Isabelle Mercier (born August 5, 1975 in

Victoriaville Victoriaville is a town in central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It is formed by the 1993 merger of Arthabask ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) is a professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player. Mercier originally learned to play poker as a child, but prior to turning to a poker career, she earned an undergraduate

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

and practiced

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

for six months. She then moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

while working as the poker room manager at the

Aviation Club de France Aviation Club de France was a gambling club in central Paris, France. The club opened in 1907 and was widely regarded as a classic gambling site. In 2005, the Grand Prix de Paris leg of the World Poker Tour took place at the Aviation Club. The mai ...

, before turning to poker full-time. During her time working at the Aviation Club she was nominated for Staff Person of the Year twice at the

European Poker Awards European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

. She first made a name for herself by finishing in second place in the €800 No Limit hold 'em tournament at the Masters Classic of Poker 2002 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, where she earned $53,499. In 2004 Mercier won the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the fi ...

(WPT) Ladies' Night tournament and the $25,000 first prize, where

Mike Sexton Michael Richard Sexton (September 22, 1947September 6, 2020) was an American professional poker player and commentator. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009. Early years Sexton was a gymnast and attended Ohio State University, wh ...

nicknamed her "No Mercy." In 2005, she finished tenth in the

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

(EPT) Grand Final in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, earning €23,090. Also in 2005, she had three money finishes at the

WSOP The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

. Mercier made her first EPT final table in February 2006 in

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film Fes ...

, finishing seventh at a final table also featuring fellow professionals

Ram Vaswani Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani (born 1 September 1970 from Finchley, Greater London) is an former professional poker and snooker player and the youngest member of The Hendon Mob, a group of professional poker players. He resides in Finchley with his ...

and

Kirill Gerasimov Kirill Gerasimov (russian: Кирилл Герасимов, born June 5, 1971 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional poker player. Personal life Gerasimov worked as an insurance salesman in Moscow, and started entering poker tournam ...

. Mercier has her own instructional

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and appeared in the documentary ''That's Poker''. In January 2008, she released her own biography: ''Profession : bluffeuse'' (Profession: Bluffer), in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and printed in France by

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, wife of Camille Flammarion * Flammarion engraving by unknown artist; appeared in a book by C ...

. On April 27, 2009, Mercier won the

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

' Ante Up for Africa charity tournament in

. The final table included fellow Canadian

Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu (; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker Ind ...

, Lithuanian

Tony G Antanas Guoga (born 17 December 1973), more commonly known as Tony G, is a Lithuanian-Australian businessman, poker player, politician and philanthropist. In November 2020, Antanas was elected to the 2020–2024 legislative period of the Seimas ...

, John Duthie (creator of the

), Italian pro

Dario Minieri Dario Minieri (; born 1985) is an Italian professional poker player from Rome, Italy who won a bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker at the age of 23, is a member of team PokerStars, is an online poker player who was the first person to c ...

(who finished third), and English soccer star

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where he ...

(who came in second). On July 12, 2009, Mercier finished 3rd in the PokerStars Sunday Millions, cashing for $115,000, her second highest cash to date. Until 2009, she was a member of the

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

cardroom's "Team PokerStars" group of sponsored players. By the end of 2009, Mercier left the PokerStars pro team and on December 2, 2009, joined gambling giant BetClic as a

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

for their online poker site. Mercier won the very first World Championship of Open Face Chinese Poker in Prague in 2015. Since 2017, Isabelle Mercier is an ambassador for cryptocurrency poker site CoinPoker. She regularly plays tournaments and OFC on the platform, and has a dedicated weekly tournament with a bounty to win. Mercier's total live tournament winnings exceeded $1,200,000 as of 2015.

Notes

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercier, Isabelle 1975 births Canadian poker players Female poker players French Quebecers Living people People from Victoriaville Université de Montréal alumni World Poker Tour winners