Smith Wins WSOP(*) Event #44 for Over $268K
DUBLIN, July 1 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith won Event #44 at the 2010 World Series of Poker(*) to claim his first WSOP(*) bracelet.
The Canadian poker professional has been playing poker since 1994 and turned pro four years later. He came to prominence in 2005 when winning two events in a week at the Mirage Poker Showdown, part of the World Poker Tour.
Prior to this year's success, the closest Smith had come to winning a WSOP(*) bracelet was in 2007, when he finished second in Event #4, a $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold 'em tournament.
The 2010 WSOP(*) Event #44 began on June 24th, 2010, with 507 players and a prize pool of $1,166,100. The tournament featured 30-minute periods alternating between No-Limit and Limit Hold 'em. At the end of Day One, 69 players remained in the field, which was then whittled down to the final table of nine ahead of the third and final day.
Smith sat down at the final table in second place, narrowly behind chip-leader Jarred Solomon. By the dinner break, the table had been cut down to just five players -- Gavin was fourth overall with a chip stack of 627,000. He then went on the offensive, playing aggressively and wrestling the lead from Danny Hannawa when his pair of queens held up.
When heads up play began, Smith was 400,000 chips ahead of Hannawa. After briefly falling back to level chip stacks, Smith began to stretch away from his opponent with some aggressive betting.
On the final hand, Smith reraised with A-Q versus Hannawa's 10-8. Hannawa called for the remainder of his chips but couldn't improve as the board came down A-K-2-J-J. Smith's two-pair gave him his first WSOP* victory and first prize of $268,238.
Smith becomes the sixth Full Tilt Poker professional to win a bracelet at the 2010 World Series of Poker(*), following the success of Phil Ivey, Praz Bansi, Richard Ashby, Jose Luis Velador and Scott Montgomery.
Visit http://www.fulltiltpoker.com to learn more about Gavin Smith and all of the Full Tilt Poker pros.
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