2010 -- The Year in Poker

It's now an annual event, going on Lou Krieger's show Keep Flopping Aces on Rounder's Radio to go over the naughty and nice list in poker.  This year was a bit more special because biliousbetil, one of the listeners in the chat room, wrote a poem for the occasion: 

Twas the night before FTOPS, And all thru the house

Not a freeroll was running, no use for the mouse.

The grinders were nestled all tucked in their beds,

While visions of Shari Geller danced in their heads.

That being the first, and possibly last, poem ever written for me, I was particularly tickled.  Less so after someone posted a link to my Facebook page and the illusion of a twenty-something hottie was replaced by the cold reality that I am, in fact, much older than the World Series of Poker.

As we went through the list, two things stood out as themes for 2010.  One, was the number of first-time WSOP bracelet winners who also fell in the category of the nice guys.  Not to say those who still lack that fine piece of jewelry are naughty -- Tom Dwan, who came pretty close in one of $1,500 No Limit Hold'em events, finishing in second place, and the sole remaining member of the best who haven't won, Andy Bloch, both seem like cool guys.  But having Michael Mizrachi, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak and Gus Hansen each pick up their first bracelet this year was good for them and good for the game. 

The other consistent theme was just how much the government is at odds with the poker community, especially those in favor of online poker.   Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts has tried unsuccessfully to get a bill legalizing and regulating online gambling through the House.  Whether it's lack of clout or the inability to draft a bill that can withstand attack from the religious right, Frank has been able to get dozens of co-signers to the bill, but not able to get a house vote for the bill.  At least his heart, if not the brain of his legislative drafting staff, is in the right place.

But opposing efforts to legalize online gambling for the past many years has been Nevada Senator Harry Reid.  That was until this election year when his ass was saved by a combination of a loony Republican opponent and massive campaign contributions from MGM and Harrah's (now Caesar's).  Suddenly, miraculously, Reid did a 180 and became a champion of the rights of poker players to play online. As long as they did so on a site owned and operated by MGM or Harrah's or one of the other brick and mortar casinos that supported his campaign.  But, Reid, despite having a majority in the Senate, a Democrat in the White House, and the perfect bill within which to put this bill -- failed.

He could have pushed harder.  He could have dug in his heels.  He could have stressed how online gambling would add millions in tax revenues which are desperately needed right now.  He could have been a leader and stood tall and did what he said he wanted to.  Instead, he was a typical politician.  Pretending to try to pay back the people who paid for his seat, while in reality doing nothing. 

Shaun "Tootsie" Deeb

There were other people and stories that shaped 2010.  One involved the continuing controversy about the existence of Ladies' Events, such as the annual one at the WSOP.  This year Shaun Deeb followed in the high-heeled footsteps of Rafe Furst by playing the women's tournament in drag, embarrassing himself and making a mockery of attempts to welcome more women to the poker tables. 

Women were shut out of bracelets in this year's WSOP, with their only win in the Ladies' Event. They were chided by wunderkind Annette Obrestad who memorably told ESPN that "women suck at poker." Notwithstanding, outside of the WSOP, women made some major strides, taking down a number of big tournaments throughout the year. In March, Annie Duke won NBC's National Heads-Up Tournament. The next month, Vanessa Selbst won the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event and Liv Boeree won the EPT San Remo. Obrestad put either her quote or her gender into question by winning the EPT London Heads-Up NLHE event in September.

Selbst came back in November to win her second major of the year, the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes. In December, Leo Margets, the last woman standing in the 2009 WSOP, won first place in the Full Tilt Poker Masters Series at the Grand Casino in Costa Brava, Barcelona. Vanessa Rousso went into the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table as the chip leader, but fell in third place

On a less positive note, there was a rash of articles about WSOP event winners selling, hocking or auctioning off their bracelets.  Some, like T.J. Cloutier and Paul "Eskimo" Clark, were doing it out of financial need.  Recent main event winner Peter Eastgate put his up for auction because he was leaving poker and wanted to use it to raise money for charity.  Under either circumstances, I think it is an unfortunate decision.  The WSOP bracelet is the pinnacle of success for a tournament poker player.  Even with so many events per year, it is still that piece of hardware that signifies that you have made it.  You have left an indelible mark on poker and will be in the record books as long as people remember what books are.

