Gavin Smith Poker
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Gavin Smith Poker
Details are scarce at the moment but PokerNews has learned from multiple sources that popular poker pro Gavin Smith, 50, unexpectedly passed away Monday night in Texas.
Smith, born September 4, 1968, rose to poker prominence during the poker boom after winning the World Poker Tour Season IV Mirage Poker Championship for a career-high $1,128,278 and then the WPT Season IV (2005) Player of the Year title.
- Gavin Smith: Putting Poker and Life in Perspective. By Earl Burton - Jan 24th, 2014. For many of poker’s top professionals, the coming of the New Year brings new opportunities, new.
- In just a few short hours of learning that poker pro Gavin Smith had passed away unexpectedly, a GoFundMe account was set up in his name in order to provide financial support for his two young sons.
- Gavin Smith Gavin Smith is a famous Canadian proficient poker player. He bagged the WPT Season IV Mirage Poker Showdown Championship occasion and the WPT Season IV Player of.
Other highlights on his poker résumé include finishing second in the 2008 WPT North American Poker Championship in Niagara Falls for $542,129, winning the 2006 World Pro-Am Challenge for $500,000, and capturing his first and only bracelet in the 2010 World Series of Poker Event #44: $2,500 Limit/NLH for $268,238.
Mark Kroon on Gavin: 'One of the funniest and fun guys in poker and life.”
Gavin was a gemstone for those lucky enough to have ever heard him tell a funny joke, or share a cocktail, or been involved with him in a hand of poker. Everyone who met Gavin probably remembers some kind of story. As so often was the case, Gavin often became the story, by being there. Just by being in the room. Poker Champion Gavin Smith Dead At Age 50 Former WPT Champion and Player of the Year, WSOP Bracelet Winner Passes Away In Houston Home by Card Player News Team Published: Jan 15, 2019 Canadian.
Throughout his professional poker career, Smith amassed $6,321,096 in tournament earnings dating back to 1998.
Capturing a WSOP Bracelet
According to the WSOP at the time, it was “the one achievement that had eluded the fast-living, hard-drinking, Butterball-shaped poker superstar was the long-coveted WSOP victory.”
For Smith himself, it was a life-changing and career-affirming moment.
“Yeah, I seem to be pretty good at screwing things up. I have had a lot of issues through the years,” he said in his winner interview. “I know this year I came in trying to try my ass off. I have not always done that. In the past, I sometimes went out and got drunk or hung out. But this year, I decided to come in and try to play my best the whole time. I came in and the first several events I kept getting my teeth kicked in. I was playing well. I was playing my best. But I wasn’t seeing the results. And then when I cashed in the Heads-Up that helped. Then, the last three days everything just clicked. I played well and things went well and everything clicked at the right time.”
Known for his sense of humor, Smith’s many television appearances including Poker After Dark, Late Night Poker, and NBC’s Face the Ace.
Born in Canada, Smith learned cards, primarily rummy and cribbage, from his father before discovering poker at the age of 26.
“I’m just an older guy from Guelph, Ontario, who used to drive a taxi and cut greens,” Smith once said.
Poker World Reacts
News of Smith’s passing began to circulate on social media Tuesday morning with several friends and fellow poker pros expressing their disbelief.
Will Failla: 'Today the poker community is in a darker place.'
“I can’t believe he is gone,” said friend Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon. “I will miss him so much. One of the funniest and fun guys in poker and life.”
Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson echoed those sentiments: “We lost one of our best friends and one of pokers greats tonight. If u knew him u will know the drink. RIP my friend.”
Will “The Thrill” Failla had this to say: “Today the poker community is in a darker place, My friend Gavin Smith died last night! You will be missed by all! RIP my friend.”
Eric Crain, known for his own jovial disposition, offered the following: “I met Gavin at the first WSOPC event I ever played in Tahoe. He had a way of making everybody laugh and was a joy to be around. RIP to one of the good guys. The poker world is worse off without Gavin in it.”
Finally, Steve Roselius touched upon the defining characteristic of Smith’s life – becoming a father: “So terrible. He was such a devoted father. Raising kids was so meaningful to him.”
This is a developing story. PokerNews will bring you further details once they become available.
