After his $325,000 payout in the aforementioned event (which was won by Phil Ivey) Marc hit the European poker circuit and made his mark immediately by placing 5th in the €5000 EFOP Championship. He followed that up with a $10,000 cash in the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise $500 NL Hold’em tournament, a 2nd placed finish in the £200 NL Hold’em event at the Midland Medley (worth $14,264) and a 4th place finish in the €1000 NL Hold’em event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (worth $11,684).

That was just the start. Marc then blitzed the European Poker Classics in London, cashing three times and winning the £1000 PL Omaha event along the way, good for £37,500. He then finished second in the British Poker Open ($38,443) and cashed three times at the 2006 WSOP. All in all since Monte Carlo Marc has made 16 final tables and won over $300,000.

Malcolm Weir caught up with Marc at the Casino 50 club where he had been playing in the FTP Million Dollar Cash Game. Continuing his good form Marc had finished second to Gus Hansen the previous day in the European Poker Masters (good for $50,138) and had just left the cash game around $63,000 to the good.

Q. Not a bad day’s work Marc?

A. No no. I’m very pleased. It’s not so much the money though, more the player profile, to show you can sit down with these boys and not make a fool of yourself. I did ok; I think I had the biggest stack at the time I left the table, though I think Phil Ivey has cleaned up since then. I made it easier for him! (laughs)

Q. How did you play?

A. I wasn’t intimidated; I played a good game. I went $20,000 in the hole and ended up $60k so I’m pleased with that. To go 20 in the hole that early against that field and work my way out of it. . . . .I’m happy.

Q. Are there any key hands you can remember?

A. Yea. I made a nice move after Chris Ferguson raised under the gun and got three flat callers. I made a big re-raise from the big blind with AQ; Chris folded but Jennifer Harman and John Juanda called. The flop came 566 with two diamonds ( I had no diamonds) and I made a big continuation bet which got the other two to fold. That was very satisfying.

Q. Have you played much with these guys before?

A. Actually I play golf with them all the time and that probably makes them less like “superstars” to me than they really are. But big up to Full Tilt for bringing them all here because they are superstars and it does nothing but enhance the European player for playing with them.

Q. So how did you get to know these guys?

A. Through golf! Ram Vaswani (of the Hendon Mob) is a Full Tilt player and he is my golf partner. So we went to play golf, Phil (Ivey) was there and we joined up and have been golfing buddies ever since. We play $50K a hole.

Q. I hear Phil is no Tiger Woods on the golf course.

A. (Laughs). Oh he’s awful. Awful! Still, he has got better. Last time I played with him I said: “Phil, you used to be worse than desperate but now you’ve improved to hopeless!”

Q. Congratulations on your second place yesterday in the European Poker Masters. How did that go?

A. Thanks. It went really well and I played great. Chris Ferguson was doing the commentary and he was kind enough to tell me that I was the best player, even though I didn’t win. Gus sucked out on me something rotten!

Q. Pray Tell.

A. Gus started the heads up with about $380k to my $160k. I worked my way back and eventually reversed it so I had $380k and he had $160k. At this point I made three big moves on him to make him lay down hands (he kept raising me preflop so I came over the top three times). At this point I’ve got Gus frustrated and he’s saying “now I’m steaming” and eventually he pushes all in when I’ve got A3 spades. I think its good enough so I call him in a flash and sure enough he has K9. But surprise surprise he hits a king. Next hand I get queens and I check because I know he wont let me see a flop for free. He raises; I go all-in and he says: “Oh shit,” and calls with A5. He hits and ace and that’s it. I’m out.

Q. That’s Gus poker as Mike Matusow would say!

A. (Laughs) Still. No complaints; that happens; that’s poker. If you play at all frequently it will even itself out.

Q. So how long have you been playing professional poker?

A. Well I have been playing poker for 30 years (cash games) but professionally I have only been playing 10 months! Before that I had a job selling windows!

Q. So a sensible career move then?

A. You could say that! I have been very very fortunate. I have had good results and played well but how, after the amount of time I have been playing, do I mix in the circles I mix in I just don’t know. I made more in my first month playing professional poker than I did in my last nine years of selling windows. So far I’ve made over $1 million since turning pro.

Q. That’s a fantastic achievement. One which enabled you to go the WSOP this year. How did that go?

A. I got knocked out the main-event before dinner! But I did make three cashes. My best chance came in one of the $1000 buy-in NL Hold’em events in which I came 20th and was knocked out with aces versus kings. I came 22nd in the $10,000 Omaha event and that was another harsh one. I was 3rd in chips at the time and I went in against the chip leader when I had top trips and the nut flush draw, which is about the best hand you can have in Omaha, and he had top two pair and a straight draw. He hit his straight; that’s about as sick a beat as you can get in that game. His name was Lee Watkinson. Guess who went on to win it? Yup. Lee Watkinson.

Q. Ouch. Well lets hope you don’t get any more of those for a while to come. So what’s next?

A. I’m off to Barcelona tomorrow for the EPT Barcelona Open and then straight back to London to play in the London Open (another EPT event).

Q. Well good luck! And thanks for talking.

A. Thanks. My pleasure.