The winner of the 2007 Irish Poker Open and the PartyPoker World Open IV, Marty Smyth was in the midst of a solid winning streak when he arrived at the 2008 WSOP.

Having never cashed before at the World Series, Marty impressed the poker world by taking 39th place in Event 15, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, less than two weeks into the WSOP. And, just 19 days later, he one-upped himself by taking down Event 50, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship.

With local poker idols like Padraig Parkinson and Donnacha O'Dea to draw from, it's no surprise Marty set his eyes on the top poker prize when he quit his job as a civil servant in 2002 to pursue poker full time.

Despite skepticism from his family, Marty persevered and, together with his poker buddies from university, began to play winning poker. Several big cashes and successful investments later, Marty is now at the top of his poker game, and his family couldn't be happier.

He is touted as one of the best players to emerge from the Emerald Isle in years, and the sheer number of cheering fans that turned out to support him at Event 50's final table is a testament to his popularity.

Marty beat fellow pros Michael Mizrachi and Kido Pham to take first place after three days of tournament play. The fifth Irish player in history to win a WSOP bracelet, Marty expressed his delight to PokerListings.com in a post-win interview.

"There are four other Irish guys who have won bracelets at the WSOP and to be included in that group it means a lot."

Prior to the PLO World Championship, Marty's biggest win was his first-place finish at the 2007 Irish Poker Open. Following his WSOP victory, he cited that achievement as the proudest moment of his poker career, but admitted that his WSOP gold bracelet was meaningful too.

At the time of his win (2008), Marty's $859,549 payday was the largest PLO prize in poker history.