Rebekah Mercer

Recently I was very lucky to be able to chat with Rebekah Mercer. Rebekah won a seat at Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure through a $36 buy in satellite. With $3,000,000 prize pool that could be a pretty impressive return.  Not to mention the week in the Bahamas as she played. Rebekah also writes a poker column for the Examiner and very kindly agreed to answer some of my questions.

Will you be going or entering any of the WSOP or following it on TV?

 Will definitely watch every single second if I don’t get to go. I’m trying my best right now to win a seat on PokerStars. They have some really good satellites running for as little as $2. That’s how I won my PCA seat, so will keep trying to win a cheap seat. I will budget $150 or so to try to win a seat. If I don’t win one, I will have to be content to watch it on TV.

What’s your preference and why. No limit, limit or pot limit. Do you prefer sit and go’s or big tournaments?

 My specialty is cheap satellites ($10 or less) to get me into bigger satellites. I like to play $3 rebuys on PokerStars to get into their Sunday Million tournament. I’ve gotten into the money several times that way, by only spending $9 or less (for a tournament that normally costs $215.) My biggest cash so far in that tournament is $1600. I made it to 158 out of 7446 players. I once made it to the money in their $250,000 Sunday tournament and had to beat 21,348 people to get there. That’s the biggest field I’ve ever played. (That was crazy, but just had to see if I could do it.)

I play mostly NL, since that’s what is available 90% of the time. I play limit when I go to live casinos and NL online. I don’t care much for PL. It’s even crazier than NL. Seems to be all about the macho, and not much else.

In your recent article you talk about how you played in Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. You refer to the lack of women players, what do you think puts them off playing?

I’m guessing here, but I think women like to play limit cash tables and sit-n-gos more. The only rational reason can be that they just don’t enter the satellites as much, because from what we know, women are definitely good players.  I thought there would be at least 100 women or so at the PCA. I was very surprised to be one of only 7 women who qualified. (There were 7 or 8 women pros, but they were sponsored.)

I think women see satellites as long shots and figure they are a waste of money. But when you look at the return on investment, if you qualify, you are getting an amazing overlay. You just have to understand the strategy for satellites and be patient. You also have to be willing to enter quite a few. You will be doing good to place in 10% of them. My “cash rate” is currently at 17%, but I play mostly cheap tournaments. I’m sure it would be lower if I played higher stakes tournaments.

What do you think a female poker player has to have beside poker skill to stand a chance against the men?

Women often have better skills than the men. It’s mostly emotional fortitude that differentiates the good female players. But that is mainly for live play at casinos. Online it doesn’t make that much difference. But for live play here are my thoughts:

Be stubborn and not afraid to lose. Be willing to take bat beats and then turn right around and do it again. Be able to take it when men snicker and make insulting remarks that they wouldn’t make to another man. (Men hate to lose to women, especially at poker, since some of them resent us for being there in the first place.) Be willing to be the only woman at the table.

The forever disputed question is should there be women only tournaments. What are your views on this?

 I think women only tournaments are good for new players. Men could do the same thing if they wanted, so who’s to say it’s discriminatory? I would definitely play the ladies tournament at the WSOP if I could. It would be great to win it and I certainly would not make any excuses for doing so. I think it would be just as hard, if not harder than the open events to win. Women play differently so it would just be fun to play against some of the best women in the world, instead of mostly men.

If you could pick your ideal final table who would be on it?

 Just for sheer entertainment value: Mike Matasow, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreneau, Tiffany Michelle, Dennis Phillips, Scotty Nguyen, Kristi Gazes, Annette Oberstaad, and me, of course. For a final table that I would be thrilled to play at in a big tournament, it would include no-name players (non pros) who have read all the classic poker books that tell you to fold just about everything except KK and AA. I would run all over them!

What’s your favourite hand?

 Pocket aces, of course. They work out great for me most of the time.

Do you have any pre-game rituals?

 Get a good night’s sleep, eat a healthy light meal beforehand, have a nice pep talk with myself and go over some of my previous accomplishments, have something to drink nearby (non-alcoholic of course) , and do everything I can to minimize distractions. (Turn off the phone, try not to “chat” online too much, or talk to other players at the table too much.)

What is it you love about poker?

 The challenge, the competition, the fact that it’s always changing and your game has to keep constantly evolving. It’s a game that you can never totally master. And of course the main thing is the big rush you get when you win a big tournament or a big pot.

When I won the PCA tournament I just sat in front of my computer for a couple of minutes practically hyperventilating (it was 1:30 in the morning when it was over). I keep saying aloud, “Oh, my god! I can’t believe it. I actually won! I just won a $14,000 package. Totally ******* amazing!” Then I went to wake my husband up and tell him we were going to the Bahamas. He didn’t believe me at first. I had to show him the money sitting in my account at PokerStars. When he realized it was true he was almost excited as I was. For the first week I had trouble concentrating on anything else. It was so much fun!

If you could describe your perfect day what would it be?

 Sleep until 9 or so, get up and read poker books and drink my coffee until around 11. Have a nice lunch before playing a big money tournament starting at around 2 p.m. Then when it’s over and I won a lot of money, I would go spend some of it on a nice dinner and a show for me and my husband. We would discuss at dinner how we were going to spend/invest the $1 million or so I just won. A new house, a great vacation, or maybe just sock it all away? Then we would go to the hot tub for a nice soak and a glass of wine or two before bed. Then go to bed thinking about doing it all over again the next day. Hedonism rules!

Which three male poker players would you enter into a  good looking competition?

 Ivan Demidov, Joe Hachem, and Chad Brown.

How often do you play online if not playing live?

 I play online 90 percent of the time because the payouts are so much better for a smaller investment. I will play satellites at casinos to enter big tournaments occasionally. There’s a local casino I like to play at, where I know the players pretty well. I like to play their weekend tournaments sometimes just for fun and for the social aspect of it.

Is it better to date another poker play or a non player?

 I think it would be great to have a partner who plays poker. My husband watches it on TV and understands the game, but doesn’t play much. He hates losing too much. I think it would be wonderful to have someone to talk poker strategy with and who could commiserate with your bad beats. My husband does that, but since he doesn’t play that much, I think he get a little tired of hearing about it. But on the other hand, if we both played, we might get sick of the whole thing. So who knows?
Maybe it’s better to just have friends who play, or a website like yours, or somewhere else to “talk poker.”

Do you use your femme fatal at all at poker table?

 I try to dress reasonably well when I play live (but still be comfortable) , and am not opposed to showing a little cleavage on occasion. But for the most part, I keep to myself and don’t say a lot. If they talk to me, I will listen and be friendly, but I don’t say much myself. You will be surprised how much men like to chat with women at the table and tell you all about what they played, how they played it, what they thought the other guy had, etc. It can be very beneficial.

What advise would you give a new female poker player?

1) Read all the books and be a student of the game. That is where women really excel, I think. Women are generally better students than men and you can learn a lot from reading about other players’ experiences. I have read about 25 books, I think.
2) Start out small so you can have some success early. I started in a free poker league that played at local bars. All we had to pay for was a drink or two. We had a blast, but it was very competitive.
3) Don’t dwell on being a woman. You are probably thinking about it much more than they are. Just play a tight aggressive game and you will win more often than you lose.

You can read more of Rebekah’s take on the female poker scene plus what it was like to play the Poker Stars Caribean Adventure in her column at the Examiner.