The bracelet means something and it shouldn't be something that you can buy; it should be earned.  It should belong to the person who, through a magical combination of luck and skill, outplayed and outlasted everyone else at the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.  In the movie world, the Oscar is their gold standard, the award that has the most significance with the public as identifying the holder as special and unique.  Since the 1950's, the Motion Picture Academy has tied ownership of the statute to the award recipient and required that anyone who wants to sell it must first make it available to the Academy for the price of $1.  I think the WSOP should institute a similar legal requirement.

So here's the complete naughty and nice list for 2010:
Naughty: 
John Racener, whose third DUI arrest completely obliterated all that he had accomplished on the felt this year. 
Shaun Deeb, for his "Tootsie" turn at the WSOP Ladies' Event.  It wasn't original and it proved nothing other than the fact that he is in serious need of a bra.
WSOP bracelet sellers, for trivializing a significant accomplishment.
The State of Washington, for losing its rep as a forward-thinking state when its Supreme Court ruled in favor of its online poker.
Harry Reid, for being a weasel, a wuss, and a phony. 

Nice:
Michael Mizrachi, for giving us a great ride as he tried for the WSOP trifecta, and bringing along his entertaining family to share the experience with all of us.
Phil Laak, for his stamina, his resilience, and his sense of humor.
First-time bracelet winners, for making us feel sorry for MIT and Harvard educated, but bracelet-less, Andy Bloch.
Matt Affleck, for playing great poker, losing excruciatingly, yet accepting it with grace.
New Hall of Fame members Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel, for representing poker with grace and class and skill.

Check out my articles from the past year over at Poker Player Newspaper.  And Happy New Year!

The WSOP Main Event Final Table -- So How's My Predicting

I could have gone back and edited my last blog post, change my predictions, and look like a genius today.  The final two?  Well, that's easy.  Jonathan Duhamel, the overwhelming chip leader going into the final table, and savvy John Racener.  But, in the interest of honesty -- and since I couldn't edit the podcast with Lou Krieger where I made my fearless, and now feckless, prognostication -- let me say, you win some, you lose some.

Here's where I was right.  Soi Nguyen, the only true amateur at the table and one of the smallest chipstacks, did leave first.  Matthew Jarvis also did not make a deep run, as I predicted, but was dealt a cruel hand to be his last.  Jason Senti lasted longer than he should have considering how exceedingly shortstacked he was, and I thought he might move up a couple slots because he is a pretty good player.  Okay, so far, so good. 

Then we get to John Dolan.  The Allen Cunningham doppelganger let me down in a big way.  He went from second in chips to out in sixth place.  Sure, his play cost him some seven million dollars give or take, but he cost me my poker handicapping reputation (which I didn't have and now won't).  He won four of the first sixteen hands and I -- I mean, he -- was looking good.  Then in all started to unravel.  He (pun alert) "flushed" about 13 million chips down the toilet when he tangled with Joseph Cheong.  Dolan had pocket jacks in a hand that Cheong had reraised preflop.  Dolan slow-played his over pair on a ten-high flop, checked again when a queen came on the turn, but a third jack on the river got his attention.  Unfortunately, it also completed a runner-runner nut flush for Cheong. 

He never got anything going and only won a couple small pots, mostly slowly chipping away before letting Jonathan Duhamel finish him off when the now short-stacked Dolan pushed queen-five suited against Duhamel's pocket fours and the board blanked.  My first place finisher was out in sixth place.

I did not expect Candio to do as well as fourth and he probably wouldn't have had Mizrachi not made that ill-timed move with pocket threes.  If you're new to poker, let me tell you pocket threes is not a powerhouse.  If your a poker expert who was this close to player of the year after winning a prestigious bracelet earlier in the year, let me tell you pocket threes is not worth pushing with.  Even against someone you think is gunshy.  Even against someone who just lost half their stack.   Even against someone you know is holding pocket twos (okay, maybe then, but only then).  If you ever see pocket threes again, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.  They may be the only hand worse than pocket jacks.  But Mizrachi decided to make a move with those threes and paid the price with a disappointing fifth place finish.

