on day 2 playing a hand in a way that I normally would not. <br><br> I have had countless brain farts, if you will, early in WPTs. I still have not even sniffed the money of a WPT. Granted I have only played like 10-12 of them, but still it has been frustrating. <br><br> I busted WPT Festa al Lago on the 5th hand of Day 2. I put basically 100 bbs in on the river on a massive bluff, risking my tourney life. It was atrocious, and I was very disappointed with myself and my play, and it was a tough one to swallow. <br><br> I have no problem when I bust a tourney losing a flip or get cooled off, or take a bad beat, but when it's something that I know that I could have changed and know that I shouldn't have done, that's the most difficult thing to deal with. <br><br> I decided I was going to wait until Saturday before I played anything online. Yesterday, I played all the big MTTs and sattys on Stars during the day. <br><br> I had an extrememly frustrating day in which I got 11th in the 162, and 11th in the 100 cubed turbo. I also came close and should have won 2 packages. I got 14th in a satty to EPT Portugal which was awarding 6 seats, my AQ crushed by AJ all in pre for a top 3 stack. <br><br> I also got 4th in a PCA satty in which I lost QQ vs KJ all in pre for 70% of the chips 5 handed. J turn J river&hellip; MEH! It was an all around rough day, looking for much better results today. I will be playing all day today, tons of big MTTs and sattys on Pokerstars. <br><br> Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:35:04 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/quadruple-crown-on-hold http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/on-my-grind I promised a blogpost after I shipped the 10k PLO at Bellagio. Unfortunately, I was not able to ship the whole thing. <br><br> I did however manage to get 3rd place out of the tiny 16 player field, which was good for $31k. Only 3 players made the money, which made the tournament very interesting and also very excruciating to play. <br><br> We went from 16 to 6 players on Day 1, which took only 14 hours lol. We also played about 3 hours of 4 handed play on the bubble. <br><br> I skipped playing on Sunday, and then on Monday I put in basically a 16 hour session, which including playing the 5k prelim at Bellagio, a 1500 satty, 10/20 NL, and 200/400 mixed. In short, it was a decent end to a long painful day. <br><br> I plan on possibly going to play the 1k Caesars heads up event tomorrow (Tuesday), and then the 15k main at Bellagio the following day. Looking for that first WPT title son!<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:25:47 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/on-my-grind http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/punmped-for-festa-al-lago I'm heading off to Vegas in a few days for WPT Festa al Lago at Bellagio. I'm probably only going to play the 10k plo event and the 15k main event. <br><br> I'm really excited to play this event as I haven't played a WPT since Bay 101 in March. This will be my first shot at becoming the next player to win a triple crown, or the first to ever win a quadruple crown (FTOPS win). <br><br> I am hoping to stay on a heater for the rest of the year. <br><br> The last time I posted I had made day 2 of a side event at EPT London. With 23 players left, I said I was going to win it, and I talked about how I don't plan on ever settling and I plan on always being a grinder. <br><br> I did just what I said, I won that event for 115k pounds. It was a great way to end my trip and I came home completely satisfied. I have just been chilling since I have been home, only putting in a few hours here and there playing PLO cash. <br><br> Next blogpost will probably be after I ship the 10k plo at Bellagio. I'm thinking it will probably be a really small field 40 players or so, but who knows could get a lot. Later!<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:04:17 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/punmped-for-festa-al-lago http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/never-settle-always-grindin If someone told me at the beginning of the WSOPE, "You're going to get 4th in the WSOP Europe main event," I would have said, "Awesome, I hope you are right, I would be ecstatic with 4th place." <br><br> On the same note, if that same person told me that I was going to get 4th place right before the final table started, when I had 32% of the chips in play and 3x average stack. I probably would not have liked that, and would hope that they were wrong. <br><br> I was fairly disappointed with my 4th place showing at the final table of the WSOPE main. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that I made the final table, very happy with how I played, very happy with how much exposure I got during the event, and very happy with the money I won. <br><br> All that being said, it does not mean I have to just settle and it doesn't mean I should give up. I treat EVERY tournament like I NEED to win it. And I feel like I'm going to do well in EVERY tournament I play. <br><br> I busted EPT London in the beginning of the 8th level. I had a pretty ridiculously soft table draw, but just couldn't get anything going. No worries though, because I'm just going to ship the first side event I play. <br><br> I jumped in the 2500 pound side event yesterday, and finished day 1 with a top 3 stack. 