ARIA Resort & Casino’s PokerGO Studio recently held the 2023 PokerGO Tour (PGT) Mixed Games $25,000 buy-in 10-Game Championship. It attracted 57 players, and Jason Mercier emerged as the winner taking home the $367,500 top prize and title. Yet, it was his first tournament in the series to take part.
The tournament comprised pot-limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E. games, no-limit hold ’em, no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw, deuce-to-seven triple draw, and badugi. Also, it lasted for two days. Its field drastically reduced to 18 players late on Day 1 Dan Zack having the biggest stack.
Even so, it was Mercier’s first live poker tournament to win in over 3.5 years. He is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet champion with over $20 million in recorded event earnings.
The 36-year-old poker pro played live events for a decade before he concentrated on starting a family. He won his recent title in August 2019 and odds favored him in the PGT Mixed Games.
Mercier informed PokerGO Tour journalists that he enjoyed the tournament, and it was his first time visiting the PokerGO Studio. He played cash last week, which increased his confidence in the Mixed Games. The pro collected 257 PGT Points which increased his position to the top 5.
The Finalists’ Prizes
1. Jason Mercier-$367,500;420 POY points and 257 PGT points
2. Dan Zack-$345,000;350 POY points and 171 PGT points
3. David “ODB” Baker-$199,500;280 POY points and 120 PGT points
4. Maxx Coleman-$142,500;210 POY points and 86 PGT points
5. Jeremy Ausmus-$114,000;175 POY points and 68 PGT points
6. Daniel Negreanu-$85,500; 140 POY points and 51 PGT points
7. Andrew Kelsall-$71,250;105 POY points and 43 PGT points
What Transpired on the Final Day?
Andrew Kelsall was the short stack when the last day’s action began. Daniel Negreanu eliminated him in seventh place. Surprisingly, he later risked ending his run abruptly in a no-limit hold ’em hand.
Jeremy Ausmus shoved, and Negreanu called him. The former showed queens full of fours as the latter mucked. Negreanu finished sixth with $85,500.
Ausmus lost several pot-limit Omaha big hands before getting caught up in a vital stud eight-or-better pot. He went all-in with sixes up on sixth street facing David Baker’s pair of eights and eight low.
The latter got an ace on seventh street that improved aces for the high side and earned him a pot that sent Ausmus packing in the fifth position. Badugi ended Maxx Coleman’s run in fourth place. The latter used 4Club Suit2Diamond SuitASpade Suit to move all-in after the second draw and faced Baker’s 3Heart Suit2Spade SuitADiamond Suit.
None of them improved, but Baker’s three-card badugi won a pot. Baker lost many chips to Mercier in a no-limit hold ’em pot. Still, the former went all-in in a razz hand and put his remaining stack using a (5-3)A-2-5-9 board on sixth street.
Unfortunately, Baker faced Zack’s (A-8)9-3-2-4. Baker got a 10 and later a 9-5-3-2-A low as Zack used a 7 to improve 7-4-3-2-A. the former exited the tournament in third place, setting up heads-up action between Mercier and Zack.
The two remaining finalists struck a deal that earned the second player $345,000 and the first $367,500. They went all-in blind in a pot-limit Omaha hand.
Mercier used a pair of aces to get the pot as Zack doubled his stack twice before running into his opponent’s wheel and getting busted as a runner-up. Zack amassed 352 PGT points in the festival.
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