But aside from my not being able to pick a poker winner, what I'll remember most from that night were the sick, sick hands that dispatched many of the players.   Matthew Jarvis moved all in with pocket nines, Michael Mizrachi calls with a suited ace-queen.  The flop a decisive queen-eight-queen.  Mizrachi has the hand locked up, right?  Jarvis is on life support.  Until a miraculous nine fall on the turn.  I gasped, everyone collectively gasped and for a moment I thought oxygen masks would fall down from the ceiling.  Then the river.  An ace!!  I turned to the people around me -- did they see what I saw?  Aliens landed, Big Foot attacked, Lindsey Lohan made a good career move.  I wasn't sure I still had a pulse. 

Here's the hand if you haven't seen it yet.  Even if you have, it's like a car accident, you can't not look:


That was the theme for much of the final table.  In another hand that tested how sturdy my heart is,  Jason Senti had battled back from his position as a super short stack to see two players out before him.  He was all in against Joseph Cheong, with ace-king against Cheong's pocket tens.  The flop seemed emphatic (where have I seen that before?) with king-king-queen.  A set of kings should be good.  A set should hold up.  Cheong has just two outs, a ten to make a full house.  Until the turn comes a jack.  Now Cheong has four additional outs, any nine will give him a straight for the win.  The audience again loudly acknowledged the sweat, and then the unthinkable happened again.  A nine of the river turned the loser into a winner and sent another player to the rail. 

There were other sick hands.  Senti earlier had chipped up against Cheong by catching running cards to make a flush after he was way behind after the flop.  Racener doubling through Duhamel when he went heads up way, way behind, ace-queen versus ace-king, and hit the queen on the flop.  All I could think was, live poker is so rigged. 

So congrats to the winner -- you didn't do what I thought you would do and use your huge chip stack to try, unsuccessfully, to bully the table.  And thanks to John Racener for making half my top two prediction come true.

Who Will Win the 2010 WSOP Main Event?

Predicting the winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event would probably be best left up to Paul the octopus.  But with his recent demise, I have weighed in with my own selections as to who will come out on top from the November Nine.  Keeping in mind that I never saw either Jerry Yang or Joe Cada as having a Republican's chance in California of winning, I'm probably wrong. 

On Lou Krieger's show Keep Flopping Aces, I predicted John Dolan to come in first, with John Racener as my next pick.  Surprisingly, Lou agreed with me and so we have nothing wagered on this outcome -- we're either both geniuses or both the victims of bad luck.  Here's the link to the podcast where Lou and I discuss all nine and make our fearless predictions:  Rounders Radio.  Here's the link to Lou's most recent blog article regarding the final table and our picks:  Keep Flopping Aces.  Please overlook the unnecessarily large picture of me and trust that my hair has moved into the 21st Century.

So why the two Johns?  Let's start with the premise that the chip leader going in is going to take too many risks, overplay his hands, and be the shorter stacks' target early on.  Add to that the fact that Jonathan Duhamel was ridiculously lucky to get all those chips.  That hand against Matt Affleck means Duhamel is out of luck, probably for the rest of his life. He made a bad call that turned into a stunning bad beat for Affleck and gave Duhamel a monstrous stack of chips. It is likely that what the poker gods gave, they will just as soon take away. Here's video of that hand.  Be warned, it's not for the squeamish. And to read more about Duhamel's path to the final nine, click here.



John Dolan reminds me a lot of Allen Cunningham -- he's calm, laid back, all business. I think a cool demeanor will help him at the final table just as it did following what was a disastrous Day 7 where he ended the day 24th out of 27. He fought back on Day 8, winning not by sucking out, a la Duhamel, but by putting it in with the best. And during the six-and-a-half marathon bubble play, he doubled his chip stack by showing fearless aggression -- exactly what he'll need this weekend. For more on how Dolan got to the final table, click here.

I like John Racener's position going into the final table.  He's fourth in chips and so has some chips with which to play, possibly at the expense of the short stacks, and some time before he needs to worry about the big stacks.  He's a solid player who has already amassed good results with four cashes in last year's WSOP and three others this year prior to the Main Eent.  His play was less than stellar the last half of Day 8 and that actually gives him the chance to learn from those mistakes and go to the final table better prepared.  Click here for a recap of Racener's run at the Main Event. 

Who doesn't want Michael Mizrachi to win?  Well, besides the eight other guys at the table, I'd say only Frank Kassela, who will have to share WSOP Player of the Year with Mizrachi if he pulls out that win.  Mizrachi has managed to overcome some problems with Uncle Sam earlier in the year to become the feel-good story of the 2010 WSOP, along with his many brothers.  His nickname "the Grinder" is not ironic and it's that steady play that may compensate for his rather anemic stack going into tomorrow.  With just a little over 14 million, fewer than thirty big blinds, Mizrachi will have to find some good hands early.  But if he does, watch out -- he could spoil Kassela's party.  Click here for the recap of how Mizrachi made it to the final table. 