23 players left from the 147 that entered and 16 get paid. It's going to be quite a crapshoot as they are missing many levels from the structure and also it's only 50 min levels, but hey I own crapshoots! <br><br> GL me&hellip; never settle, always grinding, never stop. <br><br> PS thanks to everyone who supported me on my run in the WSOPE, your f/b comments were inspiration to me. Thank you<p><a href="http://jasonmercier.com/">Jasonmercier.com</a></p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:05:46 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/never-settle-always-grindin http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/i-got-the-chiplead-at-wsope-main-event-final-table Let's do it! I came into yesterday as one of the shortest stacks in 32nd position out of the 36 players that remained going into day 4 of the WSOPE main event. <br><br> I quickly made use of my 20 blind stack and ran it up to around average where I hovered for a while. With about 21 players left, I won a few key pots to get a hold of a lot of chips and pretty much never looked back. <br><br> I was told I eliminated 8 players yesterday, 6 of the last 15 to go. Entering the final table today, I have 3.2 million chips and the 2nd biggest stack has 1.4 million. It's an extremely tough final table, and I'm just hoping for the best. <br><br> I want to win this and I hope I can make it happen. Thanks to everyone who has been following me this whole tournament and thanks in advance for anyone who shows up to cheer me on.<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:21:03 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/i-got-the-chiplead-at-wsope-main-event-final-table http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/big-stack-on-day-2-of-wsope-main-event Saturday was day 1a of the WSOPE main event in London. I decided to play Saturday, so I could have a day off in between day 1 and day 2, because it would probably end up being my last day off for this trip. <br><br> My table draws weren't as tough as I thought they were going to be. I only had to play at an extremely tough table for about one hour, when Ashton Griffin and Jens Kyll&ouml;nen got moved to my table which already had Larslusak and a few other tough opponents. <br><br> I got to play on the featured table for the last 2 levels of the day which was a lot of fun. This will be my first time getting on ESPN for some US TV coverage. Yay! <br><br> I played and ran really well all day, making only one mistake that I can remember, which actually probably isn't a mistake in the long run, just a misunderstanding of the player's range at the time. <br><br> I finished the day second in chips and day 1bs chipleader came up 30k short of my stack. I am entering day 2 on Monday with around 190k and high hopes. Good luck me! PS go Zadester<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:39:48 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/big-stack-on-day-2-of-wsope-main-event http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/miserable-fizzle-out-endings-to-wcoop While I wait in the Miami International Airport to board my flight to London, I'm reflecting back on the last few days of WCOOP. I made a few deep runs that all ended in pretty much the same fashion, losing a massive pot to bust. <br><br> Let's just start off by mentioning on the very next day after finishing 11th, 11th, and 27th in three straight 2 pm 109$ rebuys on stars, I managed to get 11th ONE MORE TIME! <br><br> On this same day, I got 3rd in a 109 cubed turbo for 10k and also made a deep run in the 215 plo8 2nd chance wcoop and the Wednesday Quarter Million, but busted in 24th and 29th place. <br><br> The following day, Thursday, I went deep in the WCOOP 530 rebuy, but lost a big flip to bust in 26th place. On Friday, I just played the two WCOOP events and was fairly deep in the 530 cubed, but came up short of the money. I decided to take off Saturday, and prepare for my big day on Sunday. <br><br> Sunday was a really long grind, starting at 1 pm with the 215 WCOOP, which by the way, Elky won! That's a whole different topic, but he has to be considered the best NLHE tournament player in the world. HAS TO BE! Mad respect!<p>Anyways, I played all the WCOOPs and 2nd chance events and the big rebuy events and such. I really was regretting jumping in the 1k 2nd chance WCOOP event which started at 8 pm when I had busted everything else by 9:30.</p> <p>I was mad that this tourney had such a slow structure and I could potentially end up playing until 5 am. That's just what I did too, I finished day 1 of this 2 day event 4th in chips with 38 people left and finally was able to go to sleep at 5:15 in the morning.