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Gavin SmithTodd BrunsonWill FaillaEric Crain
Name: Gavin Smith
Nickname: Birdguts
Birth Date: 4th September, 1968
Birth Place: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Current Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Poker Room: Full Tilt Poker
Gavin Smith is a Canadian poker player who started out playing cards as a youngster. His father had taught him cribbage and rummy during his childhood at home in Guelph, Ontario. Gavin has a keen understanding of mathematics and graduated in economics. Later on, in 1994, he was introduced to poker, when he worked at a gold course and a travelling charity tournament stopped by.
He was intrigued and began playing home games with friends and co-workers. He got a job as a poker dealer in 1996 till 98 and also opened and ran his own poker club in Kitchener, Ontario during that time. The shift from free time player to poker pro came in 1998 as he moved to the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn to compete in the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals. That year he succeeded to make two final tables and this encouraged him to continue. In 1999, Gavin went back to Foxwoods and won his first major tournament this time, during the No-Limit Hold’em event at the WPT World Poker Finals.
In 2000, he won the Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight-or-Better tournament at the same annual series. During these early years in the poker circuit, he became acquainted with fellow poker peer Erick Lindgren, who took him under his wing helping his bankroll him and also tutoring him in towards a strategy of analytical play. That same year, in 2000, Gavin placed fourth in the Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split tournament at the United States Poker Championship in Atlantic City, N.J.
Gavin Smith Poker Player
In 2003 he placed second after John Cernuto in the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods and before poker pro Kenna James, who took third, for a total win of $33,630. This was his largest tournament win at that time. Later on, came bigger wins such as the first place in the Mirage Poker Showdown Championship in 2004, third place in the Second Annual Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship in 2005, and first place in the World Pro-Am Challenge in 2006.
Additionally, Gavin cashed in four Ultimate Poker Challenge tournaments and four World Series of Poker tournaments. Most recently, he finished third at the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, where he collected more than $327,000. In May 2006, Gavin’s poker skills were acknowledged as he was named WPT Season IV Player of the Year. This media exposure promoted his wins and gathered up more poker-related opportunities, including a spokesperson position with Black Velvet Canadian Whiskey and a deal to film an instructional poker DVD. But Smith is also a giver, as he proved in 2006, when he started out a charitable campaign in the poker community to help raise funds for the young daughter and surviving family of a woman who passed away from terminal cancer in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Other top pros, such as Scott Fischman, Phil Gordon, Joseph Hachem, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Isabelle Mercier, Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, and Mark Seif all followed Gavin’s set example and donated money and autographed merchandise and photographs for an auction on eBay in aid for Peyton Novoa and her grandparents. Gavin also gathered more media exposure through the ESPN channel and through articles published to help generate funds and awareness on selected poker media.
Nowadays, Gavin enjoys playing golf, rollerblade, and pool with his friends. He can be found, together with long-time friend Erick Lindgren, as representative of Full Tilt Poker under the alias “birdguts”. He can also be seen regularly on RawVegas.tv in his new show Prop Bets, with fellow poker pro Joe Sebok when they go heads-up every week in a series of stunts or competitions. They have gone through Chinese water torture showdown, an eating contest, and a “who can last longer in a tournament” bet, with the loser having the winner’s initials tattooed on the backside. Smith resides in Las Vegas and he spends most of his time travelling the poker circuit working on improving and achieving more media exposure.
Gavin Smith’s other achievements
- 11 Cashes and over $700,000 in total winnings
- 26 cashes and over $3,000,000 in winnings
- 1st place finish at the WPR, Season4, The Mirage Poker Showdown
- 3rd at the WPT Season 4, Doyle Brunson Championship
- 2nd at the 2007 WSOP, Event 4, Pot Limit Hold’em
- 4th at the 2007 Special, NBC Championship
- 6th at the 2007 WSOPC, Harrah’s Rincon San Diego
Despite being known for his charity work, Gavin is best known on the poker felt as one of the most aggressive players on the tournament circuit and a natural poker player. He puts everything aside when playing poker and shows an instinctual style of play which gives him an edge over his opponents.
Gavin Smith Poker
Lately, he has shifted his focus from cash games to tournament play, and the results have been fantastic as he has placed in the top ten in 14 different events, four of which were first-place finishes.
Lucrative sponsorship deals such as Full Tilt and a blossoming poker career followed but Gavin remains grounded to his roots and gives back to those less fortunate. He has reached the ranks of the poker pro world and continues laying down the work for an even brighter poker future among the world’s best.