Poker From The Rail» Gavin Smith

Tilt on Tilt Violence

AlCantHang — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:23:13 +0000

They’re heading into Day 2 of the second event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe and a Tilter is leading the way as they head towards the money. Only 158 players put down the £2,500 for the mixed Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament but they only dropped down to 24 players, with 18 of those making the money. Eric Cajelais will bring his intimidation back to play down to a winner. Cajelias is sitting with 145,000, also alive are Team Full Tilt are Howard Lederer and Vitaly Lunkin. Men Nguyen, Allie Prescott, and Hoyt Corkins are also in contention.

Here at The Borgata I am spending my time watching a bunch of grinder fight their way through to make the $925,000 payday along with the televised WPT final table. Getting down close the bubble we had two big Full Tilt pros battling it out against each other and entertaining the rail in the process. Bill Gazes joined the table with Gavin Smith and local poker legend “Joey the B” Brooks right up against the rail and things were entertaining. Until just before the dinner break. Smith and Gazes were both sitting with decent size stack when Smith 3-bet the preflop raise of Gazes. Push, call, and all the chips were in the middle with Smith holding AA and Gazes a lowly little pair of 6’s. No sweating involved as a 6 was waiting in the door.

Day 3 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship where they’ll make the money and play down to 27. Still kicking around in the event we have Bill Gazes, Steve Brecher, Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah, Justin “TooRoothlus” Levy (brother of “Roothlus), Kathy Liebert, Matt Brady, Michael Binger, Chris Reslock, and Lee Childs.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Tilt on Tilt Violence

2009 World Series of Poker – Day 2a Pictures

AlCantHang — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:15:00 +0000

Sometimes things just go way over the top when you’re dealing with the biggest poker tournament in the world. You’ll see some crazy things along the rails, loud player disagreements, whack jobs dressed in all types of getups looking for camera attention. Then you have the times when a table pulls the attention of every player and media outlet in the room.

Actor/comedian Brad Garrett drew a table that was far away from the rail and virtually in the center of the blue section. 5 time bracelet and 1984 Main Event winner Berry Johnston was also at the table. Garrett was laughing it up with the players at the table and anyone who would listen. To the point where his table was completely surrounded by every media outlet with a badge to get there. Witness the picture above and below.

Before long players at the other tables were begging the floor staff to deal with the situation. It will certainly make good TV for ESPN when it airs, but neither Garrett or Johnston would move on to Day 3.

Images from the rest of Day 2a after the jump:

96 year old Jack Ury continues to extend his record as the oldest player in the Main Event.
He would unfortunately exit early in Day 2a.

Greg “FBT” Mueller continues his WSOP hot streak.
He finished Day 2a with 287,300 in chips, good for 12th of 607.

One of the more entertaining tables of the day with Billy “The Croc” Argryos and Gavin Smith, neither player would survive to see Day 3.

Full Tilt stalwarts Chris Ferguson and Mike Matusow has different runs during Day 2a of the Main Event. Matusow is signing copies of his new book after busting out while Ferguson will enter Day 3 with 76,000 in chips.

Beth Shak entered Day 2a with a respectable 25,000 in chips but was another victim of the day.

Both Fabrice Soulier and Roland de Wolfe were able to dodge the minefields of Day 2a.
Soulier will start Day 3 with 145,800 and de Wolfe with just 21,000.

Poker From the Rail favorite Amanda “Mandy B” Baker entered the day with over 56,000 in chips but was unable to make Day 3. No more photo ops til the next time.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Day 2a Pictures

2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1a Pictures

AlCantHang — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:38:50 +0000

Perry Friedman rocks the Full Tilt Poker “grill” to go with his corn rows

I’ve generally stuck to doing a “Week in Pictures” during the preliminary events of the WSOP but I now realize that I’ll be getting more photos than I know what to do with now that we’ve come to the Main Event. So now we’re going to switch up to daily posts as long as we continue to get quality images.

