Marcel Luse was born in 1953 and is a professional poker player from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Mostly known as “The Flying Dutchman”, Marcel is one of the most well known and respected figures in the poker world. Famous for his stylish image, including designer suits and patented upside down sunglasses, Luse has had a remarkable professional career with tournament cashes in almost every country on globe.
Marcel Luse began his poker career in 1999 with an even-keeled temper and the valuable ability to read others and by 2001, he was already ranked as the number one player in Europe. However, it was at the 2004 World Series of Poker tournament where Luske attained his true worldwide stardom. He was then a runner-up in the event and finished 10th at the final table in the Main Event. His success continued in 2005 and 2006 when he even earned coveted championship bracelets at the Bellagio’s Five Star World Poker Classic.
There are many skilled players in the poker world but Marcel Luse is not only among the most skilled ones, but among the most respected ones as well. His kindness, friendly personality and positive attitude always gets other to feel comfortable and welcomed around him, besides the political correctness he brings to every poker table he joins, is incomparable. So it is no wonder that such a polite and nice person has been dubbed Poker’s Robing Ambassador of Goodwill.
So his brilliant skills and wonderful personality lead to the conclusion that he could be a good mentor, as well. So Luske mentored players like David Williams and Kirill Gerasimov. Luske also formed the Circle of Outlaws group, which was created to teach and help young players who really want to turn their poker interest into something valuable. In 2007, he started a show named Veronica Poker, accompanied by Noah Boeken, in which a couple of Dutch celebrities had to learn poker from them. After a quick study, the celebrities had to go against each other and the winner was invited to an important tournament in Las Vegas. However, that was not Marcel Luske’s only TV appearance – later he also appeared in the show Poker Kings NL in which Boeken and Luske were attending tournaments while followed by the camera.
He is definitely concerned about poker – he is even passionate in his campaign to standardize the rules of poker for the benefit of future players around the world. At first he was the founding father of the International Poker Federation (IPF) and now he is head of the Federation Internationale de poker Assotiation (FIDPA), Marcel Luske works with huge organizations to help unite the global poker community and he also sits on the Board of Directors of the World Poker Association.
Today, “The Flying Dutchman” has embraced numerous projects including charity endeavors, television projects and even musical recordings. As a matter of fact, his childhood dream was to be a performer and that dream is now reality. After his debut performance of “The Poker Song” at Bluff Magazine’s 2006 WSOP party, Marcel Luske has started performing at poker events and card room grand openings. The two things he loves in his life – music and poker are now combined and the result is breathtaking.
Marcel Luske is a true icon of the poker world. As of 2008, his total live tournament winning exceed $3,700,000 and has plenty of years in front of him to even double that score.