</p> <p>The restart of this event was at 8 pm, and I was looking forward to it. It took only 15 minutes for me to pittz away my chips playing a very very unnecessary pot, in which I was luckily in a coin flip for over 225 bbs.</p> <p>I whiffed and was left with 4 bbs and was out a few hands later. It was a miserable end to what I was hoping to be a very big WCOOP for me.</p> <p>No worries though, London's going to be HUGE! I'm boarding my plane now, when I land I will have 3 hours to get over to WSOPE for the 5k pound PLO event, which I FTed last year.</p> <p>Yessssir! Later!</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:12:34 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/miserable-fizzle-out-endings-to-wcoop http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/everbody-needs-a-second-chance Yesterday was Day 5 of my 7 day nonstop MTT grind during WCOOP. I was really pumped about yesterday because of the 320 rebuy PLO event along with the 2nd chance PLO 215 rebuy, as PLO is my favorite game. <br><br> I had another miserable day on Monday, coming in 11th AGAIN in the stars 2 pm 100 rebuy. Back to back 11ths was pretty devastating. <br><br> I jumped in the 100R yesterday along with all the other big tourneys as they started. I found myself deep again in the 100R, but came up short yet with a 27th place finish. Near the end of the night I was only 2 tabling, still in both PLO events with good stacks. <br><br> I was in the top 5 in chips in the 2nd chance for basically the whole tournament, and had a little above average stack in the 320R. I ended up fizzling out of the 320 in 46th place, but was chipleader of the 2nd chance with a few tables left. <br><br> I ended up making it to the final table 2nd in chips but quickly took over the chiplead and never looked back. <br><br> I entered heads up having Benba out-chipped 2 to 1, and the first big pot we played I outflopped him. We got all the money in and my hand held. So like I said and have been saying to my friends, "Everybody needs a 2nd chance." <br><br> $24k for the win! Playing again today, PLO8 WOOHOOOO!!!!<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:50:29 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/everbody-needs-a-second-chance http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/the-most-frustrating-yet-profitable-sunday-ever Sunday was Day 3 of my 7 day nonstop grind of WCOOPs and MTTs on stars. <br><br> I started off the day with a deep run in the 109 rebuy. I lost most of my chips on the bubble and ended up blinding into the money with 2 bbs. I won a few pots and flips and before I knew it I had a stack again. I ran my stack up huge and felt like I was going to go all the way. <br><br> I took over the chiplead with 16 players left, and from that point on, it was all downhill. I lost my next 4 all in pots. 88 < K10, KJ < Q10, A7 < AK, KJ < A7&hellip; to bust in 11th place. <br><br> I was fairly miserable, but was still in a bunch of tourneys including the 1k WCOOP, so I needed to stay focused.<p>One of my horses, albari (who btw is the illest), made the final table of the brawl on FTP. He got down to heads up vs a terrible player with a 2 to 1 chip deficit. He absolutely crushed the other guy heads up and had a 10 to 1 chiplead before losing AA vs 33 and then top 2 vs a flush on the turn.</p> <p>He whittled the guy back down again and got it in with A5 vs 72 on a board of 7 5 3... turn 5 gg? River 7! It was disgusting. He then lost 88 vs AK for the rest of his chips to get second.</p> <p>I probably would have broken something. Allen somehow maintained his composure and went deep to cash in the 1k, even though he got screwed in that as well.</p> <p>After my 100R disaster, I busted out of everything except for the 1k wcoop and found myself 1 tabling into the weee hours of the night. I min cashed, which was pretty frustrating losing a big flip to bust.</p> <p>Another horse of mine made day 2 of the 1k wcoop though. Let's go Bheezyyyyyy!!!!!</p> <p>Also congrats to Bgitty for shipping Miniftops event #10... 15,000+ players? No problem!</p> <p>I'm on the grind again today playing everything I can on Stars. I'm hosting both WCOOP events today, so will be railing the final tables late tonight.</p> <p>One last sidenote, today is day 18 of my 35 days off from drinking alcohol. I feel like it's going really well. I only really wanted to drink a couple times in Barcelona when my friends were all drinking around me.</p> <p>I may even extend it to 40 days if I feel like it. O yeah, almost forgot, I'm on the cover of the most recent Cardplayer Magazine, go pick it up at your nearest casino!!! Julio Rodriguez did a really good job on the article about me. Mad Props!