If you missed it, last month, Mark dipthrongHerm (pictured) was part of a four-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up. He officially finished in fourth place for a hair over $50,000, the second largest amount given away, and told us, “It’s probably the best tournament I’ve ever played. I feel I’m at a point in my life where I got rid of a lot of the shit in my head that was holding me back.”

Herm is a self-proclaimed “huge proponent of chopping” and explained how the deal went down: “We looked at the numbers and I was getting $50,000, so I did it. Times are tough and I have a kid and have to pay for diapers and all that.” Besides the Warm-Up, he also passed $5 million in career online tournament winnings in recent weeks.

Winning the Warm-Up after the deal was fellow longtime PocketFiver Amit amak316 Makhija (pictured below). “I think Amak is really good, and I don’t say that lightly,” Herm said. “He has always been super tough when I’ve played with him in the past. We didn’t really get too involved, though. I had a ton of chips to his immediate left and we didn’t play any hands together.” Herm and Makhija have been members of PocketFives since 2006.

This author completely forgot Herm had a child, who is now 10 months old. His name is Luca, aka “The Big Tumbler.” He relayed, “He’s kind of a legend on Snapchat.” As far as parenting goes, this was Herm’s take: “Parenting is hard, especially for someone with ADD, but I love him so much and he has so many people in his life that love him, so it’s all good.”

“This was one of the first days I’ve played online in forever,” Herm said of the profitable Sunday. “I play almost no poker anymore, but I’d like to get back to playing Sundays at least. I’ve been golfing a lot too. I just picked it up, but spending time with the baby and helping out some of the guys I back have kept me busy. I’m hoping I can get the itch to play poker more. It’s really hard for me, honestly, not taking drugs and playing. I lose motivation and focus at times.”

He added, “I honestly believe if I could just play with the knowledge I have, I could incinerate. It’s hard for me to be motivated. When I’m in the zone with poker, though, I feel it’s one of the best feelings in the world. In that moment, I don’t think about norms or standard things at all; it’s all flow-based.”

Herm has been sober for four years and was prescribed a drug called Vyvansefor focus a couple of years ago. The medication, while helpful, impeded his ability to ratchet up his game: “It made playing poker really easy, but it was just a Band-Aid for me. It allowed me to not confront the uncomfortable things I needed to in order to elevate my game to the next level. I feel really raw and dialed in now, though, and I’m way more rational in my game even though I’m a massive psycho at poker.”

The Canadian’s largest online poker score came in 2010 when he won the PokerStars Sunday Million for a commanding $229,000. In 2008, he took down both the Full Tilt $750,000 Guaranteedand PokerStars $250,000 Guaranteed for almost a quarter-of-a-million dollars combined. He has captured three PocketFives Triple Crowns over the years, two of which came in 2010.

Whether he’s back for good this year remains to be seen. The Warm-Up was just Herm’s 59th tracked online MTT score of 2015.

We closed by asking him about his golf game, as we’re reasonably sure golf season is nearing its end in Canada. He evaluated, “I’m a hack, but I have this sick ass coach who is super cool. I’m shooting 110 now, which is good for me.”

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