Day 1a started with 1,116 and finished with 821 players. A good number of Team Full Tilt survived to see Day 2.

More photos after the jump:

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Main Event Day 1a Pictures

2009 World Series of Poker Day 18 – Seat Open!

AlCantHang — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:42:12 +0000

Jon “Pearljammed” Turner leads Event #25 at the 2009 World Series of Poker
Photo credit: IMPDI

I’m running out of terms and having trouble thinking of a new way to describe what happens during the weekend $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events. How many times over seven weeks can I use the terms donkey, lemur, pushmonkey, etc? I may have to start a contest to keep my content and vocabulary up to date. “Seat Open!” will be the call of the day.

Today’s noon event will draw near 3,000 players and I ran into every single one of them this morning. My standard procedure is to be firmly planted in my media row seat by no later the 10:30am. It’s quiet in the Amazon Room and I can get more work done before I hit the tournament floor. Today I did not get to the hallowed halls until just before noon, found myself swimming against a constant stream of weekend warriors pushing their way into their respective rooms to see how fast they can dust off 4500 in chips.

My plan is to watch the finals of the Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo tournament where Full Tilt is well represented. Phil Ivey and Steve Wong are alive and Jon “Pearljammed” Turner leads the final 14 players in the tournament. Also playing are Carlos Mortensen, Dutch Boyd and Chad Brown. They will play down to a winner later today with first place taking home over $220,000 plus the bracelet.

There are also two other non-NLHE events to keep my attention. The field for the Limit Hold’em event was smaller than your average push/pray festival and there are some sharp people at the top heading into Day 2. Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie, Bill Chen, Justin Bonomo and Noah Boeken are just a few in the top 10.

Only 198 registered for the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha/8 tournament which usually means it’s easier to locate the bracelets in the event. 59 players return and attempt to make tomorrow’s final table. If my fuzzy memory is correct, the only events to stick to the schedule have been Pot Limit tournaments. Three of the top 10 will be sporting Full Tilt gear. Roland De Wolfe, Richard Ashby and Andy Black are just a few of the FTP pros still in contention.

Finally, the fun 5pm tournament. It will be my first time covering a live Heads Up tournament. Spread throughout the Amazon, Brasilia, and Miranda rooms will be the 256 players who drop $10,000 on the latest “World Championship”. They’ll play two heads up matches today bringing the field down to 64 at the end of the day. The field is capped at 256 and spots were nearly full at the start of the day.

I’ll need to sharpen my elbows to make it through the railbirds but I’m a veteran now.

Chip counts of the restarts after the jump.

Gavin Smith cashed in the H.O.R.S.E. event saving him from chopping off his hair
Photo credit: IMPDI

Event #24 No Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 2,506
Net Prize Pool: $3,420,690
First Place Prize: $607,256
Total Spots Paid Out: 270
Players Remaining: 19

1	Andy Seth	1,407,000
2	Alan Jaffray	1,193,000
3	Glenn Mccaffrey	737,000
4	Roberto Truijers	681,000
5	Dean Hamrick	629,000
6	Benny Champlin	623,000
7	Stuart Marshak	616,000
8	David Lerman	589,000
9	Brian Fitzpatrick	582,000
10	Andrew Seden	575,000
11	Michael Greco	546,000
12	Souvanh Vilayvanh	523,000
13	Ernst Hermans	518,000
14	Gualter Santos	512,000
15	Mihai Manole	436,000
16	Pete Vilandos	325,000
17	Roberto Correa	309,000
18	Ali Davoudi	254,000
19	Chris Sparks	202,000

Event #25 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better
Buyin: $2,500
Number of Entries: 376
Net Prize Pool: $864,800
First Place Prize: $220,538
Total Spots Paid Out: 40
Players Remaining: 14