Up until I watched the ESPN broadcast of Day 8, I couldn't have picked Matthew Jarvis out of a lineup, and I'd already written two articles about him.  He does not have much of a presence, which usually signals doom at a poker table.  On the other hand, he sits in the middle of the pack, which is actually a good place from which to make a move.  And he did show some muscle on Day 6, taking out four opponents before the dinner break.  What we've seen of him on TV shows a solid, deliberate, no frills player.  I should be more bullish on him, but for some reason I'm not.  Click here for my article on how he made it to the final table. 

Joseph "subiime" Cheong should be a favorite.  He sits third in chips, he's a darn good player, and he's even had success in the interim since making the final table.  Yet I don't see the killer instinct and bold aggression that the winner is going to need to take this down.  What impressed me -- his unflappability following that cruel bad beat at the hand of Filippo Candio -- maybe his undoing.  Poker players should get riled up from time to time.  He may lack the killer instinct necessary to win it all.  Read my recap of his play here.

Amateur Soi Nguyen has an all-star team of poker friends, but one of the shortest stacks at the table.  Filippo Candio is the first Italian to make it to the final table, but he's used up all his Ave Marias just getting there, as is evidenced by the sick whooping he laid on Cheong:


Finally we have Jason Senti.  I must apologize for mispronouncing his name repeatedly on Lou's show.  Apparently it's sent-eye, not sent-ee.  However you say it, with fewer than fifteen times the big blind, he'll need a good hand pretty soon for us to even worry about having to say his name.  But I like the guy.  He's a rocker, which already makes him a-okay in my book.  Plus, he's has a great, easy-going personality which can be disarming at the table.  If he doubles up quickly, he could be this year's Jerry Yang.

Getting ready for the WSOP Final Table -- The November Nine

The final table will start on November 6th, at 12:00 noon, in the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio.  They are starting out on Level 36 with blinds of 250,000/500,000 and antes of 50,000. The average chip stack is just under 24 million. Action will be broadcast on a five minute delay, without hole cameras, on ESPN3. The final two players will return at 8:00 pm on November 8 for the final heads up match. ESPN will air the final table on November 9.

Here are the seat assignments (and chip counts) for the final table: 

Seat 1: Jason Senti (7,625,000)
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong (23,525,000)
Seat 3: John Dolan (46,250,000)
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000)
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000)
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis (16,700,000)
Seat 7: John Racener (19,050,000)
Seat 8: Filippo Candio (16,400,000)
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen (9,650,000)

I did a series for Poker Player Newspaper on how each of the final nine got there, looking at their chip counts each day and significant reported hands.  You can check out those articles here:  http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/category/authors/shari-geller

Here's a quick rundown on the final nine.

In Seat 1 is Jason Senti, a 25-year-old online pro who plays under the name PBJaxx and works as a poker instructor at BlueFirePoker.  He goes into the final table as the short stack, with just fifteen big blinds left.  But he's been down before and battled back.  He had just 15 big blinds on Day 6, finished 69 out of 78, was all in on Day 7 after losing half his starting stack, then went on a tear.  His stack ballooned to fourth place, before being ground down during the long Day 8.

Unlike most at the final table who heeded poker's call early, Senti graduated from college (the University of North Dakota) with a degree in engineering before turning pro.  Not surprisingly, he credits being good at math with much of his poker success, as well as "understanding psychology."  He's concentrates mostly on cash games, but did have one other WSOP cash in the event just before the big one, he finished 32nd in the $10K NLHE Head's-Up event.  But he recently tweeted that he was under the weather.  This would not be an opportune time to be sick!

Seat 2 begins the murderer's row of big stacks. Joseph Cheong is the third in chips, but is one of the best, most experience, most feared players at the table.  He had two prior cashes in this year's WSOP, a 24^th in $1500 six-handed event and 29^th in the $5,000 six-handed event.  As the table shrinks, he can use this experience to his advantage.  And Cheong has been on a roll, with two cashes in the European Poker Tour, since making the November Nine.  He had a 24th place finish and was runner up in the High Roller Turbo event.  He also recently won the Festa al Lago at the Bellagio. 

