The $100,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Alpha8 competition in St.Kitts was won by international poker pro and double WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier over the weekend, boosting his career earnings by $727,000.
15 entrants generated a prize pool of almost $1.5 million for the event, which saw Mercier, Kathy Lehne and Tony Giglietti cash after some exciting top-level poker over two days.
Nine players made it through to Day 2 with Oliver Busquet the chip leader, facing Giglietti, Lehne, and Mercier, along with Dan Colman, Talal Shakerchi, Alec Torelli, Bill Perkins and Antonio Esfandiari.
The three handed stage of the game started with Lehne holding a 3 to 1 chip lead over Giglietti and Mercier, but over the next forty hands Mercier narrowed the gap whilst Giglietti struggled, and was finally eliminated at third for $291,000.
Entering the heads up with a 200,000 chip lead, Mercier showed no mercy as he applied pressure to Lehne and vanquished her on hand 151, sending her home with a consolatory runner up prize of $436,500.