It appears that Jason Mercier just cannot catch a break at present in his efforts to win a third bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker and collect some reportedly stupendous prop bets…he has busted out again – at 11th – in the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better event, and followed that with another early exit from the $10,000 buy-in Six Max NL competition.
Hani Awad, a 65-year-old Vegas taxi company owner and high stakes recreational player, had far better cards which he exploited to the full to win the aforesaid Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better event, claiming his first WSOP bracelet and a tidy first prize of $213,186, and improving on his runner-up finish in the same event last year.
In his 50 years living in Vegas, Awad has mixed and played with many of the great poker aces, but this win was special.
“This means everything. I don’t even care about the money. I just wanted to win the gold bracelet,” he said after his tenth WSOP cash.
The event pulled in 394 entrants, creating a prize pool of $896,350 which enabled the last 60 finishers to cash.
Going into the heads up against French ace Fabrice Soulier, Awad held a 3 to 1 chip advantage which Soulier was unable to overcome despite scoring two big double ups. The French professional player busted out for a consolation prize of $131,762
Other final table cashes included:
Aditya Prasetyo – $89,409
Denny Axel – $61,888
Michael Chow – $43,717
Gleb Kovtunov – $31,527
Per Hildebrand – $23,222
Timothy Burt – $17,479