While Gavin Smith is one of the top 3 Canadian poker professional “live tournament money winners”, he could be considered number one when it comes to having a carefree and jovial attitude when it comes to his work on the felts. Known worldwide for his aggressive style of play and good natured yet “needling” table talk, Gavin has been dubbed the “clown prince of poker” at times in the media that roles the game. Not one to hold his tongue and always up to speed on the current events and inside jokes of the community, Smith likes to poke a little fun on the felts and certainly can keep his opponents and fans entertained over the long grinds that make up major tournament events and series.
The player originally from Guelph Ontario has been playing since long before the “Moneymaker” poker boom, having turned “pro” a half a decade prior.
Many of Gavin’s earliest cashes came at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket USA, hosts of the World Poker Finals, where Smith started banking larger paydays in a variety of games to get his start. In the late 90s and early 2000s, “olegsmith” was doing well playing No Limit Hold’em, but was also slaying High/Low Limit Omaha and Seven Card Stud Events south of the border; playing at Tunica, Atlantic City, Reno and of course Las Vegas. By 2004, Gavin was competing in a fair amount of the larger buy-ins and hauling in much bigger cash as a result, breaking $100,000 in tournament winnings for the year.
World Poker Tour events have made up a good chunk of Smith’s roughly five and a half million dollar winnings as of mid 2011, nearly all of which has come from tournament play across North America. The WPT Season IV “Player of The Year”, Gavin has accumulated almost 2.4 million of his cashes at World Poker Tour events. In 2005, things really got rolling for Smith at the WPT’s events at the Mirage*, where Gavin got things started with a win in the $2000 No Limit Hold’em worth more than any of his previous years totals playing tournaments; this first place coming with $155,880 USD. It was just a warm up however, as a week later, Smith claimed his first major tournament title and largest payday to date, shipping the WPT Mirage $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship Event for over $1,128,000.
From there, Gavin’s win tally continued to climb in large leaps; in 2005 he placed 3rd at the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship held at the Bellagio for another $327,610 and in 2006 he racked about over another million dollars in cashes via a win and a total of six final table finishes in large buy-in events. Over 2007, he had an impressive 3rd place finish in the NBC National Heads Up Championship worth $125,000 which he followed up in 2008 with a fourth place finish worth $30,000 in the $5000 Heads Up held In Calgary Alberta. Gavin also became a familiar face on “Poker After Dark” over 2007-2008, where he took home his fair share of wins worth $120,000 a piece for the televised $20,000 buy-in six handed SNGs. Then, Gavin was back in the WPT spotlight again in late 2008, this time on Canadian soil, where he had a huge heads up finish worth over $612,400 Canadian, at the Niagara Fallsview North American Poker Championship**.
2010 was a year that marked a poker milestone in Gavin’s professional career; one of the players often considered long overdue to win a WSOP bracelet, Smith finally achieved what every serious player longs for, taking down a $2500 Limit/No Limit Hold’em Event at the World Series of Poker, along with over $268,000 for the win. Earlier in the year, the player known as “birdguts” on PokerStars had also won the $2500 No Limit Hold’em event at the Fallsview Poker Classic, in addition to a fourth place finish in the $5000 buy-in of the same series, the impressive finishes totaling in excess of $230,000 more to add to the epic year.
Gavin has been a great supporter of Canadian Events, also one of the Pro’s who played in both the charity “Montreal Open” event and Playground Poker Classic $3000 Main Event so far in 2011. Smith also won the Canadian Poker Tour $2000 Championship Event early this year, “free-rolling” his way as the second place points finisher into a $25,000 sponsorship package and $14,000 in cash after a three way deal.
Gavin does also mix it up once in a while on the online felts, playing under the screen names “Gavin Smith” on Full Tilt Poker where he is a “patched pro” and “birdguts” on PokerStars, though it appears it as been awhile since he has sat at the tables of the latter. His performance on the virtual felts to date worth another $320,000+ for his winnings totals.
*Mirage Las Vegas is no longer a World Poker Tour stop
**Fallsview Niagra is no longer a World Poker Tour stop
