Jason Mercier stands to win millions if he can make good on the biggest WSOP bracelet bets he's ever booked.
Three bracelets in one summer is a long-shot for anyone but if Mercier can do it this year he told us he'll pocket $1.8 million from fellow poker pro Vanessa Selbst.
Selbst will pay Mercier 180 to 1 on $10k if he can pull off the hat-trick, a similar bet to the one she made against Dzmitry Urbanovich where she's risking $2m against $10k on three bracelets.
Mercier explained he also has a bunch of other bets he'll collect on if he takes down just one WSOP event.
Mercier's Huge WSOP Bets
Mercier has won three WSOP bracelets since he started playing the Series in 2008.
Right now Mercier is at the final table of the $10,000 2-7 Draw event with just a handful of players standing between him and a big payday.
“This would be really huge if I were to get first here,” Mercier told PokerListings.com. “I would win way more than the first-place prize from bets so I'm really gunning for the win.”
Mercier hopes to be taking another picture like this later tonight.
In an interesting twist, Mercier has booked bets against Stephen Chidwick who's also at the 2-7 final table.
“I could potentially get like fourth place or something and if Chidwick wins I'm actually going to lose money on the event,” he explained.
Keep reading for the full interview and follow us on Twitter for updates from the final table.
PokerListings.com: We saw your tweets and heard you've been booking lots of bracelet bets.
Jason Mercier: Yeah I have a lot of side action, a bunch of different bets.
I have a lot at 2.7 to 1 on me winning a bracelet, some at 3 to 1.
A lot of people actually have Chidwick against me to win a bracelet and I've got similar bets against other players.
I have one huge potential payout, 180 to 1 on $10,000 if I win three bracelets. That's against Vanessa Selbst.
This would be really huge if I were to get first here. I would win way more than the first-place prize from bets so I'm really gunning for the win.
PL: It's tough to make final tables so are you feeling the pressure now that you're this close?
JM: Yeah of course. It's very odd playing this final table because I've never been in a spot where it's that much more money from first to second.
This is the heaviest action I've ever had on winning a bracelet.
And I'm also anti-sweating Stevie (Chidwick). I could potentially get like fourth place or something and if he wins I'm actually going to lose money on the event.
"I wish I had done bracelet bets last year because I ended up winning one."
Usually at a final table you're just thinking about how much you're going to make, what's the number going to be, so it's a very unique situation.
I'm just hoping it goes well and works out.
PL: Are you taking a different approach to your WSOP schedule this year with all the side action you have?
JM: Yeah a little different. Last year I really only played the $5k+ events and didn't even bother with the $1,500 Limit events.
This year I'm just taking it one day at a time. I'm playing all the small field events and then just mixing in as many other events as I can.
I'm not really bothering with the huge-field No-Limit events where you really don't have a very good chance of winning it.
PL: Last year Brian Hastings cleaned up on bracelet bets and we heard you might have been on the other side of some of those.
JM: Yeah it's pretty public knowledge that I bet against Brian last year and we had a bunch of side action.
He beat me for quite a nice chunk of money.
I was a bit annoyed. I wish I had done bracelet bets last year because I ended up winning one but this year it made sense for me because I had already made the bet to win three so I wanted to get some action down on winning one.
I didn't want to give up halfway through the Series because I hadn't won one and then not play as many tournaments as possible.
So I wanted to put myself in the best situation possible to win one, two or three or whatever.
PL: Leading up to the WSOP you were playing some big mixed games and doing some traveling. Did you have success in that period that let you go big on these side bets?
JM: It wasn't really big wins or big losses, kind of break-even. I didn't do very well in Monte Carlo and in SCOOP I lost money but I had some big swaps that paid off.
I didn't have a huge result or anything but I decided I was feeling good and wanted to put a lot of money in play and bet on myself.
PL: How exciting is it to be this close with all the action on?
JM: It's exciting but I'm just focused and trying to do the best I can, take it one hand at a time and hopefully get dealt more than one playable hand per hour in the next couple hours.
