Article

Isabelle Mercier

When it comes to daydreams, just dropping everything and hitting the road as a professional poker player is up there with the best of them. It's a romantic notion, but not one that many people would seriously entertain – especially if they enjoyed a hugely successful and lucrative career in a conventional profession. Isabelle Mercier, however, clearly doesn't let such trivial matters get in her way.

Born on 5 August 1975 in Canada, Isabelle became aware of cards at a young age, and often played draw poker with her family. But while this may have planted the seeds for a blossoming talent in later life, the serious side of the game was yet to take hold of the future star. Instead, when the time came, she headed to the University of Montreal to earn a law degree.

When not studying for her academic course, Isabelle would work as a blackjack dealer at the Casino of Montreal. As soon as she passed the bar, however, she left the cards behind to complete the required six months work at a law firm in order to gain her license.

After practicing commercial law for a year, Isabelle upped sticks and moved to Paris, where she attended the Sorbonne with a view to obtaining a masters degree in international law. Once the course was over, however, it quickly became apparent that law wasn't the vocation Isabelle wanted to pursue after all, and so she decided to return to casino life.

JOB HUNTING

She sent out her CV to a huge number of card rooms in various countries, stating that she wanted to travel, and so would be more than happy to relocate and start work at short notice. She had many replies, but when the call came from the famed Aviation Club de France, which has played host to some memorable WPT events in recent years, there was no decision to be made.

Isabelle clearly impressed them, because although she started work there as a dealer, she was swiftly promoted to a management role which saw her take on huge responsibility. She was put in charge of publicity and administration, and she also acted as poker tournament organizer – indeed, she directed two of the televised tournaments featured on the World Poker Tour.

During her time at the Aviation Club, Isabelle was taken under the wing of boss Bruno Fitoussi, who would coach her regularly. The two would play a huge number of heads-up matches, and these experiences had a lasting effect on her play. Isabelle cites Fitoussi, who beat the legendary Amarillo Slim in the Grand Final of the 2001 World Heads-Up Poker Championship, as the first person to believe in her ability as a poker player.

Fitoussi paid for Isabelle to enter a few tournaments along the way, including the $800 No Limit Hold 'Em event at the 2002 Master Classics of Poker. Isabelle finished in second place, earning $54,000. It was the first major money finish of her life, and possibly when she began to think about taking up poker professionally. Law was a distant memory.

Despite finding herself in a job she evidently excelled at – she was twice nominated for "Staff Person of the Year" at the European Poker Awards for her work at the Aviation Club – Isabelle had caught the playing bug and once again found herself with itchy feet. Organizing poker events wasn't enough – she wanted to participate. So after five years at the Aviation Club, she made the decision to pursue her dream of becoming a poker pro.

Where some people might like to dip their toe tentatively into the water when making such a life changing decision, Isabelle jumped right in at the deep end. If she was going to go for it, she wasn't going to do things by halves.

ON THE ROAD

She posted a notice on a French language website, stating that she would be selling off all of her possessions cheaply, and that anyone was welcome to come and pick themselves up a bargain that weekend. Within two days, the vast majority of Isabelle's property was gone, and she had a modest sum with which to embark on her new adventure.

With a starting bankroll totaling a pretty modest $10,000 Isabelle packed a suitcase and prepared to travel the world in a quest to become the best poker player she possibly could.

Although we should perhaps expect nothing less from somebody who has since proven to be a poker ace, the decision was a huge gamble. It's all very well making a choice to set off on the road to poker stardom, but unless you can produce the goods, and relatively quickly, then the journey is likely to be a short one.

As it happens, it's going pretty well. Isabelle doesn't own any property; she doesn't need it. She uses her winnings to fund renting rooms at the world's most luxurious hotels, hopping from country to country to participate in whichever tournament takes her fancy. Nice work if you can get it.

Isabelle's unlikely transformation from poker wannabe to household name was truly cemented on 1 September 2004. The WPT special event Ladies Night II featured a final table made up of five of the most respected female poker players in the world and one qualifier. Isabelle, Clonie Gowen, Cyndy Violette, Sharon Goldman and Wendeen Eolis were joined by Culing Zhang, who battled her way through a field of 302 other eager players to earn her final table spot.

Some thrillingly aggressive play saw Isabelle plough through the opposition to take the title, beating Zhang heads-up. The televised event showed the watching world that Isabelle was a force to be reckoned with. The now trademark stare downs and relentlessly aggressive betting earned her the nickname "No Mercy", coined by none other than World Poker Tour commentator Mike Sexton.

A somewhat apt moniker wasn't all she took home from the tournament – the $25,000 prize money meant she didn't have to skimp on room service for some time to come.

Isabelle managed to make good use of her new-found notoriety, going from strength to strength on the tournament circuit. Indeed, she reached 11 final tables in the space of a year, including another first place finish. This time it was at the $500 No Limit Hold 'Em European Poker Tour event at the Casino de Monte Carlo, where she beat 80 entrants to the $25,660 prize.

This came just days after the EPT $10,000 No Limit Hold 'Em event at the same casino, another event in which Isabelle finished deep, earning 10th place and $23,900. That's almost $50,000 in winnings in the space of just a few days – not bad for a casino worker who had the self-belief to follow her dream…and the talent to back it up.

