American poker pro Jason Mercier has officially become the 2016 GPI WSOP Player of the Year after collecting a total of 2195.57 points during this summer’s edition of the globally popular poker festival. Mercier cashed in 11 events throughout the Series. What is more, the player captured two gold bracelets, adding them to his collection of three WSOP gold pieces won in previous WSOP editions.
Technically, the WSOP has not been concluded yet as the nine WSOP Main Event final table players are set to return to Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on October 30 and to play down to a winner. However, none of the November Niners is even close to Mercier in the GPI WSOP Player of the Year ranking so there is no chance for the player to be overthroned.
Event #15: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix was the first tournament Mercier cashed in in this year’s WSOP. The player took 35th place for 107.77 points and $3,404 in prize money. His next three in-the-money finishes were much more impressive.
The player next captured his career fourth gold bracelet for winning the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship. His share of the event’s prize pool totaled $273,335. He also added 366.26 points to his GPI WSOP Player of the Year score. A second-place finish in the $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship next secured the player with $168,936 in prize money and 287.70 points.
Bracelet number two for this summer came after Mercier won the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. Apart from the shiny gold piece, he scooped a payout of $422,874 and 434.24 points. Here it is interesting to note that the player won the two bracelets within a week, a feat that not many others have achieved before.
Mercier had yet another final table appearance over the course of this year’s WSOP. The player finished 8th in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship for $39,269 and 208.01 points.
As mentioned above, the player cashed in as many as 11 events this summer. Although the rest of his in-the-money finishes were not that impressive in terms of payouts, they should be considered further indication of Mercier’s consistency of play. And as it could be seen, they secured him with enough points to scoop the 2016 GPI WSOP Player of the Year title.
Paul Volpe finished 2nd in the race with 9 cashes in the 2016 WSOP and 1923.66 points. Max Silver took 3rd place with 10 in-the-money finishes this summer and 1687.67 points.
