Poker Million: Champion Marty Smyth

Ireland has always been a land that has been rich with song and story; with pride and with laughter, and always with a sense of accomplishment. So it should come as no great surprise to anyone that we must now add some poker accolades to that list of achievements.

And the reason is this – There's a man from Belfast who is leading the most amazing charge to capture every great poker title that exists, and during this process he truly has become one of Ireland's greatest poker players – I give you Mr. Marty Smyth!

It is no secret to most that I have been playing this game for a long time, and it's definitely no myth as to how much the game actually means to me, but what I witnessed last week in the finals of the Poker Million was enough to set the ghost of any uncertainty to rest as to who the best player in Europe is at the moment. It's as simple as this; what Marty Smyth has done over the last two years is simply amazing, and he has my complete and utter respect for it. Well done and congratulations to you, Marty!

On a personal note

I had an absolutely amazing time over the last few days in London and though it's fair to say that I'm still a little bit disappointed by not winning it myself, I do find some consolation in the fact that I finished in third place.

But it's like this my friends – as I have said and wrote before: The sad thing with poker events in general is that there is typically only ever going to be one person that is truly happy with the final outcome of the tournament, so really, all you are ever doing is delaying the inevitable unless you are fortunate enough to go on and win it!

Thank you again to everyone for the kind words – Paddyswarrior, redmanbeard, Kerrybob, Matt, John P, smurph, Sean, Mike, Evan, Noel, and to all of the other great people who took the time to either text, leave a voicemail, or post a comment on my blog – I appreciate it.

Someone asked me if I was nervous knowing that the tournament was going out live on Sky Sports? Hmmm – I don't think I was at all nervous, although I would say that I was probably more anxious than anything due to the long layoff between the heats and the semis, but as soon as the cards got in the air, I was ready to go!

The next stop is the Irish Poker Championships in Galway, so I hope to have a good run in that like I did last year when I finished 13th.

Happy Christmas to all the Card Player Europe readers, God bless, and we'll talk to you soon!

Ciaran