Marty Smyth is a professional poker player currently residing in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Before entering the poker world, he worked as a civil servant for his livelihood. He started playing poker in his early teens and also competed with his friends at his university. When he was 22, he started playing Omaha and Texas Hold'em at a Dublin casino, which became his very first step into the world of professional poker.
He has been a regular participant of the Irish Poker Open from the year 2002. He ranked 7th place in his first tournament, but managed to move up to 6th place in the 2006 Irish Poker Open. In December of that year, Marty Smyth caught the attention of the poker circuit when he finished sixth in the Ladbrokes sponsored Poker Million V. This tournament was held in England and made him $100,000 richer. He finished first in the PaddyPower Irish Open in the year 2007. Marty Smyth competed with Joe Beevers, an English professional poker player, and was the runner-up in the Ladbokes Poker Million VI in 2007.
In the same year, Marty Smyth outlasted 708 players in the Irish Poker Open to defeat Roland De Wolfe during heads-up play and made live earnings of €650,000. The win, which he considers to be an honor, not only increased his bankroll, but also strengthened his reputation as a skillful poker player.
Marty Smyth had a breakthrough in his career when he won the 2008 World Series of Poker title for the World Championship of Pot-Limit Omaha event. He outplayed 381 professional poker players to finish first in the event. At the final table, Marty Smyth met Peter Jettenn, a poker player from Canada, in a heads-up confrontation. After an exhaustive eleven hours of play and 30 hands, Marty Smyth defeated Peter Jetten to collect the gold bracelet and $859,532 in prize money. Upon winning, he immediately paid tribute to Irish poker pioneers Padriag Parkinson and Donnacha O'Dea who preceded his victory in this event, by calling them his Irish poker gods.
Even though Marty Smyth started playing poker seriously only in 2002, as of 2008, he already has accumulated live tournament winnings that exceed $2,600,000, two money finishes, and one WSOP bracelet.