If you were to ask the question: Who is the best tournament poker player in the world right now? The answer would have to come back Jason Mercier. Over the last few years Mercier has been the King Midas of the poker world, turning his cards into gold –well turning them into the 21st century equivalent of gold, MONEY!

Mercier’s latest triumph occurred in Event #42 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) where he outlasted 3,121 other players to win his first WCOOP tournament, and pocketing $435k in the process – the final three competitors made a deal that saw Mercier guaranteed $375k, with $15k and $60k left for finishing 1st or 2nd respectively.

Mercier’s tournament resume over the past couple years now reads like a hardened criminal’s rap-sheet:

* 1st place in the 2010 WCOOP Event #42 — $435,000

* 1st place in the 2010 PokerStars NAPT High-Roller shootout at Mohegan Sun — $475,000

* 4th place in the 2009 WSOPE Championship in London — $440,620

* 1st place in the 2009 WSOP $1,500 PLO tournament — $237,462

* 1st place in the 2008 European Poker Championship High-Roller tournament — $944,847

* 1st place in the 2008 EPT San Remo Championship — $1,372,893

Poker News supplied by PokerNewsBoy.com