Professional poker player Marty Smyth had a winning hand in 2007, scooping a cool £250,000 in a pre-Christmas tournament and €650,000 (around £470,000) at Easter.

The north Belfast man spoke to Sunday Life after he returned from London where he took second place in the Ladbrokes Poker Million VI grand final.

Marty had battled it out against the country's top poker players and a few celebrity players including Danielle Lloyd, Matt Dawson and Brian McFadden to win his place at the grand final in London on the Friday before Christmas.

"There were 12 heats to compete in and one of them was the celebrity round. There were six celebrities in total and Brian McFadden went through.

"He was soon put out in the next round though!" he said.

But despite cashing it in this year, Marty doesn't have any plans to buy flash cars or designer suits.

Instead, he's investing his earnings in bricks and mortar.

"I'm fairly careful with money. I've just bought a house in Greenisland so I will have a decent foundation if I ever have to go back to work."

It's a far cry from 10 years ago when Marty was working as a civil servant before studying Maths at Queen's.

He explained: "I never really made the decision to turn professional. I started playing with my friends for very small amounts of money. Then eight or nine years ago I went to a casino in Dublin and started playing. I lost for the first few years, but then I started to become an overall winning player instead of a losing player."

And as his form in 2007 has proved, his winning streak has continued. He's also one of the few players who are sponsored by Ladbrokes.

"About six years ago I put a deposit of $$500 into the Ladbrokes site and by the end of the year the account had gone up to six figures," he said.

Marty is jetting off for a holiday in the Caribbean in January - but will be combining it with another poker tournament.

gedgar@belfasttelegraph.co.uk