</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:40:02 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/the-most-frustrating-yet-profitable-sunday-ever http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/first-deep-run-in-a-wcoop Starting yesterday, I was and still am planning on playing for 7 straight days of WCOOPs and online MTTs. I will be playing every WCOOP except for the 25k heads up on Sunday. Sorry, just not that baller &hellip; yet! <br><br> Last night I had my first WCOOP cash for this year. I finished 121st in the 215R event 21. I ran KK into AA to cripple me deep, before losing the rest of my chips getting it in slightly behind. <br><br> That was the only tourney I cashed in, and I bubbled a few others. It was, all in all, a really frustrating day. <br><br> I still have 6 more days of my nonstop grind to go, so looking for some better results. I will be taking the Friday and Saturday off from poker and then I will play the WCOOP main event on Sunday the 20th. <br><br> I'm planning on leaving for London on the 22nd to play the WSOPE PLO event and main event before playing EPT London. <br><br> Big Saturday one time?<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:58:36 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/first-deep-run-in-a-wcoop http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wcoop-and-side-event-blues Since the 3-way chop of the first prelim in Barcelona I played Day 1a of the main event. I busted during the fifth level, got cooled off pretty hard. Because I busted the main, I decided I should try to play a lot of WCOOPs and side events. <br><br> Since busting the main, I have played 25 MTTs online and only min-cashed in one, along with an early exit in the 1k plo side event in Barcelona. <br><br> Yesterday was an overall just miserable day of poker. I busted the 1k plo right after the dinner break which came after only 2 hours because of the late start time. I rushed back to my hotel room to jump in all the Sunday MTTs only to brick everything. <br><br> I sat around playing Chinese poker vs. my roommate, who was only 1-tabling, and watched my horses play online. My one horse at one point was deep in 7 MTTs. To end the story abruptly, let's just say he didn't make any final tables, lost every flip imaginable late in the tourneys. <br><br> I'm looking to turn things back around today, in which I will be playing in the 2k side event in Barcelona. I will also be playing the 1k side event the following day. I don't think I'm going to play any more WCOOPs until I get home, seeing as how the internet is pretty awful over here and has been giving me a ton of problems.<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:48:58 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wcoop-and-side-event-blues http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/i-love-europe It's that time again!!!! EPT season 6! I've been in Barcelona for less than 36 hours now and I already 3 way chopped a live tournament. <br><br> The first event in Barcelona was a 1k euro NL event with 160 players. I ran extremely well and got really lucky when we were 5 handed at the final table. <br><br> Carter Phillips and Dag Martin Mikkelsen were the other 2 players left when we got down to 3 handed, so it made perfect sense to chop as they are both very good players. <br><br> I took around 32k euros for the score which is a great start to my trip. I will be heading to the Pokerstars party now to hang out and enjoy the rest of the night. <br><br> I am going to be playing the Main Event tomorrow (day 1A) and am feeling really good coming off this score. I'll put a blogpost up after the conclusion of day 1A.<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:25:58 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/i-love-europe http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/spain-wsope-and-the-month-ahead It's been 10 days since I last played poker. I took the last few days off before I left for a week to go to Cancun, Mexico on a trip with a few friends. <br><br> I had a really great time thanks to my boys, D Block, Kyle, and Mackeezy Lite. Big ups still! A special thanks to D Block (Darko) for planning the whole thing and making it happen. <br><br> I'm really looking forward to the next 5 weeks coming up because I will be playing a ton of big tournaments. Over the next 5 weeks I plan on playing EPT Barcelona, WCOOP, WSOPE event 3 and Main Event, EPT London High Rollers, and EPT London. <br><br> I'm looking to have a HUGE month. A third EPT win would be pretty epic. Going to the same places that I went on my hot streak just one year ago is pretty exciting and I don't think I could be any more pumped. <br><br> I am going to be playing online Sunday just grinding all the Sunday MTTs on Pokerstars. I'm leaving for Barcelona on the first of September. What what!! <br><br> Has anyone looked at the WCOOP schedule yet? It is going to be OFF THE HOOK! I think there are 47 events this year with even bigger guarantees. I plan on playing around 25 or so of the events mostly during the second half of the schedule as it will be easier for me to play them while I am home instead of in Spain. <br><br> One last note, I am going to be taking a full 5 week break from drinking alcohol. Today is Day 2 of my 35 day quest. It's something I have wanted to do for a little while now and feel like now is as good of a time as ever. I also want to be super focused over the next 5 weeks anyways. <br><br> Prepare for a lot of blogposts with updates on how all the tournaments are going for me.