1	Jon Turner	465,000
2	Carlos Mortensen	328,000
3	Blair Rodman	290,000
4	Dutch Boyd	236,000
5	Steve Wong	226,000
6	Frank Debus	218,000
7	Eric Buchman	213,000
8	Matt Kelly	184,000
9	Phil Ivey	161,000
10	Peter Gelencser	156,000
11	Tom Koral	139,000
12	Ming Lee	97,000
13	Mark Scott	95,000
14	Chad Brown	23,000

Event #26 Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 643
Net Prize Pool: $877,695
First Place Prize: $197,509
Total Spots Paid Out: 63
Players Remaining: 124

Top 50 chipstacks:

1	Von Halle, Jan	68,300
2	Kulicki, Dominik	61,100
3	Chen, Bill	60,600
4	Keikoan, Matt	48,300
5	Levine, Josh	47,800
6	Porter, Rep	44,900
7	Bonomo, Justin	44,800
8	Bromberg, Corey	43,700
9	Boeken, Noah	42,400
10	Brodie, Richard	41,500
11	Seber, Bill	40,800
12	Eichel, William	40,100
13	Harris, Nikki	39,400
14	Darden, Paul	39,300
15	Yek, Kuong	38,100
16	Burkart, Alexander	38,100
17	Damany, Paul	37,700
18	Cordone, Joseph	37,700
19	Blanco, Christiano	37,400
20	Hart, Daniel	37,200
21	Glickstein, Rich	37,200
22	Engelbert, Glenn D.	37,000
23	Lackner, Daniel	36,700
24	Buckley, Jim	36,000
25	Cicconi, Guy	35,900
26	Arvanetes, Demetrios	35,100
27	Zimmerman, John	34,900
28	Clemento, Jack	34,300
29	Rae, William	34,100
30	Devonshire, Bryan	34,100
31	Ho, Tam	33,500
32	Yu, Benjamin	32,700
33	Kerstine, Andrew	32,700
34	Ellis, Michael	32,600
35	Greenstein, Barry	32,200
36	Nack, Reinhard	31,200
37	Price, Craig	31,000
38	Neilan, Craig	30,900
39	Ramdin, Annand	30,900
40	Bailey, Earle	29,800
41	Olson, David	29,300
42	Dong, Zelong	29,200
43	Minnullin, Albert	28,100
44	DeFusco, Marc	27,200
45	McCarrel, Casey	27,200
46	DeNiro, Joe	27,000
47	Morgan, Douglas	26,500
48	Cornell, Tyler	26,100
49	Smith, Jason	25,900
50	Svendsen, Katja Sophie	25,200

Event #27 Pot Limit Omaha/8
Buyin: $5,000
Number of Entries: 198
Net Prize Pool: $930,600
First Place Prize: $246,616
Total Spots Paid Out: 18
Players Remaining: 59

1	Newitt, J.D.	185,900
2	Ramirez III, Sergio	134,200
3	DeWolfe, Roland	130,800
4	Filippi, Amnon	128,100
5	Tang, Benjamin	123,800
6	Ashby, Richard	122,300
7	Lellouche, Anthony	100,100
8	Black, Andrew	97,000
9	Yancik, Stewart	95,300
10	Ruiz II, Armando	92,600
11	Lisandro, Jeff	92,000
12	Kirill, Rabtsov	86,200
13	Negreanu, Daniel	78,300
14	Baxter, Mike	76,900
15	Gabor, Fabian	70,600
16	Racener, John	66,100
17	Bartlog, Mark	63,000
18	Foulias, Andreas	59,800
19	Clements, Scott	58,800
20	Isaia, Alessio	57,000
21	Danzer, George	54,400
22	Bell, Chris	51,600
23	Shulman, Barry	49,800
24	Elezra, Eli	47,300
25	Matusow, Mike	46,200
26	Corpuz, Martin	43,300
27	Ivey, Phil	40,800
28	Bloch, Andy	36,100
29	Campbell, Robert	35,900
30	Giannokostas, Gregory	35,600
31	Friedman, Patri	33,600
32	Tam, Kenny	32,300
33	Ozkan, Ender	31,500
34	Krueger, Quentin	31,000
35	Kravchenko, Alex	30,900
36	Beevers, Joe	30,700
37	Richey, Brett	29,100
38	John, David	26,600
39	Freedman, Bruce H.	26,300
40	Mercier, Jason	25,000
41	Sexton, Mike	25,000
42	Reslock, Chris	23,700
43	Singer, Nathan	23,700
44	Guth, John	23,300
45	Petersen, Kevin	22,500
46	Solomon, Michael	20,000
47	Longfellow, Karen	18,400
48	Murphy, Kevin	18,300
49	Cousineau, Tony	18,000
50	Binger, Michael	17,700
51	Rapoport, Al	17,000
52	Singletary, Matthew	16,200
53	Appleman, Mickey	14,000
54	Wiesner, Nathan	13,900
55	Boatman, Ross	11,000
56	Ladowsky, Stephen	8,800
57	Kassin, Charles	7,600
58	Gould, Alan	7,500
59	Lefkowitz, Matt	6,200

