With all the attention on Jason Mercier you would be forgiven for missing our second double bracelet winner so far this year.

Because of the incredibly lucrative prop bet attached to it and his amazing run of form last week, all eyes are on Jason Mercier's attempts to win three bracelets in one year.

However, if you would assume that means he has a lock on the 2016 Player of the Series race, you would be wrong, as somewhat under-the-radar, American Ian Johns has also won two bracelets so far this summer.

He beat 777 other players near the start of the series to win Event #8: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $212,604 and just last night he defeated a field of 110 to capture Event #28: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for $290,635.

This gives Johns a total of three WSOP bracelets, having also won a Limit Hold'em title in 2006.

31-year-old Johns is not actually a tournament player most of the time, instead focussing on live Limit cash games, which once again goes to show that for those bracelet hunting, it is possibly better playing non-No Limit Hold'em games on the side, rather than being an MTT specialist, which he agreed with in his winner's interview:

I used to play a lot of No Limit. But these guys, they passed me by eons ago. I get in the game and I don’t know what I’m doing. They’re so advanced now. I feel lost in hands, so I chose not to play, which seems like a reasonable thing to do. When I’m not playing these limit tournaments, I’m playing in cash games, which are limit.

Jason Mercier still leads the 2016 WSOP Player of the Year race, but now Johns (and Ryan Laplante who has one bracelet and seven cashes overall) will be giving him a run for his money.

If you were planning on winning a bracelet above all else, would practicing on non-No Limit cash games be the way to go? Share your views in the comments.

Barry Carter Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. Twitter

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