<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:41:31 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/spain-wsope-and-the-month-ahead http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/two-times On Wednesday I decided to play all the big MTTs on stars starting at 1 PM through the Quarter Million at 9 PM. I was feeling good coming off my 3rd place finish in the 100R from 2 days before and was looking to make some deep runs and hopefully close a tourney. <br><br> Early in the night, I shipped the 109 PLO8 for 3k. Winning that tournament for the 2nd time out of the last 3 times I've played it. <br><br> I was also making a deep run in the 109 2R1A. I won a big flip when we were down to 10 players to put me 2nd in chips going to the final table. Before I knew it, I had taken over the chiplead. <br><br> When we got down to 4 handed play, the chips flew all around the table with no one really busting, before I finally took out my buddy, charder30 in 4th. The other 2 players clashed in a big hand shortly after that, and I was now down to heads up. <br><br> I asked the guy if he wanted to do an even chop, because he had me outchipped 800k to 500k. He refused, and then probably regretted that decision shortly after. I chipped up a bit before winning a flip for basically the tournament A9 vs 22. I then finished him off a few hands later. <br><br> First place in that tournament was 11.6k. This was now the 2nd time in the last 10 days that I had won 2 tournaments in the same day and I had only played 4 sessions of MTTs with a total of 44 tournaments in that time. 4 wins and 1 third? I'll take that anyday. <br><br> I played all day Friday and came close twice, finishing 39th in the 100R and 15th in the 55R but bricked everything else. I decided to take off the rest of the weekend because my grandparents were going to be in town, and also would be celebrating my Dad's birthday this weekend.<p><em>Jason Mercier is a proud member of Team PokerStars Pro</em>. <em>You can find him, and all his teammates, at the tables by signing up and playing on PokerStars.</em></p><p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:43:51 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/two-times http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/third-place-in-the-100r On Monday I planned on grinding PLO cash all afternoon. I hopped in the 109 freezeout and the 109 rebuy on stars and figured I would just play those 2 while I 8 table cash. <br><br> When we got in the money and down to about 30 players in the 100R, I got out of my cash games and tried to focus more on that tourney. I feel like I played really well throughout that tournament, and especially from 3 tables down. <br><br> At the final table when we were 5 handed, I lost a big pot, button vs small blind, my AT vs TT. This hand dropped me down to about 6 big blinds. I ended up doubling up JJ vs A4, and then again A9 vs KQ to put me right back in the hunt. <br><br> I took over the chiplead when we were 4 handed, but ended up losing it right back. There was one hand that I feel like I really should have gotten away from 3 handed that ended up costing me a lot of my chips right before losing a flip to bust in third place. <br><br> It was still a nice payday for 15k though. I definitely feel like I'm playing solid right now in online MTTs. I think I'm going to play all day Wednesday. Today is my Dad's birthday!!!! Happy birthday pops!<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:37:17 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/third-place-in-the-100r http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/two-mtt-wins-on-a-sunday On Sunday, I decided I was going to play all the big MTTs on stars starting from 12:45 to 5:30. I ended up cashing in 4 of the 17 tournaments that I played, 2 of which I won. <br><br> I got first in the 109 intellipoker open which had 285 players. First place was $5415. I also won the 109 PLO8 for $3827. This tourney had 178 players. <br><br> It felt really good to win 2 online MTTs in the same day. I had never done this before, so it definitely was a nice confidence boost. I min cashed the 215 razz and the 55 rebuy also, but just couldn't get anything going once in the money.<br><br> I've been playing PLO cash games during the week and I don't know when the next time I will play MTTs. I have really been enjoying the time at home. I've been having a lot of fun hanging out with my girlfriend and also with my family. <br><br> My next trip will be to Cancun, Mexico with a few of my friends in late August. We are just going down there to hang out and have a great time, should be a lot of fun.<p>-- Jason Mercier</p><br /> Visit <a href="http://www.pokerlistings.com">PokerListings.com</a> info@www.Pokerlistings.com News Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:49:26 +0100 http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/two-mtt-wins-on-a-sunday