Jason Mercier to Live Stream His WCOOP $102K High Roller Effort
While I wish there were more preliminary events of the World Series of Poker broadcast on ESPN like in the “good, old days,” one of the great parts about the coverage over the last several years is that we are able to watch every hand of the main event’s final table nearly live. Now, I will admit that I often watch because I have to for work and I rarely stay awake for the entirety of the November Nine, but it is still really cool to be able to catch everything as it happens. But that’s almost two months away and I want to watch some live, high-stakes poker action now! Fortunately for me, poker pro Jason Mercier will be live-streaming his adventure in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $102,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event this weekend.
The kids today, with their online streaming… it’s all the rage. I will admit, maybe it’s because I’m old, that I have never gotten into watching live streams of much of anything, but I totally get why video-game and poker streams have become so big on Twitch. My kids watch a ton of Minecraft videos on the YouTubes and while that’s not exactly live streaming, it’s in the same family. So while I don’t typically partake, I get it. Thus, I am quite intrigued by Mercier’s willingness to share his experience playing in the $102,000 tournament on September 11th.
It might be obvious at this point, but Mercier will be streaming on PokerStars’ Twitch channel (twitch.tv/pokerstars). When I first heard about this, I wondered for a moment how he could do this without his competitors just opening up Twitch and finding out his hole cards, but then I realized I was stupid. Mercier’s stream will be on a 15-minute delay. So while that will still put him at a disadvantage, as he will be providing opponents with information on how he has played, he won’t be playing with his cards completely face-up.
Jason Somerville
“Twitch is proud to host Jason Mercier playing the $102,000 Super High Roller. As a serious poker player myself, I look forward to seeing Jason’s strategy unfold hand by hand and learning from him,” said Twitch Community Development and Poker Manager Scott Ball in a press release. “And of course, Jason ‘JCarver’ Somerville was the founder of poker streaming and a Twitch legend . With him in the booth, there won’t be a dull moment; it should be a great day for Twitch and poker fans everywhere.”
That is correct, Mister Poker Streaming himself, Jason Somerville, will be commentating on the action on Twitch, as well as providing insight to viewers who are newer to poker and might need a little hand holding, especially since online poker is much faster paced than live poker. He will not be advising Jason Mercier in any way.
And by the way, if you were wondering if I had multiple typos in listing the buy-in for the tournament as $102,000, that number is correct. Last year, PokerStars hosted a $51,000 buy-in event during the WCOOP, which at the time was the most expensive tournament in online poker history. Well, double that this year and you easily have a new record. Just five people have registered for it at this point, but that doesn’t mean anything, as there is no need for anyone to commit one hundred large in advance, just in case something comes up and they can’t play in the tournament. PokerStars has not said how many players they expect to participate; one might figure that the poker room has reached out to known deep-pocketed online players to gauge interest.
“The WCOOP is the premier online tournament series of the year, and our 15th annual Championship is the biggest yet with over $50 million guaranteed. There was great buzz last year about the $51,000 Super High Roller, but we’ve upped the ante this year by doubling that record to $102,000,” said PokerStars Director of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser. “Jason Mercier streaming the event and showing his hole cards gives poker fans an amazing opportunity to jump on board the action and excitement. On top of that, Jason Somerville has made Twitch the premiere channel for poker fans and knows how to put on a truly great show. All this combined is going to make for some intense Sunday poker watching.”
Jason Mercier is one of the most accomplish tournament poker players in the world. He has over $17.4 million in live tournament earnings. This year’s World Series of Poker was phenomenal for him, as he won the Player of the Year award thanks to a spree in which he won two bracelets separated by a second place finish and followed those up with eighth and eleventh place finishes. He also has over $2.2 million in recorded online cashes, including multiple WCOOP titles.
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