Like Senti, he's a college graduate, having earned a combined psychology, economics and math degree from UC San Diego.  Cheong's, whose first name is Saguhyon, was born in Seoul, South Korea, but now makes La Mirada, California his home.  He plays online under the name “subiime” and won a mini FTOPS last year earning $55,000.

In Seat 3 is John Dolan, second in chips.  He plays live tournaments and online under the name JRD312. The 23-year-old Floridian dropped out of Florida State University to concentrate on poker full time.  He's done pretty well for himself, with $216,556 in live tournament cashes, including a 6th place finish in one of the $1K NLHE events at this year’s WSOP for $82,804. He’s also cashed for over $1.1 million dollars on FullTiltPoker and PokerStars.

Dolan will be in the unenviable position of having the massive chip leader to his left, and has Cheong, to his right.  So it will be interesting to see how this, and his relative lack of experience compared with some, leads him to handle such a substantial starting stack.  This is especially true when you consider he began Day 8 in 24th place out of the remaining 27 and yet managed to surge to second in chips.  He has played in the big tournaments since the WSOP -- the WSOP Europe and the EPT -- and had just one cash, at the EPT, outlasting fellow November Niner Filippo Candio.

Seat 4 will be hard to see behind his massive stack of chips.  But Jonathan Duhamel will likely make his presence known, continuing the aggressive play that put him on top.  While the rest feared the bubble, he went on a rampage, tearing up for the last five hours before the tenth place finisher was knocked out.  The French-Canadian Duhamel dropped out of college where he was studying finance to focus on poker full time, a decision that right now looks brilliant. But what's interesting is, if you watched all of the ESPN coverage of the main event, Duhamel almost didn't make it to the end.

Duhamel shoved for his last 1.715 and was in a race AhKc against the pocket sixes of Robert Pisano. The flop was a blank, 7d3cJh, and the 5c turn left him with just six outs to stave off elimination. But the dealer showed a near-miraculous Kh and Duhamel was still alive and sitting on about 3.5 million.  He survived another all in about an hour later and now is the monster chip leader.  Will he sail to the end, or will some other short stack get lucky against him and start chipping away at his lead?  Time will tell.

Seat 5 is the best known player at the table, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.  Known earlier in the year for an unfortunate tax problem, he rewrote his own 2010 by first winning the $50K Players Championship then helming Team Mizrachi which saw all four brothers cash in the main event this year.  If Mizrachi wins the main event, he ties Frank Kasela for Player of the Year and basically rewrites the WSOP record book.

He was nearly down so many times during the main event, you wonder how he could bounce back.  But there is something to being a seasoned pro, and something to the power of having your family supporting you.  He brings all of that, if not an impressive chip stack, to the final table.  I wouldn't count him out.

In Seat 6 is Matthew Jarvis and I hate to admit it but after having written about him twice, I still have to look him up.  It's only when I remember he's the Ginger of the group that I can at all recall his play over the previous eight days.  Jarvis is of the lesser known players, whose hands were not covered extensively by ESPN, and this may work to his advantage.  He is the second Canadian at the final table, living in Surrey, British Columbia.  He is 25 and his father is a golf pro who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

He had the chip lead when it was down to the last 15, but his stack spiraled downward from then.  But he was the one who dealt the fatal blow, knocking out Brandon Steven in 10th place.  Since making the final table he has won the Canadian Open Poker championship in Calgary for just under $100K, came in 40^th place at a WSOP-Europe event, and won the Festa al Lago $1,000 buy-in NLHE event at Bellagio earlier this month.

Seat 7 has John Racener who, based on what I've seen of him during the ESPN coverage, would make an excellent model for art students.  Or a corpse for a very long CSI episode.  The guy doesn't move.  He gives away nothing.  He is the anti-Filippo Candio (see below).  I doubt he has a pulse.  Even though he's under the chip average and behind the massive stacks of Duhamel and Dolan), I like Racener's chances to go all the way.

The twenty-four-year-old Florida native John Racener may be young, but he already has an impressive poker resume. He had four cashes and one final table in last year’s World Series of Poker and three cashes in this year’s WSOP preliminary events including one in PLO and another in 7-Card Stud.  He also came in 5th at a PLO event at the WSOP-Europe.

