So I quickly touched on Jason Mercier of Fort Lauderdale two days ago, and to be honest, I blew it off.

Now he's at the final table at the World Series of Poker Europe, with some pretty big names. And he's the chip leader by more than 2-to-1.

Mercier has more than 3.2 million chips. Next is London's James Akenhead, a November Nine final tablist at WSOP in Las Vegas, with 1.4 million. Daniel Negreanu and Barry Shulman also are at the final table.

Play resumes today. First prize: 800,000 pounds. (No, that's not a person.) That's what, $1.4 million or so?

As the WSOP release says:

Mercier has performed very well in Europe, winning the 2008 European Poker Tour’s championship in San Remo, Italy. He also won the ONE MILLION POUND showdown here in London, last year. Despite all his winnings, it’s reported that Mercier would not shell out the money for a hotel room while staying in London, preferring instead to crash on the sofa at a friend’s house. Mercier has dominated play in this tournament so far, and arrives at the final table as the player to beat, as the current chip leader.

You know, this is getting kind of sick. Mercier has an unbelievable run last year in Europe, wins a WSOP bracelet this year, and now this. Life is good for him. Gotta be. Real good.