Mercier's Aces Cracked Two Off the Money

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier couldn't have asked for a better spot to get his money in. Unfortunately for him, the aces he held couldn't hold up to give him more than a full double.

From the hijack seat, Mercier raised to 16,000. Adrian Mateos was next to act in the cutoff seat, and he reraised to 46,000. Francois Billard was in the small blind and stuck in a reraise of his own to 98,000. Play slid back over to Mercier, and he went into the tank for a little bit. After about 30 seconds, Mercier announced that he was all in — a shove worth 373,000. Mateos had a look of surprise come over his face as his stared at Mercier. He then shifted his vision to Billard to get an eye on his stack. Then, Mateos announced that he was all in.

Billard was shocked and immediately sat back in his chair before squirming a little bit and sitting forward once again. He had just about 400,000 left after his four-bet, but seemed to know he had to fold. Although he didn't like it, Billard passed his cards to the muck with a pained look on his face. Later, Ryan Riess mentioned to us that Billard told the table he had folded two queens.

Mercier tabled the and was at risk. Mateos had the and was in some rough shape going to the flop.

The kept Mercier in front with his pair of aces, but it did pair Mateos' king. That initial pair of kings would prove vital after the hit the turn and the fell on the river. With that, Mateos spiked trip kings to send Mercier out the door in 73rd place, just two spots off the money.