Lüske's father was a butcher and a boxer, and he named Marcel after his favorite French pugilist, Marcel Cerdan. He grew up in the Netherlands, where he wanted to be a singer, but he ended up at the center of his country's government, The Hague, working for customs. He moved on to working in a nightclub, owning a bar in the Amsterdam marketplace, and opening a card club in Antwerp, Belgium. As a hobby, he and his brothers picked up five-card stud and played in their downtime at the market. Lüske's card skills among the local vendors led them to suggest him to enter a $1,000 buy-in tournament in Prague. As a result of his successful playing, he won over $40,000 and turned professional. He began flying from city to city to play poker, earning himself the nickname "The Flying Dutchman".
Lüske finished in 14th place in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event and 10th place in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. In the latter tournament, Lüske won $373,000. These achievements in the 2003 and 2004 WSOP Main Events are similar to Dan Harrington's back-to-back final table appearance in the same years, and it was Harrington who eliminated Lüske in 2004. Luske's 10th place finish in the 2004 Main Event for $373,000 is his largest tournament cash to date. Lüske was runner-up to Joe Awada in the 2004 $5,000 Seven-card stud tournament, for which he earned $120,800. In the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event, Luske made a deep run to finish in 23rd place out of 7,221 entries, for which he won $263,532. His 23rd place finish in the 2017 Main Event is his highest since finishing in 10th place in 2004. Lüske has cashed at the WSOP 33 times for over $1,390,000.
Other poker activities
Lüske has won the European Poker Awards Player of the Year in 2001 and 2004. In 2005, he won the €10,000 Hall of Fame Poker Classic in Paris and took home €119,000. In 2006 Lüske made the European Poker Tour championship grand final, finishing 7th. Also in 2006, Lüske won a $3,000 buy-in event at the Fourth Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. He won $315,630, which is his second-largest cash. As of 2020, Lüske's total live tournament winnings exceed $5,000,000. In early 2007, Lüske produced a TV show called Veronica Poker with fellow poker professional Noah Boeken, in which Dutch celebrities were taught to play poker. He also appeared in the show Poker Kings NL in which Boeken and Lüske filmed while attending poker tournaments. Later, he appeared in the show Celebrity Poker on Tientelevision channel. Lüske was the first person to be eliminated in the history of the World Series of Poker Europe, during the inaugural £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, in September 2007. Also in 2007, Lüske cofounded the Federation Internationale de Poker Association with American poker pro Michelle Lau to promote tournament fairness and uniformity worldwide. Lüske and Lau began FIDPA's mission with the creation of a book entitled The International Poker Rules. Its most recent update was published on 5 April 2018. Lüske is known for his sharp dress sense at the table and his ever-present sunglasses. He has gained some notoriety for being eccentric with his shades, occasionally sporting odd pairs but more often wearing his sunglasses upside-down. He is also a black belt in karate.
