Gavin Smith Claims First WSOP Bracelet

For a while now, Gavin Smith has been known as one of the best players to never win a World Series of Poker bracelet. It’s not the worst title to have, but fortunately for Smith, nobody will ever be able to say that about him again. Gavin Smith earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet by winning the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event. The win also earned him $268,238. The mixed event was so named because of the tournament structure, in which levels alternated between limit hold’em and no-limit hold’em.

While it may be Smith’s first ever World Series bracelet, the Canadian is no stranger to success at the poker table. Among a laundry list of wins and other excellent finishes, Smith’s greatest achievement may have been his win in the 2005 World Poker Tour Championship, which netted him a prize of over $1.1 million. The Full Tilt Poker pro has career tournament winnings of over $5 million; according to the Hendon Mob database, this puts him in 47^th place on the all time money list.

Smith came into the final table just slightly behind chip leader Jarred Solomon. However, Solomon was not able to remain in contention for long, as the South African player was eliminated in 6^th place and took home $46,562.

The player who emerged as Smith’s greatest challenger was Danny Hannawa, who entered heads up play nearly even in chips with the eventual winner. A long heads up battle ensued, in which Smith slowly increased his advantage over the course of a couple hours.

After losing a large limit pot, Hannawa found himself in trouble, and moved all-in with T8. Unfortunately, his opponent held AQ of hearts, giving Smith a significant advantage – one that only got larger when the flop contained an ace. The turn gave Hannawa three outs to a straight, but Smith survived, earning himself a long-awaited first bracelet. For his efforts, Hannawa took home $166,005.

Also of note, the final table for this tournament – Event #44 in this year’s World Series – was the first streamed live on ESPN’s online content service, ESPN3.com. A final table replay is available for those with access to ESPN3.