Heads Up Poker Player PHMERC's Player Profile

Welcome to PHMERC's HUSNG profile page.  Here you can find information about the heads up sit and go player's poker career and life.

Quick Stats

Started Playing HUSNGs: Early 2008

Poker Handle: PHMERC (PokerStars, Bodog), Ansatsusha (Merge)

Birth Year: 1985

Went Broke on the Way Up: Yes, several times.

Secrets to Success: Working hard and coaching with HokieGreg.

PHMERC's Strengths: Work ethic, dedication, fearlessness.

PHMERC's Weaknesses: Lack of breaks/rest, mental fatigue.

Early Struggles

PHMERC started playing poker in early 2008 without much initial success.  "I was a huge fish, I had no idea what I was doing," said PHMERC.  "I multi tabled, played higher stakes than I could afford to and didn't learn properly at all.  It was a joke, I had no bankroll management, no coaching, no studying, nothing productive at all.  I would just play and play and play and lose, it was really bad."

Everything began to change in August 2009 for PHMERC.  "I was actually going to quit poker," he says.  "I had $57.90 left in my PokerStars account.  So what did I do?  I did what any fish would do with $57.90, I sat a $57.50 4 man," he says with a laugh.  "I sat HokieGreg and Ekko1.  I had no idea at the time who they were.  I beat Ekko in round one and won, then had to play Hokie in the final match  The first thing he said to me was that he was a lot better than the last guy, so good luck," PHMERC recollects.  "I played so hard, as hard as I could, but lost with a set of queens against Hokie's flush.  But this time, instead of quitting, I decided to buy coaching from Greg.  So I redeposited, bought some coaching from him and the rest is history." 

PHMERC credits HokieGreg, along with his own hard work, for his current success.  "Hokie as a guide was a huge help.  He showed me what to do daily to improve, he guided me to success.  The result is that I work harder than anybody I know now and don't intend to ever stop.  I study and work away from the tables a lot more than I actually play," he says.

(above) Rollin' - PHMERC's Preferred Method of Transportation: The Donkey

Battles with Heads Up SNG Regs

PHMERC has had his share of battles on his way up.  "I play regs all the time, every day, but I don't consider them all battles, not at all," says PHMERC.  "I'm just dominating lobbies and sitting people that I have an edge on, it's simple business."  But even PHMERC admits to having some "wars" with other players.  "I did have a pretty major reg war when I moved up to the high tab on PokerStars," he says.  "I got into the $115 turbos and got into it a bit with a guy named Mad-Shoe-Ter.  At the time he was a dominant $115 regular, as dominant as a $115 regular can be.  Long story short, we got into an argument which ended with me telling him I was going to sit him for life.  He proceeded to attack me in chat in all of my games, along with his poker buddies.  Every time I sat the $115 lobby I got sat by one of his friends.  Personally, I didn't mind at all because I felt I had an edge on all of them and just loved the opportunity.  I also wished I had moved up sooner.  I proceeded to destroy Mad-Shoe-Ter's results/career, and his friends will never be able to peacefully play on the high tab again on PokerStars, thanks to that."  PHMERC concludes, "That's the only time I literally had to fight on a daily basis for survival, and honestly I loved every minute of it."

Black Friday

After Black Friday, PHMERC moved to Mexico with HokieGreg and Sa1251, to continue to be able to play on PokerStars.  He also started playing on the Merge network as well as Bodog.

PHMERC plans to move to Argentina in late summer 2011, with his good poker buddy Harthor.  "[Harthor] works as hard as me on a daily basis.  I can't imagine what the two of us will do together as roommates... serious damage," said PHMERC.

PHMERC currently plays from the $100 to $500 heads up sng buyin level on PokerStars under his alias, PHMERC.

High Stakes Mindset

PHMERC often thinks about and works on the skills and mentality needed to beat the toughest heads up sng games online.  "I think once you get to the higher stakes, working hard and smart just doesn't cut it anymore," says PHMERC.  "You have to get very creative with how you study and be extremely humble in your work away from the game.  You have to be honest with yourself and work diligently to find your weaknesses and attack them.  This is a skill and something to work on daily.  I think more than anything this is now my number one strength in poker."

His experience in the first few months after Black Friday, however, was volatile.  "I ran worse than I could ever have imagined [in those months]," says PHMERC.  "It was very painful to work and play day in, day out and just getting my ass kicked constantly.  I didn't lose a step at all though and never stopped working in any way.  If anything it just motivated me to work harder," he says with authority.  "I grew more as a person and poker player in those three months than I ever have and possibly will in any similar time period.  I can speak in terms of months," PHMERC clarifies, "because I play 200+ games a week, every week.  For people who play 50 games per week [or similarly low volume], our months are obviously not equal.  I play 200 games per week in addition to all the time I spend studying and coaching, so for me, 3 months of running like hell is extremely legitimate and real."

PHMERC has also been working with noted mental game authority Jared Tendler.  "Jared is a superstar mental coach.  I started working with him in February of 2011 and he has not only changed my game, he's changed my life."

PHMERC has also been working with what many consider one of the best heads up sng players.  "In June 2011 I began a coaching and staking deal with H2Olga," says PHMERC.  "I can't even imagine what my ceiling is now in heads up sngs when I combine my work ethic with the current support system that I have in place [of Jared, HokieGreg and H2Olga]," he says.

Hobbies and Interests

Aside from poker, PHMERC likes to go to the gym, and participate in any adventurous activity that he can find.  He does everything from jet skiing to para-sailing to zip lining to fishing.  PHMERC is also a serious ice hockey hobbyist.