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Day 18 – Seat Open!

2009 Borgata Winter Poker Open

2009 World Series of Poker Day 15 – Shootout in the Amazon Room

AlCantHang — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:30:59 +0000

There are only a few events on the schedule which turn the Amazon Room into some massive den of insanity. the $1,000 has to be on top of that list with bustouts at an insane rate. I have no idea what to expect when they run the Heads Up Championship here in a few days. Today brings us the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event.

If you are unaware of the Shootout format, here is a quickie lesson on today’s event. 1,000 players will play 100 SnG’s 10-handed. The winner of each table will be moved to a new 10-handed table where they will play down to the final table. Put quite simply, all you need to do in order to earn a 2009 World Series of Poker bracelet is win 3 straight Sit n Goes with the world’s toughest players. Cake.

I suspect it will be an easier event to cover since tables will not be breaking and moving players around the room. And it will be easier on the players as they will only be playing one round today, one round tomorrow and the final table on Day 3. Those players who win their table early will not be forced to stick around for half a day waiting for their next assignment.

Only one bracelet will be awarded today when the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6-max event plays down to their winner. Brock Parker is looking to pick up his second bracelet this year, also winning the 6-max Limit Hold’em event just days ago over Daniel Negreanu. 10 players remain in the event.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em and $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. return for their Day 2. Erik Seidel and Roland De Wolfe lead the pack in the PLH event and David Singer trying to bring home a braclet in H.O.R.S.E.

The 5pm new tournament of the day will bring the entertainment. It will be a small but distinguished field that enters the $10,000 World Championship of No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball. It just sounds fun typing it out that way. You’ll be able to find me sitting in the Brasilia Room most of the afternoon and evening where I’ll probably run out of notebook paper writing down the stories.

In entertainment news today, we find out whether Full Tilter Gavin Smith will be shaving his head. He made a proclamation via Twitter that if he doesn’t cash in an event by Tuesday he would be chopping the locks. He has a reprieve until today because he’s still alive in $3,000 HORSE tournament. I’m torn as to which result I would like to see.

Chip stacks for the restarts after the jump:

Event #19 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed
Buyin: $2,500
Number of Entries: 1,068
Net Prize Pool: $2,456,400
First Place Prize: $552,745
Total Spots Paid Out: 108
Players Remaining:11

1	Serock, Joseph	1,745,000
2	Parker, Brock	1,603,000
3	Rios, Jesse	745,000
4	Ivarsson, Alexander	734,000
5	Crane, Russell	672,000
6	Wilson, Alexander	603,000
7	Kinkade, Jay	542,000
8	Newman, Clayton	501,000
9	Meinders, Brian	423,000
10	Friesen, Brian	258,000
11	Sudworth, James	247,000

Event #20 Pot Limit Hold’em
Buyin: $1,500
Number of Entries: 633
Net Prize Pool: $864,045
First Place Prize: $194,434
Total Spots Paid Out: 63
Players Remaining: 61

Top 50 chipstacks:

