After a wild 14 months and his first World Series of Poker bracelet, Jason Mercier is ready to take a break.

Mercier, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, won the a $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament that drew 809 entrants. He collected $237,462 for first place.

Mercier graduated from Sheridan Hills High in Hollywood, where he got a 35 out of 36 on his ACT and played all kinds of sports.

Mercier cashed for the first time ever in a major poker tournament in April 2008. Since then, he has won five tournaments -- including two European Poker Tour championships and a WSOP gold bracelet and crossed the $3 million mark in winnings.

Now he'll take a break.

"I'm just planning on spending time at home the next two months, maybe playing online a lot," he said, in an interview arranged by his sponsor, PokerStars.net. He also now has a girlfriend and they haven't seen that much of each other.

He made it into day two of the main event before busting out, and speaks with a twinge of disappointment in his voice, even after winning a bracelet.

"I played in 33 events and I bricked 21 (failed to cash) of them," he said. "And it the bracelet wasn't like a huge cash, although it wasn’t so much about the money but getting the bracelet."

The year before at the WSOP, after his hot run in Europe, he cashed in only 3 of 22 events.

Mercier played an average of 5,500 hands a day -- multiple games -- on the internet to hone his skills, both while a student at Florida Atlantic University and afterward. He built up a $90,000 bankroll and then went on to win $1.3 in San Remo, Italy.

"On the internet you just get so many hands in per hour; you can develop your game a lot faster than playing in a casino," he said. "It's just so much easier."

Next tournament: He'll likely go to Barcelona for the European Poker Tour.