How I met Jason Mercier

It feels like anyone who's every played poker has a fun story, whether it be funny small prop bets about drinking shots when the flop comes out one suit or Phil Ivey tipping your masseuse $5k because you didn't have any cash on you. Here at Pokercode between our coaches, staff and community members we have a wealth of fun stories and in all honesty some are too good not to share. This weeks Story takes us back to 2014 when our then fresh faced Blog Manager Kyle McCague met 5x WSOP Bracelet winner Jason Mercier.

When Kyle met Jason

It was 2014, I was a recent university graduate "grinding" tournaments on a random Sunday whilst I worked for a bank. As the session went on I wondered if any poker sites were hiring, fast forward 6 weeks and I’m one of the newest employees at the then worlds biggest online poker site and in all honesty it was a dream come true. Whilst there were many perks working within the business the biggest for me was the staff tournament, a freeroll with some decent prizes on the line and my chance to mix it up with the Team Pro’s.

So at the time the company would use EPT London as an opportunity to run the staff tournament since there would be ample table space, pre-paid for with the majority of pros in town for the stop. So about 6 months after my first day EPT London 2014 rolled around and I was ready to to get into the mixer with some Heroes. As someone who’s grown up around poker I had grand plans of my Mike McDermott moment, bluffing someone like Jake Cody off a nothing pot in this freeroll and telling him I didn’t remember what I had, in reality my first brush with Poker Stardom was anything but exciting.

Let me set the scene, it’s 4pm on staff tournament day and after indulging in the alcoholic beverages the company have wonderfully provided as we wrapped up our days I needed to nip to the loo before making the short walk to the Grand Connaught Rooms. So I enter the toilets not far from my desk and begin to relieve myself in one of the two urinals, 10 seconds or so into this and none other than Jason Mercier walks in, stands beside me and goes about his business.

No matter how much I know this is not correct urinal etiquette I cannot look away, I saw this guy win EPT main events & high rollers in the same year, he had 2 WSOP bracelets and had been an ambassador of the game i loved for as long as I could remember. All my grand plans and I was fan-boying at the urinal, the only words that I could muster were “you’re Jason Mercier”, he looked up and threw me a “yeah man, nice to meet you”. Without thinking I extended my hand out before instantly realising where we were, before I could correct my faux pas he hit me with a “lets shake hands later bud”.

Embarrassment washed over me, I finished up washed my hands and got out of there as quick as I could. I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night and to this day our paths haven’t crossed again. Jason if you’re reading this I’m sorry, you may have long forgotten this interaction but I hope you’re now reminded of the awkwardness that will continue to haunt me for the rest of my days.

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