1	Dewitt, Jason	184,700
2	Vinsant, Jeremiah	107,600
3	Stowell, Nick	106,000
4	Carlston, Kyle	92,400
5	Honig, Matt	89,700
6	Seif, Mark	83,000
7	Chicotsky, David	82,400
8	Vandevenne, Andreas	81,700
9	Beasley, Mike	78,300
10	Sands, David	78,100
11	Tschirch, Marc	77,400
12	Kelly, John-Paul	77,000
13	Stepp, Blake	76,800
14	Allen, Kyle	71,000
15	Schwartz, Brian	69,000
16	Radoja, Mark	67,600
17	Collins, Philip	65,100
18	Daigle, Larry	64,900
19	Van Asdale, Shawn	62,700
20	Beebe, Glynn	62,700
21	Seidel, Erik	61,400
22	Pulido, Yesniel	53,300
23	Bartlema, Wolbert	49,800
24	Gallagher, Richard	46,900
25	VanCruchten, Leon	43,700
26	Reyes, Isaias	43,200
27	Liebert, Kathy	40,200
28	De Wolfe, Roland	40,000
29	Yeh, Philip	38,200
30	Frey, Hunter	37,700
31	Sexton, Mike	35,000
32	Langston, Brian	32,900
33	Martin, Eddylee	32,000
34	Jaffee, Jared	31,600
35	Stroj, David	31,000
36	Brooks, Saul	30,900
37	Radel, Andrew	29,200
38	Steward, Kirk	29,100
39	Popov, Alexey	29,000
40	Frank, Justin	28,100
41	Virchis, Aaron	27,400
42	Shelton, Michael	26,100
43	Sitron, Scott	25,800
44	Sebok, Joe	24,000
45	Cicconi, Guy	22,800
46	Seber, Bill	21,600
47	Massad, William	21,300
48	Andrews, Frank	21,100
49	Berger, Fred	21,000
50	Mousavi, Mohsen	20,100

Event #21 H.O.R.S.E.
Buyin: $3,000
Number of Entries: 452
Net Prize Pool: $1,247,520
First Place Prize: $311,899
Total Spots Paid Out: 48
Players Remaining: 197

Top 50 chipstacks:

1	Amereno, Rob	96,800
2	Debus, Frank	62,100
3	Golser, Markus	52,500
4	Lake, Scott	51,600
5	Penn, Phillip Sr.	50,600
6	Akkari, Andre	50,200
7	Singer, David	48,700
8	Keiner, Michael	46,500
9	Amaral, Chris	45,300
10	McKain, Brian	44,500
11	Phillips, Dave	43,400
12	Young, Justin	42,900
13	Finne, Timothy	41,400
14	Limongi, Michele	40,500
15	Montgomery, Mans	37,700
16	Billirakis, Steve	37,100
17	Van Alstyne, James	36,600
18	Barbieri, Al “Sugar Bear”	36,000
19	Davidson, Matthew	36,000
20	Levi, David	35,600
21	Donev, Ivo	34,900
22	Murphy, Kevin	34,800
23	Price, Robert	34,700
24	Greenstein, Barry	34,300
25	August, Leonard	33,500
26	Jurgens, Tad	33,400
27	Frangos, Nikolaos “Nick”	33,300
28	Stoykov, Mihail	33,100
29	Brunson, Doyle	32,800
30	Mascio, Greg	32,100
31	Potter, Jason	31,240
32	Friedman, Perry	31,200
33	Rosario, Shirley	31,100
34	Baker, David	31,000
35	Argyros, Billy “Croc”	30,200
36	Smith, Mallory	29,900
37	Cremen, Frank	29,900
38	Giang, Chau	29,800
39	Freiberg, Alex	29,800
40	Altizer, Von	29,500
41	Chiovari, Richard	29,500
42	Franklin, Tom “Captain”	29,200
43	Rood, David	29,000
44	DNR	28,800
45	Sexton, Keith	28,800
46	Binger, Michael	28,700
47	Moore, Pete	28,100
48	Bari, Allen	28,100
49	Hawrilenko, Matt	28,100
50	Salazar, Hernan	28,000

