Poker loses a star as ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson passes away after a long battle with cancer.
Google ‘Marty Wilson’ and ‘Poker’, a synopsis from his Wikipedia page, screams to life.
‘Nickname: Mad.’
Assuming Wilson didn’t earn his nickname after spending time in Wolverhampton Insane Asylum, consider that he received it for being a cracking laugh.
On Friday night, ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson, lost his six-month battle against cancer. His wife Katherine was with him when he died. The outpouring of condolences, love and support prove the hypothesis — he was a cracking laugh.
I was never fortunate enough to meet Wilson. I saw him once; contemplated approaching him for an interview, but my throat constricted, my entrails froze, and fear kicked in, the way it does when I think of pounding the drums with the stalwarts of the game.
I won’t get another chance.
My abiding memory of Wilson was the way he managed the royalty and rabble on the partypoker Poker Den, the televised poker show that aired on Sky Sports. Few wear an air of authority while at the same time tickling your balls with a feather duster — specs perched on the top of his bonce, black and white striped tie worn loud and proud down the centre of his beige suit — the man was mint, and he played the role to perfection.
Wilson was ‘old school,’ coming from the same stock as Padraig Parkinson, Jesse May, Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot, Victoria Coren-Mitchell and The Hendon Mobsters. If you lived in the U.K. during the 90s and loved your poker, then you knew him as well as you knew Saint & Greavsie, Big Daddy and Nora Batty.
PokerNews’ Paul Seaton wrote a touching piece on Wilson’s passing, stating that he was responsible for teaching Tom Cruise, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, Michael Greco and Helen Chamberlain how to play poker. Only Wilson could conspire for a writer to include ‘Maverick‘ in that best of British list.
He was also a dab hand on the table.
The greatest hits of ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson
1998: Wins a $1k at the Carnivale of Poker in Vegas for $68,400
2000: Finished 4th in the final of Late Night Poker Season 3
2003: Finished 3rd in the £1,525 European Poker Classics for £20,265
2005: Wins the AUD 550 PLO at the Aussie Millions for $22,962
2005: Wins a £1k at the Grosvenor in Blackpool for £40,340
2008: Finishes 9/2218 in the WSOP $1k Seniors Event for $34,312
2010: Finishes 17/708 in the Irish Open for €18,300
As you would expect, tributes poured out in support of Wilson, and we will leave you with one of the best, from one of the best.
To all those who are saying RIP Mad Marty its a nice thought but theres no fucking chance thats going to happen😁 My thoughts and prayers are with the dead people trying to do that.WAKE UP.Marty's here😁😁😁
— Padraig Parkinson (@padraigpoker) July 27, 2019
