Last week, in Melbourne, Australia, a few of the members of the media, myself included, ventured out to dinner with two Team PokerStars Pros, Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier. The venue of choice was Ichi Ni Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant down by the water in St. Kilda. The conversation was lively, the sake was flowing and everyone was feeling good -- maybe too good.

One of the members of the PokerNews team, Remko Rinkema, brought up the idea of challenging someone to a best-of-seven sports competition. Maybe it was the ego, maybe it was the sake or the vodka cranberries, maybe it was just something in the air; whatever it was, Rinkema decided to challenge Mercier.

Now, before we get into more specifics of the bet, let me give a little background on where the bet stemmed from. Rinkema made a bet last year against former Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken while at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. It was a weight-loss bet and at the time Rinkema weighed in at 128.5 kilograms. The details of the bet were that for every kilogram over 100, Rinkema had to pay $500 and for every kilogram under 100, Boeken owed him $500. Rinkema had just under one year before the final weigh-in took place during the 2012 PCA. When it was all said and done, Rinkema weighed 95.2 kilograms. Partial kilograms didn't count, which meant Rinkema lost four kilograms total and earned a payment of $2,000 from Boeken. That's quite the effort given that he had to drop 28.5 kilograms just to break even. Not too mention, Rinkema earned a nice little payday.

Given that background story, Rinkema would like to keep up his healthy, weight-losing ways and though this would be another reason for him to keep on the right track in getting in the best shape he's been in since his teenage years. Both he and Mercier discussed the terms of the bet and settled on a wager of $5,000. Yes, this was a little high for Rinkema's liking, but it was decided that it would ultimately give him the most drive to win. The amount also had to be enough that Mercier would actually want to try and win. After all, the guy has earned over $7.6 million in live tournament earnings and probably several million more in cash games.

After some debating and banter back and forth, it was decided that I would arbitrate the bet with Rinkema selecting four sports to Mercier's three. For each sport picked, I would decide the competition within that sport that the two would engage in. For example, if one of them selected basketball, I could decide that the competition would be a game of one-on-one with the first player to seven winning.

For the rest of the night, the two went back and forth a little bit about the bet. They even sought out the opinions of others in the party before taking to Twitter to get even more views. Right away, Mercier seemed pretty confident about the bet and tweeted the following.

@JasonMercier: "Booked a 5k prop bet last night against @happyfreaked we play best of 7 sports and he chooses 4 I choose 3 ... Think I'm -260 to win #mash"

Rinkema, though, didn't seem as confident in Mercier, even though he had the edge in sports to be picked, four to three. Here's what he first tweeted about the bet.

@happyfreaked: "So I made this silly prop bet with @JasonMercier tonight. Gotta think of 4 sports I can beat him at in 24 hours. Time to get some sleep now."

Mercier then went on to add even more words of confidence in the following tweet.

@JasonMercier: "@DWBenefield @happyfreaked pretty sure he's drawing dead in the 3 I'll pick, so I just gotta beat him in one of his 4"

In the details of the bet, Rinkema was supposed to pick his four sports first, but he seemed to have a bit of a hard time doing so.

@happyfreaked: "Having a hard time figuring out which 4 sports I will pick. Leaning towards tennis, cycling time trial, speed skating on ice and kickboxing."

After some back and forth banter on Twitter that included Mercier asking for my ruling on Rinkema's time frame for choosing his sports and plenty of players, fans and media members voicing their thoughts, Rinkema decided on his four sports as tug of war, cycling, snowboarding and speed skating on ice. But Mercier wasn't buying those and argued against a couple of them.

@JasonMercier: "@happyfreaked tug of war a sport? Also, assumed since we are supposed to do this in Vegas in the SUMMER snowboarding? @Donnie_Peters Plz"

I have to agree, tug of war was a bit of a stretch by Rinkema and I disallowed it. I also agreed with Mercier on the idea of snowboarding. This bet is supposed to take place during the summer and the World Series of Poker, preferably at the beginning. It's also supposed to be able to be completed within 24 hours. Having to trek up to a mountain and compete in snowboarding more than likely wouldn't be doable. I also disallowed speed skating on ice for the same reason as snowboarding. Speed skating in the summer in Las Vegas? Good luck with that. I also don't think it's overly fair to include a sport that each person much go out and buy some unique equipment for. Finding a basketball or some tennis racquets is one thing, but speed skates? Don't think that's going to happen.

Given all of that, the only sport that actually stood was cycling, leaving Rinkema to have to pick three more. Cue the Jeopardy theme song because this took some time for him to finally decide. Eventually, he chose shot put as another one of his four. Although Mercier tried to argue against shot put, as you can read in his following tweets, it's part of the Olympics, a sport involved in track and field competitions, so I allowed it.

