Jason Mercier runs out of steam at the finishing line of the $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship; Sam Soverel tries a lower buy-in event and wins, and much more.

Jason Mercier has failed in his attempt to win two bracelets in the space of a week after Ray Dehkharghani denied the Team PokerStars Pro during an epic heads-up encounter in Event #20: $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship.

It’s not a tournament that stands out. This year it had more eyeballs on it than an episode of Game of Thrones. There was one reason for that: Jason Mercier and the $1.8m prop bet with Vanessa Selbst.

Reading through the lines of various 140-character messages on Twitter it seemed Selbst had offered Mercier odds of 180:1 that he wouldn’t win three bracelets. Mercier took the bet for a $10,000 outlay meaning he stood to gain $1.8m had he managed to dispose of Dehkharghani and win one more with over 40 events remaining.

Lee Davy brings you up to speed with all results from the European Championships including the last gasp winner from Daniel Sturridge as England beat Wales, Northern Ireland defeating Ukraine, and Poland getting a point against the World Champions Germany.

The decision to extend the 2016 European Championships Finals to 24 teams means that it’s more difficult NOT to qualify for the Round of 16, and yet for 50-minutes of England’s Battle of Britain encounter against Wales, it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen to Roy Hodgson’s side.

The England manager kept faith with the team cruelly robbed of three points in the last minute of their opener with Russia. That decision meant Jamie Vardy started on the bench, and the out of sorts Raheem Sterling didn’t. Hodgson showed faith in the Manchester City winger. Sterling let him down.

“We are carrying him,” said BBC pundit Alan Shearer during the half time break.

Lee Davy brings you up to speed with all results from the European Championships including the last gasp winner from Daniel Sturridge as England beat Wales, Northern Ireland defeating Ukraine, and Poland getting a point against the World Champions Germany.

The decision to extend the 2016 European Championships Finals to 24 teams means that it’s more difficult NOT to qualify for the Round of 16, and yet for 50-minutes of England’s Battle of Britain encounter against Wales, it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen to Roy Hodgson’s side.

The England manager kept faith with the team cruelly robbed of three points in the last minute of their opener with Russia. That decision meant Jamie Vardy started on the bench, and the out of sorts Raheem Sterling didn’t. Hodgson showed faith in the Manchester City winger. Sterling let him down.

“We are carrying him,” said BBC pundit Alan Shearer during the half time break.

In this week’s Calling the Clock we bring you news of six-figure bracelet bet losses from two of the games biggest stars; news of online poker bill progress in California and New York, and much more.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is pointy party hat time for professional poker players. It can also be an overflowing garbage can of the wrong type of emotion. It can be the birthplace of legacy and a place where livelihoods are sent heading to the sirens of mermaids.

Very often, the action on the poker tables pales into insignificance compared to the side action off it. Hundreds, sometimes millions, of dollars end up in someone’s little green book with only spit and a handshake acting as bond.

Earlier this week, details emerged of one such handshake between Jason Mercier and Vanessa Selbst. After Mercier had won his fourth bracelet in the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship, he told PokerNews that the victory earned him more through side bets than the $273,335 first prize. Later in that interview he also revealed that Selbst had offered him odds of 180:1 that he wouldn’t win three bracelets this summer. Mercier wagered $10,000 that he would.

In this week’s Calling the Clock we bring you news of six-figure bracelet bet losses from two of the games biggest stars; news of online poker bill progress in California and New York, and much more.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is pointy party hat time for professional poker players. It can also be an overflowing garbage can of the wrong type of emotion. It can be the birthplace of legacy and a place where livelihoods are sent heading to the sirens of mermaids.

Very often, the action on the poker tables pales into insignificance compared to the side action off it. Hundreds, sometimes millions, of dollars end up in someone’s little green book with only spit and a handshake acting as bond.

Earlier this week, details emerged of one such handshake between Jason Mercier and Vanessa Selbst. After Mercier had won his fourth bracelet in the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship, he told PokerNews that the victory earned him more through side bets than the $273,335 first prize. Later in that interview he also revealed that Selbst had offered him odds of 180:1 that he wouldn’t win three bracelets this summer. Mercier wagered $10,000 that he would.

Workers at four Atlantic City casinos have voted to go on strike if they don’t receive satisfactory labor contracts by July 1.

On Thursday, several thousand members of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union voted 96% in favor of a strike. The affected casinos are the Tropicana and all three Caesars Entertainment properties – Bally’s, Caesars and Harrah’s.

The union had previously voted to picket the Trump Taj Mahal, so it too will face a work stoppage as of July 1. The Borgata, Golden Nugget and Resorts have been given a pass for the moment due to progress being made in their negotiations with the union.

The roughly 6k unionized workers’ chief grievance is that they willingly surrendered perks and went without raises during AC’s long, painful decline as a prime gambling destination. Unite-HERE said workers with 25 years experience had enjoyed total raises of only 80¢ over the past dozen years.

Workers at four Atlantic City casinos have voted to go on strike if they don’t receive satisfactory labor contracts by July 1.

On Thursday, several thousand members of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union voted 96% in favor of a strike. The affected casinos are the Tropicana and all three Caesars Entertainment properties – Bally’s, Caesars and Harrah’s.

The union had previously voted to picket the Trump Taj Mahal, so it too will face a work stoppage as of July 1. The Borgata, Golden Nugget and Resorts have been given a pass for the moment due to progress being made in their negotiations with the union.

The roughly 6k unionized workers’ chief grievance is that they willingly surrendered perks and went without raises during AC’s long, painful decline as a prime gambling destination. Unite-HERE said workers with 25 years experience had enjoyed total raises of only 80¢ over the past dozen years.