Aaron Mermelstein joined a select group of poker players Tuesday as he became just the 25th repeat winner in World Poker Tour (WPT) history, as he took the crown in the inaugural WPT Maryland Live! Main Event. Not only was it his second WPT title, but it was also the second he earned this calendar year, the first coming in January when he won the WPT Borgata Winter Open in Atlantic City. For his efforts this week, Mermelstein cashed for a quarter-million dollars and a seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship.
Mermelstein began the six-handed final table in second place with 2.295 million chips. As mentioned in a previous article, he was part of distinct upper-class of the final table, as 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event Champ Greg Merson had 3.28 million and Xin Wang had 2.26 million, while the bottom three players didn’t even have as many combined as Wang did by himself. Here is a look at how the chip stacks “stacked” up going into the final table:
1. Greg Merson – 3,280,000
2. Aaron Mermelstein – 2,295,000
3. Xin Wang – 2,260,000
4. Andjelko Andrejevic – 775,000
5. Cate Hall – 695,000
6. Ken Holmes – 685,000
As expected, the two shortest stacks were the first to go. Ken Holmes, the lone non-professional poker player at the table, ended up all-in with J-7 ten hands into play and was outdone by Andjelko Andrejevic’s pocket Eights.
About six orbits later (thanks to WPT.com for the updates), Cate Hall was all-in with K-5 and again had to try to defeat pocket Eights. This time, it was Wang with the pair that held up and Hall was gone in fifth place.
The next elimination was a shocker. Both Mermelstein and Andrejevic had taken big chunks out of Greg Merson’s stack and Mermelstein jumped into the chip lead, holding as many chips as the other three players did combined. He was the one to knock out Merson, using pocket Jacks to defeat Merson’s T-8 after a Ten landed on the flop.
A few hands later, Andrejevic was eliminated in third place, K-6 suited against Wang’s Queens. Thus, it was Mermelstein against Wang for the championship, with Mermelstein starting with an overwhelming four-to-one chip lead. It was a quick battle. Wang wasn’t able to put up much of a fight, surrendering most of the pots to his opponent with a wall of chips. Eventually, Wang had to try something, so he ended up all-in with A-8 suited, but couldn’t improve against Mermelstein’s pocket Sixes, giving Mermelstein the pot, all of the chips, and his second WPT title.
2015 World Poker Tour Maryland Live! Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Aaron Mermelstein – $250,222
2. Xin “Tony” Wang – $164,765
3. Andjelko Andrejevic – $105,981
4. Greg Merson – $78,449
5. Cate Hall – $58,589
6. Ken Holmes – $47,091