@JasonMercier: "Shotput is just an event in track and field. If u can't make a living at it specifically... It's not a sport!! @happyfreaked @Donnie_Peters"

@JasonMercier: "That's like me picking half court basketball shots. Basketball is the sport. Donnie would choose what we do in the sport"

Sorry, Mercier, there are specific athletes who specialize in shot put and shot put only. It is a sport, although one more unique one, but it's still a qualifying sport.

Another day or so passed before Rinkema added his final two sports. It took him a lot of deliberating, Wikipedia research and consultation from friends, but he finally picked rowing and inline skating. He still wasn't that impressed about a couple of his first selections getting turned down, though.

@happyfreaked: "After long deliberation I pick Cycling, Shot pot, Rowing and inline speed skating. @JasonMercier @Donnie_Peters"

@happyfreaked: "Still not happy about getting turned down on the initial sports, but these are as legit as they get imo."

Then, it was Mercier's turn and he had to select the final three events of the competition. Shortly after Rinkema finalized his four picks, Mercier responded with his three to close out the drafting.

@JasonMercier: ".@Donnie_Peters @happyfreaked I choose basketball, racquetball, baseball guess I just gotta figure out which of Remko's sports I can win at"

With all seven sports now picked, it's up to me, as the arbitrator to decide what these two will compete at for the sports. After a little bit of thought, it's been decided.

For cycling, the two will compete in a 10-kilometer time trial. The person who competes the 10 kilometers the fastest wins this competition. For shot put, it was very simple -- distance. For rowing, I chose to have the two row for 15 minutes of elapsed time and whoever completes the most distance wins. For inline speed skating, the two will have a one-on-one race with the distance yet to be determined.

For the three sports that Mercier selected -- basketball, baseball and racquetball -- the following was chosen. For basketball, the two will play a one-on-one format with the first player to score 15 points winning. You must win by two in this event and all baskets will be worth one point. For racquetball, the two will play another one-on-one format and it will be best-of-three games. The first person to score 15 points wins each game. For baseball, the two will play home run derby with 10 outs allotted per side. A neutral pitcher will be used.

Those are the seven sports and the competitions that will be completed for each. With the event set to take place at the beginning of the WSOP, it's going to be something great to come out and watch if you're in the area. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted about the happenings of the bet and competition, so as always, stay tuned.

The point is this: last night Mercier won another $700,000 in a $100,000 buy-in event at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The top five players in the event got paid. Mercier did a three-way chop with Isaac Haxton and Doc Sands that left extra money for first and second place. Of course, Mercier won for what he reported as a $683,767 plus a $25,000 WPT seat.

A few days ago, Mercier late-registered to the $100,000 event and said casually, "Mgiht as well win this one." Less than 48 hours later, he did. The victory and extra cash puts him near the $7.5 million mark in live tournament earnings. Furthermore, it makes it even easier for him to take a little of that money at put it toward the $100,000 Super High Roller at the PCA in a few weeks.

Of course, for now, Mercier has other work to do. Just a couple of hours ago, he reported via Twitter "Went straight to Bobby's room to play 8/1600 mixed after shipping the 100k... #anotherdayattheoffice."

It may well be time for me to shave and donate this Heat jersey to someone who could make better use of it. There is no being Jason Mercier unless you are Jason Mercier, in which case, you're sitting in Bobby's Room with heaps right now.

Congrats to Jason Mercier for winning another $700,000 another day at the office.

To understand the scene, imagine a long convention center hallway with scuffed tile floors. About a hundred yards short of the back exit is a heavy door on the left. Behind that door is a medium-sized restroom that's meant to serve the thousands of people who play in the World Series of Poker every day. By the evening hours, the restroom can be awash with used paper towels, discarded beer cups, and the remaining detritus of the poker world after a long day at the tables. It's in this place that Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier found himself in the waning hours of the $5,000 six-handed PLO event. He was just a few players away from winning his second WSOP bracelet, and he had to go to the john.

At any given time in said bathroom, a traveler in necessity of such a place will be forced to listen to any variety of music from the past 30-40 years. Some days one can do his business to Aerosmith's "Little Kin." Some days, it's a quick in-out-nobody-gets-hurt to the crooning of Tom Jones.

Last night, Mercier went to wash his hands and realized he was listening to The Police. The song coming through the speakers was older than Mercier. All around him, Sting sang over and over again, "I can't stand losing."

I can't stand losing.

I can't stand losing.

