Jason Mercier has put last year behind him.

A resident of the Sunshine State, Mercier topped 808 other players to win the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha tournament, Event 5, at the 2009 World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas.

The triumph was Mercier’s first at the WSOP.

“Winning always feels good,” Mercier said. “Especially after last year. I played in 22 events. I went deep in just one of them.”

Since April 2008, Mercier has won five tournaments, including two European Poker Tour events. He has already totaled $3,069,194 in winnings.

Eric Froehlich (26^th), Josh Arieh (31^st), Alexander Kravchenko (52^nd), Brent Carter (62^nd) and Robert Mizrachi (67^th) – all of them owners of WSOP bracelets – were among the players cashing in Event 5.

A total of 81 places paid.

Event 5

Pot-Limit Omaha

Buy-in: $1,500

Entries: 809

Payouts

1. Jason Mercier, Ft. Lauderdale, FL … $237,462
2. Steven Burkholder, Largo, FL … $146,748
3. Kevin Iacofano, Las Vegas … $96,128
4. Matthew Giannetti, Las Vegas … $66,544
5. Christopher Biondino, Baldwin, MD … $48,533
6. Jonathan Tare, New York, NY … $37,192
7. Dario Alioto, Palermo, Italy … $29,881
8. An Van Tran, Las Vegas … $25,122
9. Vic Park, Riverside, CA … $22,052
10. Alex Michaels, Edison, NJ … $15,592