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Day 15 – Shootout in the Amazon Room

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2009 World Series of Poker – Day 4 From the Rail

AlCantHang — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:29:59 +0000

Day 4 turned out to be exactly what we thought it would be. Near 3,000 players started Day 1a of the $1,000 “Stimulus Special” and it was pure craziness. Dealers yelling out “seat open” so often that it went from interesting to comical to barely noticeable within an hour. Players filled the Amazon room, Brasilia Room, and the Miranda Room. Some poor souls were even forced to play in the hallways of the casino (pictured above). They had to deal with the curious wanderers and folks trying to their way to pool at the Rio. Action everywhere.

The players came and they left quickly. Of the ~3,000 that started, only 375 would be around for Day 2. The hallways were full of bad beat stories and crying calls to the loved ones back home. Chain smokers crowded around the ashtrays outside the Poker Kitchen taking turns bending any ear that would listen to their tales. Most of the major pros were waiting for their spots to pick on the softer underbellies, but few would survive the carnage either.

Amanda Baker and Paul Sexton were just a few to get through the day with chips. It was a solid structure for the buyin and a great value, it was just too tough for most to avoid the sick mine field with their sanity in check or a seat in the game. Most are now looking forward to their next tournament or sitting back analyzing their first WSOP event.

The day wasn’t all about the $1k craziness. We also had the $40,000 tournament play down to it’s final table and the $1,500 Limit Omaha/8 was down to 19 players by the end of the night. These were the two big games that had the rail packed to the point of being impassable. Big names were in the games and sitting right up by their fans.

Records are being set each day and the first weekend of the WSOP has kicked everything in gear. Day 4 ended with a World Series of Poker Launch Party but we will get back to that later.

FTP pro Gavin Smith in Event #3. I will use any excuse to post a picture of Lacey Jones
Photo credit: Wicked Chops Poker

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Day 4 From the Rail

2009 World Series of Poker preview – Gavin Smith profile

AlCantHang — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:38:25 +0000

As the WSOP Commisioner keeps telling everyone who will “listen” on twitter, the 2009 World Series of Poker is less than a month away from kicking off. Full Tilt Poker is in the process of putting together a team to bring you all you need to know from the floor of the poker room to the backroom interviews with your favorite pros to the pre-game post-game parties and festivities. No stone will be unturned.

As we quickly approach the series, we will start running some profiles of various Full Tilt pros as they attempt to put their stamp on poker history.

Gavin Smith is our first profile from Tuscaloosa Johnny. I’m very familiar with Gavin from his exploits around the poker world as well as the skill he shows at the table and the generosity away from it. Back in the fall of 2006 I was running a little charity function for Cystic Fibrosis and Gavin offered his time and services. In no time flat we had ourselves a little $1,000 charity SnG with all the proceeds going to charity and the prizepool coming from the man himself.

Then he stuck around and the rest was Gavin Smith lore.

Gavin Smith is one of a kind

By Johnny Kampis

Known for both his prodigious talent and ability to have a good time, Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith is a fan favorite among poker connoisseurs.

It was actually another casino game that got Smith hooked on poker about 15 years ago. He traveled with some friends to a charity casino in Ontario to play blackjack. A $5-$10 limit Hold’em game broke out and Smith took a seat and won. He kept playing the game for fun and side money until 1998 when he went with a friend to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut for the World Poker Finals. Smith made two final tables and was hooked. He went home and sold out his interest in an underground poker game he helped run and hit the tournament trail.

“It was impossible. It was so hard,” Smith said of his start into the poker life.

Life on the trail was full of SNG play for Smith at first. He estimates he spent up to 14 hours a day grinding at these one-table tournaments. He sold the tournament buy-in chips after winning them then so he could play more SNGs and build up his roll.

