On the board of 
, Mark Ader fired 18,000 into Team PokerStars Pro member Jason Mercier. Mercier made the call and the river completed the board with the 
. Ader checked the river and Mercier bet 44,500. Ader folded and Mercier won the pot.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Jason Mercier is now sitting behind a respectable stack of 460,000 chips right now, and that's conspicuously just about double what he had a couple hands ago. We inquired.
"I ran it up to about 230k," Mercier said, "then I doubled with aces against fours."
There you have it; aces hold for Mercier, and he's well in contention now with that big stack.
Matt Affleck was all in preflop holding the hand that he lost with deep in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, pocket aces. His 
were up against the pocket queens for Robert Reyna. There would be no doom for Affleck this time as the board ran out 
to keep his aces in the lead. He was all in for 302,000 and now has a bit over 600,000 chips. Reyna dropped to 210,000.
From the hijack seat, NAPT Venetin champion Tom Marchese moved all in for approximately 40,000. Niko Deininger called from the small blind and the hands were revealed.
Marchese: 
Deininger:
The flop was big for Deininger and terrible for Marchese when it came 
, giving Deininger a pair and a flush draw. Marchese had the same pair, but a worse kicker.
The turn was the 
and the river the 
. Deininger finished with two pair and sent Marchese two to the rail.
A massive pot just went down between Ryan Welch and Paul Kuzmich. We caught up with the action on the flop, but Steve Karp was kind enough to give us the lowdown.
According to Karp, Welch raised from the hijack seat to 15,000 and Kuzmich three-bet to 50,000. Welch four-bet to 120,000 and Kuzmich called. The flop came down 
and Kuzmich check-raised all in for 174,000 more than Welch's flop bet. The bet size was unknown. Welch thought for several minutes and then made the call. Kuzmich tabled a set of tens with the 
and Welch winced, showing the 
.
The turn brought the 
and the river the 
. Welch couldn't find that miracle jack to hit a straight and was crushed down to 55,000 in chips. Kuzmich boomed to 800,000 and change.
After the small blind limped in, Josh Brikis moved all in from the big blind for about 75,000. The small blind made the call. Brikis held the against the small blind's 
.
No help came for Brikis on the flop, turn or river and he hit the rail.
Christopher DeMaci raised to 16,000 from early position and Nick Grippo reraised to 39,500. The big blind got out of the way and DeMaci made the call. After the flop fell 
, Grippo bet 37,5000 and DeMaci raised the minimum to 75,000. Grippo quickly folded and dropped to 220,000; meanwhile, DeMaci is up to 300,000.
After a flop of 
, Michele Koerner moved her short stack all in with 
and was snap-called by Niko Deininger who held . Koerner needed a king to make a straight but it was not meant to be as the board ran out and
.
Koerner's elimination meant that Christina Lindley was the last woman remaining in the NAPT Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Lindley was eliminated a short time later.
Larry Lipman raised to 20,000 under the gun and Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, who was next to act, was the only player to make the call. The two saw the flop come 
and Lipman continuation bet 32,000. Laak called and the dealer burned and turned the . This time Lipman checked and Laak bet 47,000. Lipman then check-raised to 100,000 and Laak insta-folded. Laak is down to 260,000.
A player in the cutoff raised to 16,000 and Matt Affleck made the call from the button. Both blinds folded as the flop came down 
. The cutoff bet 30,000, Affleck raised to 90,000 and the cutoff moved all in for around 130,000 more. Affleck called and turned over 
, only to discover that he was behind the cutoff's .
Both players had flopped a flush draw and Affleck would need to catch a jack, nine or running straight cards to win the hand. Lucky for him, the turn was the 
. To add insult to injury, the dealer put the on the river, giving Affleck two pair and sending the cutoff to the rail. With that big win, Affleck is up to 850,000!
