Poker Champion Gavin Smith Dead At Age 50. Jonathan Roy Wins Inaugural World Poker Tour Montreal Title. Watch The World Poker Tour Montreal Final Table.

• Gavin Smith Poker Wife
• Famous Dead Poker Players

• Gavin Smith collected his first WSOP. bracelet after winning Event #44 at the 2010 World Series of Poker. The $2,500 buy-in tournament began on June 24th, 2010, with 507 players and a prize pool of $1,166,100.
• Welcome to the official website of Gavin Smith, professional poker player. Read about what it's like to be a poker pro on the tournament circuit. Gavin Smith - Official Website of Poker.
• After all, this infamous incident later become a scene in the poker film, “Lucky You.” In June of 2007, Lindgren bet from several fellow pros, including Gavin Smith, that he (Lindgren) could.
• Gavin Smith (September 4, 1968 – January 14, 2019) was a Canadian professional poker player who won the World Poker Tour's Season IV Mirage Poker Showdown Championship event and the WPT Season IV Player of the Year award in 2005, then at the 2010 World Series of Poker, won the $2,500 Mixed Hold 'em event along with his first bracelet.

Gavin “Birdguts” Smith is a skilled poker professional who came to the game in his mid-twenties.

While he did not grow up playing poker, he has made up for it by competing fiercely in many poker tournaments over the years.

His success at the tables and lively personality has made him popular among fans and a regular on TV.

Growing up in a House of Cards

Born in Guelph, Ontario in 1968, Gavin learned to play cards from his father. They played Cribbage and Rummy, mainly, and Gavin was an apt pupil. After school, he went on to college to get a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. This satisfied his interest in maths and logic.

Gavin was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada where he grew up playing cards regularly with his family

When Smith was around 26, there was a charity event held in the golf course where he worked. It was a travelling card tournament. This ignited his interest in poker and he started playing poker regularly right away. When he was on break at the golf course, he would play mixed games of poker with his co-workers.

In 1996, Gavin Smith started work as a dealer. He even set up a poker club of his own in 1998. It was just a year later when he decided to strike out and start his career as a professional poker player. He went to the World Poker Finals right away and started with a bang.

Making a Name for Himself in Poker

Smith won the No Limit Hold ‘em event in the 1999 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort and Casino. It was a good start, but the next year, he was back to the same tournament again. This time, in 2000, he won the Seven Card Stud event.

Smith is one of the most successful World Poker Tour players in history having reached 3 final tables a feat only topped by Gus Hansen

Gavin Smith first cashed in the World Series of Poker in 2003. In 2004, he cashed in the WSOP No Limit Hold ‘em Main Event at 52nd place. He made money again in the WSOP tournament in 2005. He was getting to be a regular at the WSOP events.

In 2005, Smith had a major victory. He won the World Poker Tour Mirage Poker Showdown in Las Vegas with a pay day of over $1.1 million. He followed this by coming in third in the WPT 2nd Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. This was his second major final table in a year.

Then, in the beginning of 2006, Gavin Smith made a third final table at a WPT event. This prompted the WPT to honour him with the Player of the Year Award. This was just the beginning of the year. There was more to come.

Gavin Smith's Major Title Record

Gavin Smith Poker Wife

WSOP Bracelets

1

EPT Wins

0

WPT Wins

1

Later in 2006, Smith won the World Pro-Am Challenge. The money for that event was $500,000. More importantly, Smith had garnered a good deal of respect for winning that event. Finally, Smith finished second at the WSOP Circuit event where he won over $290,000.

Gavin finally won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2010

In 2007, Gavin Smith finished second in a Pot Limit Hold ‘em competition for a cash of $155,000. He also made $125,000 in the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship by finishing fourth. His total winnings so far exceed $3.1 million.

Gavin finally broke his duck at the World Series of Poker by winning a bracelet in the 2010 $2,500 Mixed Holdem event winning $268,238 and beating a field of 507 players. He proudly represented his Canadian roots at the final table where 6 out of the final 9 players where from fierce rivals the USA.