“I had a very small bankroll. I was playing satellites into $500 and $1,000 tournaments, grinding away trying to make $300 or $400 a day.”

Because of the expenses involved in the travel, profits were tough. Smith recommended a different course for current up and coming players on the circuit. “I think players with similar skills would be better off playing live no-limit games,” he said.

The now 40-year-old Smith caught his big break in 2004 and 2005. At first, he wasn’t sure he would be able to attend the World Series of Poker when his mother was stricken with cancer. She was treated and her condition improved. Smith’s friend and now fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren staked him in the main event. Smith made his way through the majority of the field to finish 52nd and earn $45,000.

Then Smith heard about a new event in downtown Las Vegas called Championship Poker at the Plaza. Again, Lindgren and Smith worked out a staking arrangement, which proved fruitful as Smith made the final table, collecting $30,000 for fifth. After this flurry of success, Smith was staked by Lindgren for the next year.

The first part of the staking deal did not go smoothly for the pair, as Smith had no major cashes for the rest of 2004 and first part of 2005. Then things turned around. He finished 30th at the Five Star World Poker Classic for $56,000, then got his first six-figure cash for $156,000 by winning a $2,000 NLHE event at the Mirage Poker Showdown. A week later Smith was a poker millionaire when he won the main event of the MPS, a World Poker Tour event, and earned $1.1 million for himself and Lindgren.

“It was pretty cool because I was starting to get pretty dejected. Eric and I had been together for a year and I hadn’t done that much. I cashed here and there along the way. My makeup was getting up there around $100,000. When I won the 2K I finally proved I could win something. And then it all aligned for me over the next 10 days.”

After winning a WPT event Smith felt he got more respect, as well as a boost of confidence. “When you win a major event like that then all of a sudden you get recognition. Before people who knew me knew I could play, but no one else really did. It gives you a lot of confidence too, and poker is a game where when you are confident you can make a lot more positive decisions and when you are not confident you might play more scared. Confidence has a little bit of a snowball effect.”

He was on a heater after his monstrous May, cashing four times at the 2005 WSOP, then final tabling two more WPT events at the Doyle Brunson North American Championship at the Bellagio and the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike.

The one thing missing from his resume is a WSOP win. Smith came close by finishing second in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event in 2007, but wasn’t been able to finish the deal after dominating the final table and then getting cold decked heads up.

“It bothers me a little bit because I definitely want to win a bracelet, but I don’t measure my success as a poker player strictly on whether or not I win a bracelet. The fact that I have never had a losing year as a tournament player is probably a better accomplishment,” he said.

Smith is known as much for his heart as he is for his poker prowess. He helped organize a charity tournament for the family of WPT cameraman Paul Hannum, a friend who died suddenly in 2006, and is often participating in other charity events.

“We’ve been pretty lucky as poker players along the way that we can make a living, and a damn good living, doing what we do. It’s not really hard to help out people or change their lives. You don’t have to do much to make a big difference. A lot of times you do these things too and you meet really cool people and have a really good time.”

Many people also know Smith as co-host of the very popular PokerRoad radio podcast, which can be found at PokerRoad.com or on iTunes. Smith has been involved in the program since it was born as The Circuit years ago. He and Joe Sebok have co-hosted the program for several years, and Smith agreed to continue that work after the program moved to PokerRoad.

“It’s sometimes a whole lot of fun and sometimes a big pain in the ass. Especially during the World Series when you are grinding for six weeks straight, instead of coming in at noon you have to come in at 11 a.m. We do the show live during the World Series.”

As for the future, Smith may one day entertain the idea of going into business, such as owning a bar, but for now he plans to stick at what he excels at – a little game called poker.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do for dinner tonight,” he said with a laugh when asked about future plans. “I will continue to play poker. Poker is what I do for a living.”

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker preview – Gavin Smith profile

2008 North American Poker Championship Final Results

AlCantHang — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:13:40 +0000

Gavin Smith, Brandon Schaefer and your humble hippy author making fools of ourselves

A Canadian not named Gavin Smith wins the 2008 North American Poker Championship in Niagra Falls, Ontario.

