Isabelle Mercier is homeless, living out of a suitcase, and loving it.

Born in 1975 in Victoriaville, Quebec, Isabelle began working as a blackjack dealer at the Casino de Montreal while earning a law degree from the University of Montreal. After completing her degree, she worked as a commercial lawyer for a year and then moved to Paris to continue her studies with a master's degree in international law at the Sorbonne, which she obtained at the age of 23.

Soon after, she took a job as a poker dealer at the prestigious Aviation Club de France, and quickly worked her way up to become the poker room manager and the right-hand man to boss Bruno Fitoussi, a French poker legend. She held her position at the famed club for four years before giving it all up in pursuit of her dream to become a professional poker player.

"I sold everything except some clothes and a suitcase and I went for it, for fulfilling my dreams. I don't want to die and regret that I didn't even try," Mercier said.

She made her debut on the professional circuit in 2004, quickly gaining respect and recognition. So far in her relatively short tournament career she has won more than $360,000. This includes her September 2004 WPT Ladies Night Out Invitational II win, where Mike Sexton dubbed her "No Mercy" Mercier for her aggressive style of play.

Her skills at Ladies Night Out also caught the eye of PokerStars.com, which selected her to become their traveling ambassador, representing the site at poker tournaments around the world. Mercier also likes to practice her tournament play on the site during her downtime, playing under the name "NoMercy."

While many professional players enjoy playing cash games to earn their money, Mercier prefers to play in tournaments. She enjoys the action and aggressiveness of play, which contrasts to the tone and pace of cash games, where players have to be more patient and disciplined.

In addition to her numerous tournament wins, Isabelle has been the commentator for the three editions of the WPT Championships at the Aviation Club de France, and has twice been nominated for the "European Poker Awards" in the "Casino Staff Person of the Year" category and once in the "Rookie of the Year" category.

Isabelle believes fine-tuned instinct is a powerful female attribute and a handy one for a poker player to have. While the technical and mathematical aspects of the game can be learned by anyone who studies it enough, Isabelle thinks reading people is a harder skill to acquire and that women in general have a delicacy of feeling for others, giving them a greater ability to read their opponents at the table -- "as long as they don't let the men intimidate them."

Intimidation is one of Mercier's strong suits. Not only is she known for her aggressive play, but other players often find themselves the victim of her intense stare as she waits for them to make a move. That doesn't mean she can't be intimidated though. She lists Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and her poker hero Gus Hansen, who she once worked with on a poker book, as three players she fears coming up against in a game.

When she's not playing, Mercier likes to read, run, take candlelit baths and listen to music. But she considers herself to be pretty boring away from the poker table because all she really wants to talk about or read about is poker.