Can Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier Overcome A Bad Beat And Conquer A Stacked Final Table?

Two days ago, the €10,000 High Roller at the Season 9 European Poker Tour Prague is attracted a field of 113 players. That turnout exceeded even the wildest expectations, and that’s resulted in the tournament running longer than planned. For that reason, Day 3 has been added to the schedule to determine a winner.

Just nine players remain in contention for the €365,300 first-place prize including chip leader Sorel Mizzi, who has 1.192 million; France’s Philippe Ktorza, the only other man over a million in chips; back-to-back World Poker Tour champion Marvin Rettenmaier; and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier.

Mercier suffered a brutal beat late last night when Rettenmaier opened for 40,000 from the cutoff and Mercier three-bet to 113,000 from the small blind. Action was then on Ktorza in the big blind and he paused for a moment before announcing that he was all in for 522,000. Rettenmaier got out of the way and Mercier snap-called.

Showdown
Ktorza:
Mercier:

Mercier held rockets and was a huge favorite over Ktorza, who was up on his feet. The flop gave Ktorza a pair of kings, but he'd need another to stay alive. Wouldn't you know it, the dealer burned and turned the . Ktorza briefly celebrated while Mercier was clearly disgusted and frustrated. The was put out on the river, and the long-time chip leader was suddenly on a short stack. Luckily for him, Mercier doubled the very next hand to put himself back in contention with 444,000.

Here’s a look at the final nine and how they stack up:

Seat	Player	Chips
1	Andrey Gulyy	229,000
2	Fabian Quoss	781,000
3	Marcin Wydrowski	420,000
4	Aubin Cazals	225,000
5	Marvin Rettenmaier	738,000
6	Juha Helppi	546,000
7	Jason Mercier	444,000
8	Philippe Ktorza	1,094,000
9	Sorel Mizzi	1,192,000