Marty Smyth

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Marty Smyth
Marty Smyth 2008.jpg
Marty Smyth after winning the 2008 WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Champion
Residence Belfast, Northern Ireland
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s) 1
Money finish(es) 2
Highest ITM
Main Event finish
None
European Poker Tour
Title(s) None
Final table(s) None
Money finish(es) 1
Information accurate as of 27 December 2009.

Marty Smyth is a professional poker player from Belfast, Northern Ireland with a track record including wins in the 2007 Irish Poker Open Championship[1] and the 2008 Poker Million. He won his first WSOP bracelet in the 2008 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.

Poker career

Marty Smyth has played poker since his early teens. He first discovered Omaha and Texas hold'em on a weekend trip to a Dublin casino at the age of 22.[2] He continued to play regularly, eventually becoming a successful professional player. In March 2008 Smyth signed a sponsorship deal with Irish-based company, Boylepoker.com. Marty was the highest earning European player in 2007[better source needed] and has since been nominated for two European Poker Awards, Player of the Year 2008 and Best Tournament Performance 2008. [3][self-published source?]

Irish Poker Open

Smyth has placed in the Irish Poker Open, Europe's oldest and largest poker tournament,[4] on four occasions. He placed 7th in 2002 and 6th in 2003. In the 2006 event, Smyth placed 15th. He defeated the largest field ever assembled for a European poker tournament when in 2007, he won the €3,300 buy-in event in Dublin. 708 players began the four day event playing down to the final table. Smyth eventually defeated Roland De Wolfe in a heads-up encounter Terry Rogers Memorial Trophy and earning €650,000.[1] The event was televised in Ireland on RTE Two and internationally on Challenge.

Poker Million

Smyth competed in the Ladbrokes sponsored Poker Million V event in England in 2006 He placed 6th on the final table, winning $100,000 in prize money. The event was broadcast on Sky Sports. He also made the final table the following year, finishing 2nd to Joe Beevers for $500,000. In 2008, Smyth reached a record-breaking third consecutive final of the event, winning the $1,000,000 first prize.

World Series of Poker

Marty Smyth won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship on 2 July 2008 winning $859,532. On the final hand on a board of Q 9 10, Smyth made a pot-size bet of 600,000 holding K J J Q holding a made king-high straight, his opponent Peter Jetten re-raised pot, Smyth then re-raised all-in and was call by Jetten who was holding K J 3 2 for the same king-high straight, however Smyth was freerolling on the re-draw to a flush as well as an open-ended straight flush draw, both the King high and the Royal Flush, the turn was a blank, the 7, but the river brought the 6 giving Smyth the winning flush and the Championship.[5] Marty considers his bracelet win to be his biggest achievement, but highlights the Irish Open title as his most "life-changing". [6]

World Series of Poker Bracelet

Year Tournament Prize (US$)
2008 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship $859,532

As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,700,000.[7] His two cashes at the WSOP account for $863,382 of those winnings.[8]

Notes

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  4. Cardplayer Europe: How the Irish Changed the Face of Poker
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  8. World Series of Poker Earnings, worldseriesofpoker.com