CASHING IN

Isabelle went on to make her mark in the 2005 World Series of Poker. Although she didn't make it to any final tables, she did manage to finish in the money at three of the events: 80th in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold 'Em event ($2,215 in winnings), 33rd in the $5,000 No Limit Hold 'Em tournament ($8,760) and 95th in the $3,000 No Limit Hold 'Em ($3,065).

"No Mercy" enjoyed more success on the European circuit in February of this year, claiming seventh spot in the EPT French Open, a $4,000 No Limit Hold 'Em tournament held at the Casino Barriere de Deauville. Isabelle left the building with winnings of $60,800 this time.

Unlike many professional poker players, Isabelle isn't particularly known for her cash game exploits, although she's now taking part in them with more regularity. She played in them early on in her career more as a means to an end than anything – mostly $10 / 20 and $15 / $30 games to build her bankroll in order to be able to buy into tournaments.

STAR QUALITY

Nowadays, she doesn't need to bother ,thanks to a sponsorship arrangement with online card room PokerStars, a deal reached in the aftermath of her WPT Ladies Night win. Isabelle acts as one of the site's "roving ambassadors"; she puts in the time promoting the brand, and in return the site pays her entry to several high-profile tournaments.

The company also helps Isabelle keep up her tournament practice in between the big events – the one drawback to traveling the world is that there's no regular local card room to make use of. online games help here; Isabelle likes to play one tournament a day, be it live or sat at the computer.

All this practice allows Isabelle to hone that aggressive game that she has become famous for – she claims that being feared at the poker table can be a huge asset. Indeed, she advises people who are looking to improve their game to try and go through one whole tournament (preferably with low stakes) without calling a bet, in other words only allowing themselves two options: fold or raise. While it may feel unusual to restrict your game this way initially, it's a valuable lesson in assertive poker play.

In Isabelle's words: "Being aggressive is the key to being a successful tournament player. If you play too conservatively, you won't win anything. It's no coincidence that you see the aggressive players winning over and over again."

While it's true that Isabelle has sampled remarkable success for a player of such limited experience, she is hungry for more. Even though she has already become a mainstay of the World Poker Tour, it's clear that her ambition knows no bounds. She has said that becoming a poker millionaire as soon as possible is a huge priority.

AIMING HIGH

Isabelle would also like to become the first female to take down the big one – the $10,000 Main Event at the World Series of Poker. With the field for that particular tournament swelling with each passing year, she is setting the bar extremely high. But why wouldn't she?

Even as this issue of WPT Poker was being written, Isabelle nailed fifth place in the 2006 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold 'Em event and a prize of $175,000, so who's to say that her main event target is over-ambitious? It's not as if a healthy dose of optimism has done her career any harm so far.

If anyone has shown that chasing your dreams needn't be a futile exercise, it's Isabelle. To make the decision she did at such a young age took remarkable courage. However, the impression she gives off is that, yes, it was a big gamble, but then if it didn't work out, she would have done something else.

Thankfully for those of us who like to watch exciting, eventful poker, things worked out just the way she imagined. It's surely just a matter of time until Isabelle hits that magic million mark. As long as there are ambitions to fulfill, she'll be there, striving to better herself.

Isabelle is an inspiration to poker players everywhere – if you've got the talent, self-belief is all you need. And while not everyone has the means to drop everything and hit the circuit, don't be surprised to see exciting new players following her lead in the coming years. Here's to the future...

MERCIER'S "BELIEVE IT OR NOT"

So you want to know more about one of the game's brightest young stars? Read on for 10 No Mercy snippets that may surprise you:

♥ Although she prefers to be thought of simply as a poker player rather than a "female poker player" (and quite rightly so), Isabelle does think women have certain advantages at the table – such as being able to read opponents more effectively than men.

♠ Isabelle briefly considered dropping her surname, because people were having so much trouble pronouncing it correctly. However, that idea quickly vanished when she earner the nickname "No Mercy" at the 2004 WPT Ladies Night Out II event.

♥ She isn't a fan of any players who give dealers a hard time at the table – perhaps understandable, given that she's sat in that chair many times before.

♠ If you find yourself sitting at a poker table with Isabelle and want to stay in her good books, don't dawdle if you're intending to fold. She gets particularly irritated by players who take an eternity to muck their cards.

♥ Isabelle's all-time tournament winnings to date come to more than $500,000 and counting.

♠ Some people didn't take to Isabelle when she appeared on the WPT Ladies Night Out event, saying her stare downs were overly aggressive. Isabelle reckons that if a male player did the same, viewers wouldn't bat an eyelid – and she's probably right.

♥ Isabelle's favorite poker player is Gus Hansen, who has coached her in the past. She cites the Great Dane as the single biggest influence on her game.

♠ She has also received help with her game from such greats as Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, David Benyamine and Paul McGrill.

♥ Isabelle's favorite book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; she says that the book's message – that anything you desire is possible – has helped her with some big decisions in life.

♠ Isabelle has her own website. Visit www.isabellemercier.com to read some of her articles or buy official merchandise.