It doesn't matter that the song lyric ends in the word "you," or that the song itself was ostensibly about a guy about to off himself over a lost love (--1--). For Mercier, it seemed like a nod toward destiny. He is a man who simply can't stand to lose. He was going to win his second WSOP title. Right after he washed up.

More than 500 people put up the $5,000 to enter the six-max event. After midnight last night with a few minutes to go before the scheduled hard-out that would've forced him to go to bed heads-up, Mercier put away his final opponent and banked $619,575.

By the time Jason Mercier was born, the Police's "I Can't Stand Losing You" was already moving into the classic rock rotation. Mercier's generation probably knows the song better as a backdrop to a video game. For the 24-year-old from Florida, The Police tune was walk-in music for his moment to, in Mercier-speak, "mash."

Mercier makes writing about him an exercise in triteness-avoidance. Only so many times can poker media hacks like us type, "Mercier wins everything." He's done it so many times, he makes his winner-wraps look recycled. In some places, he's not even old enough to rent a car. He looks like he could still be slouching his way toward Econ 101 at some state university. Instead, in the three years he's been street-legal, Mercier has amassed a head-shaking 53 live cashes, 12 first place finishes, and $6.16 million in live winnings.

And now he has two WSOP bracelets.

The late 70s version of The Police made liberal use of repetition (who among us hasn't played the "Roxanne" drinking game?). The chorus of "I Can't Stand Losing You" was no exception. By the time Mercier was born, The Police had, for the most part, already broken up. Nevertheless, the kid from Florida knows about the power of repetition.

Just look at this wrists.

--1--: In fact, the original single for the song was banned in Britain because it featured drummer Stewart Copeland with a noose around his neck, standing on a block of ice, and waiting for the block to melt.

Photo courtesy WSOP.com

I plan on playing all the biggest buy-in WCOOPs, possible, even trying my hand at the $25k heads-up for the first time. I'm very excited for the last few days of events when there is a $2k PLO 6 max, $2k horse, $10k 8 game and the $5k Championship event!

Not only have I never won a WCOOP event, I have never even final tabled one. I think that this is going to be my year. I'm feeling and hoping for a strong showing in this year's WCOOP.

The structures are so great and the variety of tournaments is so amazing, it's such an awesome experience just playing in the WCOOP on Pokerstars.

But this year... I WANT TO WIN!

Visit the official WCOOP site to see how you can take part.

Mercier's success story shows no sign of ending. He first hit the big time when he won EPT San Remo in Season 4. Months later he final tabled EPT Barcelona, and six weeks further down the line he won the first big EPT 5 High Roller event - scooping the £20,000 buy-in showcase in London.

More results followed, and this summer he added a WSOP bracelet after winning the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. It was just weeks after this that PokerStars announced he had joined the illustrious Team PokerStars Pro, and that seems to have just spurred on his poker even more: he chopped a side event at EPT Barcelona last month, and only last week he final tabled the WSOP-E Main Event in London, finishing fourth for $440,000.

OK, so this side event will not be among the biggest, but the prize money (it was actually £115,800) is not to be sniffed at, taking his lifetime winnings (sounds daft for a 22-year-old) to just under $4 million.

"I'm really pleased," he said afterwards. "It was quite a fast structure and at one point early on the final table I got short but won two coin flips in a row. That got me back up and eventually when I got heads up with Bruce Atkinson I was down 2:1 in chips. But I kept chipping away at his stack and managed to take a 5:1 chip lead. I got all in first with Q-9 to his K-6 and lost, but next hand I pushed with 4-4, he called with A-2... and I won."

Congratulations, Jason, on another fine performance.

Here are the full payouts from the event:

£2,500 NL Hold'em (147 players)
1. Jason Mercier, Team PokerStars Pro, USA, £115,800
2. Bruce Atkinson, UK, £64,200
3. Ilya Gorodetskiy, Russia, £39,200
4. Laurent Polito, France, £28,500
5. Chadi Abedelkarim, £23,200
6. Iulian Iacob, Romania, £17,800
7. Matthias Kurschner, Germany, £14,280
8. Dominykas Karmazinas, Latvia, £10,700
9. Patrick O'Connor, Ireland, £6,400
10. Robert Willis, Ireland, £6,400
11. Mohsin Charania, USA, £5,700
12. Mark Randal Flowers, USA, £5,700
13. Gilbert Abela, UK, £5,000
14. Derek Anderson, USA, £5,000
15. Alexander Keating, USA, £4,300
16. William Flood, Ireland, £4,300

If you want to hear more from Jason Mercier, here is an interview he gave by the beach to our video blogging team in EPT Barcelona...