His total career earnings are $6 million which puts him amongst the most successful Canadian Poker players alongside other notables such as Daniel Negreanu and WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Away from the Tables

Away from the felt, Gavin Smith is keeping busy as well. He plans to work on an instructional poker DVD. He also led some top pros in a charity event to help a struggling family.

If you see this avatar on Full Tilt Poker then you are playing with Gavin Smith!

He has a show on Raw Vegas.tv called “Prop Bets.” In it, he and Joe Sebok make crazy propositional bets with each other for wild consequences.

When he has time, Smith plays online poker with his fans at Full Tilt Poker where he was formerly sponsored by them.

The poker world is mourning the loss of Gavin Smith today, who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep last night at the age of 50. Smith, a native of Guelph, Ontario, was one of the most formidable poker pros during the poker boom and was by far one of most loved, most popular players among his peers.

I had the good fortune to interview Gavin Smith at the World Series of Poker in 2006. I was still a relative unknown in the industry (though it’s not like my stature has improved much since) and he had no idea who I was, but he was nothing short of gracious and generous with his time when he spent his entire break in the middle of a tournament with me.

My questions were generally awful, as I stuck with generic, stock questions most of the time, but Smith was patient and even in that short time, showed me the character that he was known for. When I asked him what was the worst part about being recognized now that he was famous, he told me, “I don’t really think there’s anything all that bad about it. There’s no ‘worst of it,’ because, you know, I kind of feel a little bit lucky that people care enough about me to come up and say hello or to want an autograph or a picture, so I don’t really have too many downsides.”

He appreciated where he was and where he came from, that it was a joy being able to play poker for a living, getting to travel all over the world, and getting to know so many interesting people. In 2010, he won his only WSOP bracelet and famously told WSOP.com afterward:

I’m just an older guy from Guelph, Ontario, who used to drive a taxi and cut greens. Now, I’m sitting here and hundreds of people have come over to me. Play poker for a living, and I just won hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is nothing in my life that can be considered a curse. Every single minute of it is a blessing.

Smith won the WPT Player of the Year title in Season IV after winning the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown, finishing third at the 2nd Annual Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, and finishing fourth at the WPT Gold Strike World Poker Open. He told me that the highest point of his poker career at the time was a toss-up between the Mirage win and the POY award, though he’d probably put the Mirage on top, as it was his first “huge” win, calling it “kind of euphoric.”

Famous Dead Poker Players

My colleague, Earl Burton, spoke with Gavin Smith in 2014. By that time in his life, Smith had greatly decreased his poker workload, focusing more of his time on raising his kids. He was recently married, though he went through a divorce shortly thereafter.

“I haven’t fully enjoyed poker for quite a while,” Smith told Earl. “I do enjoy tournaments once we are deep, but I don’t still have the drive to travel as I once did. Being married with kids is completely different for me but is awesome, it is harder than I ever dreamed it would be. I wouldn’t change a thing, though…my family comes first and we can still throw some poker in amongst it all.”

Naturally, loving words have come in from around the poker world. On Twitter, fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu wrote, “Gavin Smith was one of the more authentic human beings I’d ever met. Rest In Peace my friend…”

“If you have been in poker for the last 15 years you most likely had a story to tell about Gavin Smith,” Tweeted Matt Savage. “@olegsmith was usually the biggest personality in the room. Popular, gregarious, and generous to most who knew him and always went out of his way to be a friend. #RIPGavin”

Said Sean McCormack: “I’m in disbelief that Gavin Smith passed away unexpectedly this morning. His love for the game was only a fraction of this gentle giant. His generosity was incredible, and his love for his children was second to none. RIP my friend.”

Gavin Smith was the everyman who found his path to success at the poker tables. It is often said of people when they die that they “brightened the room,” but in Gavin Smith’s case, it was true. He was one of those guys opponents wanted to sit at a table with even though they were trying to take each other’s money. He was one of those guys who you wanted to have a beer with and who, in turn, wanted to have a beer with you. He was one of those guys who made a fledgling poker reporter feel welcome.

Gavin Smith was one of those guys.

Gavin Smith’s friends have setup a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his two children.

Lead photo credit: World Poker Tour via Flikr