Name                                                                                                                                                                                        LaMaril  "Lou" Mercier
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Age
You know you should never ask a woman her age, but I'll go ahead and admit I'm 64 as of November 18, 2004.

Where are you from?
I live in Hurst, TX, which is a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Are you married? Children? 
I was married for 21 years before my husband's death at the tender age of 46.  I have one son who is an Anesthesiologist at Baylor Hospital in Dallas and two grandsons, ages 5 and 3.  (I can't wait till the 5-year-old can understand cards enough for me to start teaching him to play Hold Em.)  Currently, I have a life-partner who encourages my poker play and respects my time at the poker table, whether on the Internet or in B&M play.

What do you do for a living? 
I am the Pilots' Webmaster for American Airlines.

How long have you been playing Internet poker?
I began dabbling with play money in January 2004.  I wanted to put money into an account but I was very reluctant in the beginning.  I typed "Internet Hold Em strategy" into the YAHOO search engine back in May 2004 and it linked me directly to the "Strategy" thread of Matthew's site.  I also saw a thread titled Site Reviews. 

After reading those reviews and seeing all the people participating in on-line poker, I put up my first $100 at Pacific on May 28, 2004.  (As I later told Matthew, I did not realize for several weeks, that there was more to his site than the message board.  I had bookmarked the strategy thread, and I never saw the link to the rest of the board.  (Imagine my surprise when I found that.)

 What limits do you play? 
I currently play $25 NL ring games, but I love MTT tournaments at the $5 and $10 level.  I find I take the cash game profits (when I get lucky) and spend the money in tourneys.


What is your favorite site and why?
I really like Paradise for the overall look.  I do wish their player's notes were handled differently and we could request more than 100 hand histories, but I live with it.  I've recently begun playing at PokerRoom for the bonus and I've placed in the money in a couple of MTT there; however; I'm not fond of that site's look and feel, but I adjust.  When I was using play money, I tried Poker Stars and Party Poker, but after reading about all the fish there, I thought those lakes were over-populated so I moved on down stream to Paradise.


What has been your biggest poker thrill or achievement up to now? 
Back in July, I made it to the final table in the ITH NL monthly tourney, because of incredibly good hands.  (Matthew took me out, but what a ride.)  My second favorite moment was winning a $185 pot and a special side pot for hitting quad 2s at a B&M back in July.  ($4/$8 level)


What area of your game are you currently focusing on?
Gee, I wish my game were good enough to just work on one area.  My biggest problem is getting bored with middle and low starting hand and then seeing too many flops.  Because I'm not skilled enough to juggle two tables I'm working on NOT getting bored and not playing questionable hands.  I want to stop thinking, "Oh, this J 8 off isn't all that bad when I'm sitting in MP and there's been a raise from UTG."


If you could go back in time and start all over again on the Internet, what would you do differently?  
First, I'll get involved with real money sooner as my months of putzing around with play money took up a lot of time and only taught me bad habits.  Second, I'd believe sooner that starting hand charts are for real and I'd also learn that my hopes that a 10 2 off can be profitable is just wishful thinking-unless you are Doyle Brunson.


What's your favorite poker saying or phrase?
I like all positive phrases regarding poker so that one is hard.  My LEAST favorite is, "In the game of life, women are the **** rake."  I know that phrase fits well into the movie "Rounders" but I don't like the feeling it conveys regarding our gender and I don't respect men who think this way.

Who is your favorite poker player (if you have one)?
Aside from Matthew, of course, I like Doyle Brunson.  As you may know, Doyle learned to play Hold Em in the honky tonks on Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth, TX, which is not far from where I grew up.  Doyle found a way to beat the odds back in the days before computers and books and charts. 

Because of his love for the game and his tenacity to be a winner, he sat alone on many occasions and dealt thousands of hands to help him learn the game.  I wonder if today's computer whizzes can understand and comprehend the world that existed before the World Wide Web.  Doyle is also a gracious player, whether he is a winner or loser and that takes real skill.


What are your other interests outside of poker?
Before I discovered Internet Poker, my plan was to write the great American novel when I retire.  But now, with poker in my life, I'm not sure if I'll continue to find time to write, but I love the English language and the marvelous way you can move a person to all levels of emotion with a series of keystrokes---fascinating.  I have published a few things, but I've always thought it would be great fun to write a classic that college freshman would have to study in English literature.  Then while they're trying to sort through the symbolism, personification, alliteration and metaphors to determine the author's true meaning for writing the work, I would be thinking, "I wrote it for the money."  I've also done competitive dancing and before poker was a competitive pinochle and hearts participant.


Feel free to add anything else you would like to say. 
For me, life is most fulfilling when I have goals.  I feel best when I've met a goal and moved to another.  Below are a few of my poker goals.

1. Be able to analyze a poker hand like Pilchard.
2. Figure probably, pot odds, and implied odds like BugsBunny
3. Play MTT as fearless as Ammbo
4. Present my thoughts on an issue as intelligently as BernardDogs, because if he tells you where to go, you almost look forward to the trip.
5. Have the grace and compassion of RiverCascade.
6. Think like Carnage
7. Finally, I want to learn how to lose a major poker tournament with the dignity Matthew Hilger displayed at the 2004 WSOP.


Look LaMaril up in the forum!