It’s time to destroy the list. Rip it up. Burn it. Torch it.
The unceremonious list captioned with “Best Poker Players Never to Win a WSOP Gold Bracelet,” has become about as outdated as a Pensacola postcard showing pristine beaches.
On June 26th, 2010, when the local clock ticked to midnight, the shiny glass slipper fit. It fit perfectly. And “Cinderella” was none other than a long-haired, half-shaven, partially-balding, pork-bellied, man-child named Gavin Smith.
Gavin Smith. His name is a permanent punch line. Mention Gavin Smith’s name in a crowd of poker players and everyone instantly smiles. Despite never having won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet until this memorable night, he’s been one of poker’s most enchanting personalities for half a decade. His personality is part Jack Black, part Don Rickles, and part Ozzy Osborne -- all wrapped up in a 5-foot, 9-inch dynamo of a poker player with indisputable natural talent for cards and an unparalleled passion to win. In short, Gavin Smith was and is a living contradiction – a devoted professional when engaged in the game as well as a disorderly court jester when away from it.
Gavin Smith is a 41-year-old professional poker player from Las Vegas, NV. He is originally from Guelph, Ontario (Canada). Smith has earned a near-astronomical sum of $3 million dollars since turning pro about six years ago. But the one achievement that had eluded the fast-living, hard-drinking, Butterball-shaped poker superstar was the long-coveted WSOP victory.
This time, when the final hand was dealt out, someone else turned into the tournament pumpkin. Gavin Smith was the last player sitting and the newest poker champion standing. His dramatic win in the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) championship paid $268,238, which might put a serious dent in the bar tab at the post-victory celebration. Indeed, what Gavin Smith was really playing for over the past three long days and nights was redemption from past failures and irrevocable affirmation in the shape of a circular sparkling sphere of laced gold. Indeed, in the poker world, boy Cinderella Gavin Smith doesn’t wear glass slippers. He now wears the gold bracelet.
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