Wham Bam Van!: The Van Marcus Interview

By Arthur Crowson Nov 17, 2008 | 2 months ago

Van Marcus, APPT Manila - Day 3, APPT Season 2

Sometimes it's good to be lucky. APPT Manila Season 2 winner Van Marcus will be the first person to tell you that.

Marcus ran better at APPT Manila than some players will in their entire life. He got it all-in behind time and time again but always managed to come out alive. Two-outers, one-outers - it didn't matter. It seemed that Marcus was destined to win this event.

We spoke to Marcus just moments after his big win and he talked about what it was like to run like God for three days.

So first off Marcus, we've gotta ask: have you ever run this well in a tournament before?

Absolutely, 100% no. It was amazing. Every time I was all-in I was behind and had to suck out. I think actually think a lot of the plays I made were fairly standard but I kept getting it in way behind. I was incredibly lucky.

Do you believe in karma?

I was saying to my friends I don't know what I did the last few weeks but someone up there must be looking out for me because this was amazing. It was like I could feel the card coming. It was an unbelievable adrenaline rush. I was speechless. It's pretty hard to explain unless you were there. It was one of the better moments of my career and maybe even of my life.

These poor fools had no idea what they were in for.

What's your background and how long have you been playing poker?

I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I came to Australia in 1995 with my parents. My parents are originally from Iraq. They traveled to Australia because the times were a bit rough in Iraq. My father wanted us to have a good education so he moved us to a safe country.

My father is a doctor and my mother is an engineer so when they heard I was playing poker they weren't very happy about it. After a few years though I proved to them that I could do this.

Have they heard about your win here in Manila yet?

Yeah. I called them up as soon as the final table was finished. They were very proud.

Did you have a strategy heading into the final table?

Lee Nelson was lucky to get out before he could get sucked out on.

Well some of the players I knew fairly well because I had been playing with them for the last two days but I didn't have an overall strategy. I never do. I just go in fresh and see what happens and then adapt.

Normally I like to come in aggressive. Last year I played the whole tournament aggressively but it was different this year because I had three Korean guys that wouldn't slow down at all.

I was a bit more on the passive side. You might even call it a bit weak, but I was waiting to either pick up some good cards or find some good spots to get my chips in. Amazingly, every time I did it they had a better hand, but I always had outs and those outs played.

Speaking of the Koreans, what were you thinking when you entered four-handed play and they all had you outchipped?

That was a really tough spot that I was in. I was a little bit upset at myself because I was in the worst position, but I couldn't be too upset with myself because I didn't pick up any cards early on. I just decided that even though I didn't have many chips I was going to play aggressively. I wasn't going to let them push me around.

Tae Jun Noh was a formidable adversary in heads-up.

Thoughts on your heads-up competition Tae Jun Noh?

He was a really nice guy and a great player. He played heads-up really well. He played the button aggressively. I had a few tells on him here and there. In the last hand he made a pretty large raise and I thought he might have overcards like K-Q and I would have been the favorite with my straight draw and live cards. Unfortunately I was wrong on that read as he had top pair, but I still had outs.

You didn't need a one-outer you mean? [Van Marcus hit a one-outer on Day 2.]

[laughs] No; that was the day before. I still think that T on the turn in the final hand was the most beautiful card I'd ever seen.

I've actually played a lot of high-stakes games online for more amounts of money than first place here but nothing beats the feeling of winning a major tournament, especially a televised one.

Sometimes being lucky pays.

Two final questions: Will we see you at the APPT Grand Final in Sydney and do you have any plans for the money?

Yeah. 100% you'll see me at the final. I would have been there even if I hadn't cashed in this event because I love playing APPT events. They're great events with great structures.

As for the money, I'll put it in with the rest. Invest it and buy some things for my family. Go out partying and drinking. The rest of it will go into playing more poker.

Thanks for your time and congratulations, Van.

Thank you, sir.

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We've seen some crazy final tables here at PokerListings.com but to our knowledge no one has ever gotten luckier than Van Marcus. That's not to say he's not a skilled player but you wouldn't really know it from watching the final table.

It's worth mentioning that Marcus finished second at this final last year so it's obvious that he's doing something right.

Marcus was extremely humble about his victory in the exit interview and seemed to realize just how lucky he got. We look forward to seeing more of Marcus on the APPT.