The Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske Flies High in 2017 Main Event

Marcel Luske rose to poker fame at the start of the poker boom with back-to-back deep runs in the Main Event. He finished in 14th in 2003 and followed that up with a tenth place finish in 2004 as audiences tuned in with record numbers on TV. Luske’s outgoing personality and solid game has him back in the thick of things 13 years later.

“It’s getting real serious now because a stack of one million can go quickly,” Luske said. “I saw that Kenny dropped all the way down to 900,000. It just goes to show you that with blinds at 15,000/30,000 a 100,000 or 200,000 pot is nothing. If you’re not on your game or if your ace king or position misses – it makes such a difference now to rise and shine.”

“If you’re not running good and out of your element it can be frustrating,” he added. “I was not hitting hands and gave like 850,000 of my stack away. Then I had to go all in with nines against ace king, and runner-runner with quads. Now I have a million and I have a feeling that when I get connected I will jump to three or four million or I’m out. This is the game, you have to go with the flow.”

Luske’s deep run has him in the best place he’s been in year. “I’m very happy because not only am I deep in the tournament and my son at home is works the circus, placed number one with new show,” he said. “It’s amazing because he worked so hard for it. I was on top of him all the time because I was moving to Holland and support him and the family. In the meantime, I started working in England and joined partypoker.”

“I feel good – I’ve been in shape physically and mentally,” Luske added. “I feel happier now than I’ve been in my life. You work hard and sometimes don’t enjoy it.”

“I hope the poker gods are with me and I make some hands,” said Luske. “You cannot afford to fool around. I did make one bluff on a guy in position. But that’s my only bluff.”