On February 17th, Herm trumped the pack of the PokerStars $109 Two Rebuys, One Add-On event for $8,000. Two days later, he moved over to Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest site, and won the $30 rebuy for $7,700. His crowning glory came on February 23rd, or six days after his adventure began. On that day, Herm barreled through the field of the Absolute Poker $15,000 Guaranteed for $4,900. A total of 499 PLB Points and $20,000 later, Herm had earned his second Triple Crown in a calendar month.
A few days prior to scoring his second Triple Crown title, Herm won a $200 Turbo $20,000 Guaranteed Heads-Up tournament on Full Tilt Poker. He explained his propensity for success in mano-a-mano formats: “I like heads-up MTTs a lot and have done pretty well in them. I think a lot of MTT players aren’t that great heads-up and I’m not a specialist at all, but just playing pretty fundamentally solid can take you a long way in those tournaments.”
Some players madly research their heads-up opponents prior to taking to the virtual or live felts. Herm explained how you – the reader – can improve your heads-up game: “I think just experience and understanding basic heads-up strategy like raising most buttons.” His heads-up victory was part of his $166,000 in cashes in tournaments tracked for the Rankings in February. Herm now sits at #9 worldwide in the Rankings and owns the 11th highest PLB tally in the business.
Herm backs a stable of members of the online poker community and explained that his latest Triple Crown is a validation of his place in the industry: “It’s important to have accolades like this because if I want someone to listen to my advice, I have something to lean back on. I’m not just some random person talking about how to play a hand. There’s some proof that I may know what I’m talking about.” In July 2008, Herm took down two Sunday Majors on the same day, winning the Bodog
$100,000 Guaranteed and Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for a combined $170,000. One week prior, he won the Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan for $44,000.
Later that night, Herm returned to his Atlantis hotel room only to find an unexpected guest: “I came into my room that day and he was passed out on my bed at 4:00am and asked me if we were late for the banquet.” Herm cashed in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and earned $3,200.
Visit the Triple Crown Wall of Champions to see how you can earn your very own profile badge. Congratulations to Herm and other PocketFives.com members who claimed Triple Crown titles last month.
The field of 64 players is set in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which begins today from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The online poker community is well represented, with players like Jason treysfull21 Mercier and Eric basebaldy Baldwin taking to the invite-only tournament. Both were automatic qualifiers for the event, with Baldwin capturing CardPlayer Player of the Year honors and Mercier winning Bluff Player of the Year. Let’s check out the first round match-ups in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Mercier (pictured at left) will square off against Team 
Baldwin (pictured at right) will dance with Leo Wolpert in first round action. A few months removed from his CardPlayer honors, Baldwin, a 
Other members of the online poker community who learned their fate last night at a draw party at the PURE Nightclub included Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, who will match up with 2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate in the first round. Meanwhile, 
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brock t soprano Parker (pictured at right) will have his work cut out for him in the first round, as he’ll face Doyle Brunson. The 