Facing a table that included four players with EPT final table experience, including a hometown prodigy with the chip lead, American Jason Mercier was able to turn a qualifying prize in the PokerStars EPT Steps Sit-n-go system into € 869,000 (~$1.3 mil USD) and an EPT title.

Final table setup:

Seat 1: Gregory Genovese – Italy -- 694k
Seat 2: William Thorson – Sweden -- 418k
Seat 3: Eric Koskas – France – PokerStars qualifier --449k
Seat 4: Jason Mercier – United States – PokerStars qualifier -- 1,591k
Seat 5: Anthony Lellouche – France -- 1,192k
Seat 6: Dario Minieri – Italy – Team PokerStars Pro -- 1,832k
Seat 7: Dag Palovic – Slovakia -- 585k
Seat 8: Marcus Bower – United States – PokerStars qualifier -- 278k

Marcus Bower was the first casualty of the day, his 4-4 losing its race on 5th street. Dag Pavlovic will get the rest of his stack in with Q-Q in the hole and 2-3-8 on the board, only to see Dario Minieri call, tabling a set of threes. William Throson ran his A-Q into A-K and couldn't improve to solidify a 6th place finish. Gregory Genovese did his best to keep the title in Italy, but would be forced to settle for 5th. Eric Koskas bluffed all his chips off to Mercier for a 4th place finish.

The fireworks began during three-handed play. Minieri was everyone's pick to win it and the hometown crowd was drooling at the idea of an Italian capturing the San Remo crown. Soon Minieri saw himself all in and at risk against Mercier after a flop of 2 7 8 . Minieri's tabled Q-Q, his overpair ahead of Mercier's A -4. The 4 on the turn gave Mercier more outs, the 3 on the river gave the American the pot and the Italian the boot.

The final table lasted about 160 minutes.  Heads-up play lasted all of two hands. Anthony Lellouche was all in with pocket sevens against the K-Q of Mercier. The queen on the flop was all Mercier needed and the online cash player will take over $1.3 million back to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with him.

Final results:

1. Jason Mercier  €869,000
2. Antony Lellouche  €505,000
3. Dario Minieri  €287,600
4. Eric Koskas  €233,600
5. Gregory Genovese  €188,500
6. William Thorson  €140,600
7. Dag Palovic  €111,800
8. Marcus Bower  €76,700
9. Johannes Strassmann  €46,300
10. Mark Flowers  €46,300
11. Isaac Baron  €28,750
12. Jonas Klausen  €28,750
13. Felipe Ramos  €22,400
14. Henrik Brockmann  €22,400
15. Bart Wetsteijn  €17,600
16. Jan Heitmann  €17,600
17. Mike Sowers  €16,000
18. Peter Roche  €16,000
19. Marcello Terracciano  €16,000
20. Stefan Raffay  €16,000
21. Markus Golser  €16,000
22. Andreas Larsson  €16,000
23. Christian Bonde  €16,000
24. Todd Brunson  €16,000
25. Terje Augdal  €12,800
26. Julian Parmann  €12,800
27. Ville Nyman  €12,800
28. Ezio Guagliata  €12,800
29. Mads Wissing Andersen  €12,800
30. Marco Della Monica  €12,800
31. Paul Alterman  €12,800
32. Anthony Spinella  €12,800
33. Alessandro De Michele  €11,200
34. Jesse Optekar  €11,200
35. Nicolo Calia  €11,200
36. Sandro Soncini  €11,200
37. Dennis Doran  €11,200
38. Marius Bobinas  €11,200
39. Asger Boye  €11,200
40. Cristian Ragala  €11,200
41. Andrea Cortona  €9,600
42. Alessio Isaia  €9,600
43. Raymond Rahme  €9,600
44. Giampiero Coccio  €9,600
45. Henrik Kask  €9,600
46. Rolf Slotboom  €9,600
47. Rob Hollink  €9,600
48. Hans Eskilsson  €9,600
49. Hakan Sahl  €8,000
50. Giorgio Marletta  €8,000
51. Jochen Heirman  €8,000
52. Niels Rikhof  €8,000
53. Liz Lieu  €8,000
54. Jesse White  €8,000
55. Massimiliano Trifoglio  €8,000
56. Brandon Schaefer  €8,000
57. Luca Mortarino  €7,020
58. Sandro Bellusci  €7,020
59. Steven Van Zadelhoff  €7,020
60. Dennis Baratta  €7,020
61. Justin Truesdell  €7,020
62. Maurizio Marchese  €7,020
63. Soren Eriksen  €7,020
64. Yung Hwang  €7,020
65. Roberto Masullo  €5,750
66. Matt Kay  €5,750
67. Anders Vind  €5,750
68. Mikael Gibbemark  €5,750
69. Henrik Warn  €5,750
70. Theo Jorgensen  €5,750
71. Filippo Galtieri  €5,750
72. Loic Perret  €5,750