Jason Mercier Wins WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts ($727,500)!

Dec 6, 2014

WPT Alpha 8 St. Kitts S2 Champion Jason Mercier
Jason Mercier is the champion of the second annual $100,000 WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts!

This event began yesterday with 11 players in their seats, and four re-entries brought the total number of entries to 15. That generated a prizepool worth $1,455,000 to be shared by the final three players.

Nine levels of Day 1 action reduced the field to nine players with Jeff Gross and Michael Singh failing to advance. The nine who did returned to The Pavilion at Christophe Harbour today to battle for the trophy and the huge seven-figure top prize.

Daniel Colman was the day’s first victim, losing his final pot to Mercier on a bad beat. Colman got his last 23 big blinds into the pot with his AdiamondKspade dominating Mercier’s AclubQclub. The poker gods have been kind to Colman in 2014, but this time would turn out differently. The Qspade6heart4heart flop left him drawing dead to three outs or running straight cards, and the turn 9spade and river 2diamond sealed his fate and set the final table of eight.

Daniel Colman
Here’s how the finalists stacked up as they took their seats around the official final table:

Seat 1: Tony Guglietti — 186,000 (47 bb)
Seat 2: Talal Shakerchi — 44,500 (11 bb)
Seat 3: Bill Perkins — 255,000 (64 bb)
Seat 4: Olivier Busquet — 336,000 (84 bb)
Seat 5: Kathy Lehne — 107,000 (27 bb)
Seat 6: Antonio Esfandiari — 144,500 (36 bb)
Seat 7: Jason Mercier — 256,500 (64 bb)
Seat 8: Alec Torelli — 170,500 (43 bb)

Final Table Players
The short-stacked Talal Shakerchi was the first of the finalists to meet his demise, three-bet shoving his Jheart9spade into Alec Torelli’s Aheart8diamond. The board ran out 7club4diamond2spadeAclub8club, and Shakerchi’s day was done in 8th place.

Talal Shakerchi

Alec Torelli could not get much going today, either, and he was content to flip for double or nothing during Level 12. His last 12 big blinds went into the middle with AspadeTspade, and he out-flopped Busquet’s 7diamond7heart on the Aspade9spade4heart. Unfortunately for Torelli, the 7club ripped off on the turn, and a meaningless 2heart was the last card of Torelli’s day. Busquet’s set of sevens earned him the knockout and reduced the field to six.

Alec Torelli

Bill Perkins fired two bullets in this event, and he was the life of the party for two straight days. But his chips and his time left at the table were both running short. His final stand came just a few hands later, three-bet shoving for about 21 big blinds with AclubJspade. Behind him, Busquet made a cold four-bet shove with his KdiamondKclub to isolate himself against the at-risk Perkins, and the board ran out Jclub9heart8club4spade5diamond. Perkins was out in sixth place, and Busquet was sitting with more than twice as many chips as anyone at the table.

Bill Perkins_Olivier Busquet

Antonio Esfandiari one-upped Perkins by firing three bullets into the prizepool, needing to finish second or better to turn a profit. Unfortunately for “The Magician”, he could not make it that far. One level after Perkins’ elimination, Esfandiari got involved in a big coin flip with Kathy Lehne, his QheartQdiamond against her AspadeKclub. The runout was a nasty one for the pantless Esfandiari, coming 4diamond3clubJspade5heart2spade to river him out the door in fifth place.

Antonio Esfandiari

That brought the four remaining players squarely onto the money bubble. The final three would all earn at least $291,000, while the next player one out would walk away with nothing.

Busquet began the day with the chip lead, and he increased for most of the afternoon before running into some trouble during that same level. By the time Esfandiari fell, Busquet was one of the short stacks, and he could not stave off a fourth-place finish. He got his last 17 big blinds in good, three-bet shoving AdiamondJdiamond to Mercier’s KclubQclub. This 60/40 went Mercier’s way, though, as the board came Qspade9club5heart2heart7heart. Busquet was gracious in defeat, smiling and shaking hands as he departed from the stage empty handed.

Olivier Busquet

Three-handed play lasted for about a level before Tony Guglietti was sent off in a bad spot against Mercier. The two men were betting and calling to the turn on a Kdiamond8diamond7heartQspade board, and Guglietti ended up all in on fourth street with Kspade3spade. Mercier was in front with KheartTdiamond, though, and the river 2club sealed Guglietti’s fate. He was out in third place, and Mercier and Lehne were heads up for the title.

Tony Guglietti
A short dinner break interrupted the duel, which was mostly running in favor of Mercier and his aggression. Lehner came back from the break with some newfound aggression of her own, though, and she nearly had the gap closed before things came unraveled.

Heads Up_Kathy Lehne_Jason Mercier
On the final hand, Lehne check-shoved the river as the board showed Qdiamond5heartQclub7spade8heart. The move put Mercier to the test, and he considered his play carefully before making the call with AspadeAclub. Lehne’s Theart8diamond made an inferior two pair, and she had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $436,500.

Kathy Lehne_WPT Alpha 8 St. Kitts_Day 2_S2_Giron_8JG5848

She’s the only lady who’s ever entered an Alpha8 event, and she’s 1-for-1 so far.

So then, after another impressive tournament performance, Mercier is the newest champion of WPT Alpha8! He earns $727,500 for his efforts, along with a pair of Monster 24K headphones and a Hublot King Power Unico watch. Oh, and a #selfie with Lynn Gilmartin.

Winner Selfie_Lynn Gilmartin_Jason Mercier

(Photos: Joe Giron)

The next $100,000 event is just a few short days away as WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas takes Bellagio by storm. Mercier will be there to try and pull off the back-to-back, and we’ll be there too with full coverage from the rail.

Until then, congratulations once again to Jason Mercier, and goodnight from St. Kitts!

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