Seat 8 has the fiery Italian, Filippo Candio.  First noticed on the ESPN broadcast for an exuberant celebration after winning an all in that landed him in poker time out, he was later part of that insane hand against Joseph Cheong.  Candio has made himself known and whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen.  He wears his heart and other internal organs on his striped sleeve and will be the most entertaining of the final nine.

What is interesting about Candio's run is the fact that he finished Day 1 second in chips.  It is a rare feat for someone who peaked early to stay around till the end.  He was involved in a number of questionable hands, including one apparent slow roll and another hand where he pushed chips forward then tried to pull them back (the floor was brought in and it was ruled a call; he lost the hand).  The native of the tiny island of Sardinia chose not to follow in his father's footsteps and become a lawyer, but to try poker.  He is already guaranteed a nice payday even if it all ends on the first hand.  But this unpredictable player may have staying power.

The last seat is occupied by Cuong "Soi" Nguyen, this year's Darvin Moon.  The untested amateur is going in with just under twenty big blinds, but also with low expectations and less known about him than some of the other players.  All this will work to his advantage.  The old man at the table at 37, he plays mostly at local LA clubs including Bicycle and Commerce.  But he will have help along the way as our "amateur" counts among his friends such poker luminaries as Tuan Le, Nam Le, JC Tran, and Steve Sung.

Born in Vietnam and currently residing in Santa Ana where he works as a manager for a medical supply company, Nguyen developed a reputation during the main event as an aggressive player and also made some good reads down the road.  At one point during Day 7, he was in the chip lead after calling pro Theo Jorgensen with just top pair.  His read was good, Jorgensen was on a draw, and when the board ran out safe, Nguyen was out on top.  To get back there, he'll need a little luck in addition to his aggression and good reads.   
 
I'll be on Lou Krieger's show Keep Flopping Aces tonight discussing all this and our predictions for the November Nine. You can find it on Rounder's Radio, starting at 6:00 pm PDT.

Gavin Smith Wins First WSOP Bracelet

I'll admit it. I have a bit of a crush on Gavin Smith. Others can drool over Patrik Antonius, but not me. I'll take the mischievous, twinkle in the portly poker player's eyes over the chiseled good looks of the Greek god. But then, this could be practicality speaking. As a middle-aged mother of two, at least with Gavin I have a shot. My husband promises he wouldn't stand in the way. But, as usual, I digress.

I had Gavin as my pick going into this World Series of Poker to take down his first bracelet. When I mentioned that in the ESPN chat room, let's just say no one was jumping on the Gavin band wagon. Of the list of "best who hasn't won" Gavin, they said, was not holding down the top spot. Andy Bloch -- he of the MIT and Harvard Law pedigree -- he was the next to get his first. Or Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, the online phenom who already had a pretty good run. But Gavin? Sure, he may have been WPT player of the year in the past -- but that's not the WSOP.

What people forgot is that Gavin is a savant when it comes to limit hold'em and he's not too shabby in the no limit either. The FullTilt pro knows what he's doing at the table. Like many great players, he has sabotaged himself at times or lost the killer instinct when it counted. But the ability has always been there.

As he said after the win, "I seem to be pretty good at screwing things up. In the past, I sometimes went out and got drunk or hung out. But this year, I decided to come in and try to play my best the whole time." There's never been a question about his raw talent. When Gavin is on, he's on.

He's aggressive, yet so affable that he can easily knock down his opponent's defenses. I remember one of my favorite Gavin moments when, during a WSOP Circuit event, he famously remarked, “I’m sorry for the bad beat that I’m about to give you.” He is disarming in every sense of the word.

So Event #44, $2,500 mixed hold'em, was right up his alley. Of course, not only did he have the smarts and skill to win, but his attitude was good. "The last three days everything just clicked. I played well and things went well and everything clicked at the right time."

Aided by the support of his many friends and fans, and with a determination to not let this opportunity slip away, Gavin took and kept control of the final table. But how could he lose, he had me in his corner. Well, not literally in his corner, I was railing from up above the final table, hanging over the balcony. I told everyone in earshot he'd win and then, risking jinxing it, I shook his hand during one of the breaks, told him I had predicted he'd win a week earlier. He promised to make me look smart.

And he did. The Canadian with the ready smile, who seems to enjoy life just a little bit more than the rest of us, has reason to smile even bigger. He now has his first WSOP bracelet. Congrats Gavin!