Mercier Beats Juanda to Win PokerStars EPT London £1 Million Showdown
Jason Mercier beat back a tough field of 85 poker players to take down the PokerStars EPT London £1 Million Showdown. If you think I’m exaggerating about how tough it was, think Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, David Negreanu, David Benyamine and Gus Hansen. Let’s make it even tougher. Mercier had to go heads up against WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda. Yes, he really earned this one.
John Juanda started building his stack of chips when he busted our Isaac Haxton who bet the farm with 8-8. Unfortunately for Haxton, Juanda was holding pocket rockets and even hit a set on the turn. Haxton finished in sixth place for £103,000. Scotty Nguyen was the next victim of Juanda’s poker rush. Nguyen moved all-in after Juanda raised with Kh-9h. Nguyen called with A-10 but found himself in trouble when the flop came Jc-7h-6h, giving Juanda really great outs. Although the A on the turn helped Nguyen’s cause, the river was a J of hearts, giving Juanda a flush. Nguyen finished in fifth with £137,000.
Mercier sent Peter Jetten home in fourth place (£189,000) when his pocket twos won a coin flip against Jetten’s A-J. Juanda, however, continued his fierce poker game by taking out Michael Watson who ended up in third place with £241,000. This left Mercier and Juanda in heads up.
Juanda had a strong lead against Mercier as he had 1,185,000 in chips over Mercier’s 536,000. But on the very first hand, Mercier evened the scored by doubling up with his Qs-Js and hitting a J on the river card after calling Juanda’s pre-flop all in re-raise with Ah-2c.
In the final hand, Mercier moved all-in with K-Q. Juanda called and was ahead with his A-J but this ended soon enough with Mercier flopping the nut straight right on the flop. Juanda had to be content with second place and £327,000. Jason Mercier, on the other hand, took home £516,000 and the title of EPT London Champ.