Gavin Smith’s effort to win his first major poker title on his home Canadian soil came up one spot shy of the target. He found himself head’s up with Glen Witmer for the title but facing an uphill battle with a near 3 to 1 chip deficit. Down to two players, the HU battle went nearly as many hands as the entire final table of the 2008 Borgata Poker Open. Smith eventually lost a coin flip (55 versus AK) which would have switched the chip stack into his favor but the small pair did not hold up.

When it was three handed, Witmer found himself with a nice stack but going up against Smith and Kathy Liebert, the all time leading women’s tournament money winner. Even with the big stack, odds seemed against him but he held out and took down the top prize of $1,254,152 CAD.

Final table results (in Canadian dollars):

1. Glen Witmer – $1,254,152
2. Gavin Smith – $612,427
3. Kathy Liebert – $319,337
4. Ryan Fisler – $262,469
5. Marc Karam – $196,851
6. James Trenholm – $153,107

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2008 North American Poker Championship Final Results

2008 North American Poker Championship – Gavin Smith makes final TV table

AlCantHang — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:55:03 +0000

Gavin Smith makes the televised final table of the North American Poker Championship
Photo credit: WorldPokerTour.com

Gavin Smith goes into the final day of the 2008 North American Poker Championship looking to win his second WPT title and his first on his home Canadian soil. He’ll being play sitting second in chips and will have to deal with Kathy Leibert on his right.

Day 4 saw the field go from 27 down to the final 6 for the televised final table. Miami John Cernuto was the first to get eliminated on the day when his short stack 88 was taken out by AQ. Miami John earned $38,039 (Canadian) for his efforts.

Erik Seidel was knocked out in 10th, the “final table” bubble (not to be confused with the final TV table) with another race getting all-in with QQ versus AK. He picked up $49,450.

Player / author / blogger Matt Mattros was eliminated in 7th taking some of the luster off a promising televised final table. It certainly would have been an interesting final table to add Mattros to a final table with Gavin Smith and Kathy Leibert. $95,097 Canadian to try and explain to border patrol.

Glenn Witmer – 3,710,000
Gavin Smith – 2,815,000
Ryan Fisler – 2,285,000
Marc Karam – 1,850,000
Kathy Leibert – 1,620,000
James Trenholm – 1,365,000

I’m personally pulling for Gavin Smith to win it all as I’ve promised to post an embarrasing picture of him singing Mr. Brightside by The Killers if he takes it down.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2008 North American Poker Championship – Gavin Smith makes final TV table

2008 North American Poker Championship Day 4

AlCantHang — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:42:53 +0000

Erik Seidel playing Day 3 of the North American Poker Championship
Photo credit: WorldPokerTour.com

Gavin Smith and Erik Seidel lead the Full Tilt charge at Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagra Falls, Ontario. More after the jump.

Gavin Smith is sitting in a great spot to claim his first major tournament on his home Canadian soil. He will begin Day 4 of the North American Poker Championship in Niagra Falls, Ontario with the number 2 chipstack with the field down to the final 27.

Vivek Rajkumar finds himself sitting on top of the field and looking to win an unprecedented back-to-back WPT titles but has 4 top players nipping at his heels. He has to be feeling some pressure with this list of players sitting just behind him in chip counts.

Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar – 1,080,000
Gavin Smith – 979,000
Matt Matros – 943,000
Kathy Leibert – 879,000
Erik Seidel – 851,000

They’ll be playing down to the final 6 for the televised final table.

Besides Gavin Smith and Erik Seidel, Miami John Cernuto is the only other Full Tilt pro remaining in the final 27 although with a very small stack. He will need to do some work with his 92,000.

The 2008 North American Poker Championship was a $10,000 (Canadian) buyin tournament that started with 454 players. The top 45 players made the money with the winner receiving $1,090,589.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2008 North American Poker Championship Day 4