| Year of the Young Guns:
Gavin Griffin Becomes Youngest Player Ever to Win World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet
-- 22-year-old wins $270,420 in Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship
The 2004 World Series of Poker has become the “Year of the Young Guns.” Of the 25 gold bracelets awarded at this year’s tournament, no less than five have been won by players aged 25 or younger. In fact, seven winners have come from the ranks of the twenty-somethings. No World Series in history has ever produced so many youthful poker champions.
This is in stark contrast to last year’s tournament, where many of the greatest names in poker repeated as bracelet winners. In 2003, half of all bracelet winners (18 of 36) had been in the winner’s circle before. Legendary names like Brunson, Chan, and Hellmuth dominated the headlines. This year, those captions have been replaced by names like Fischman, Keller, and Esfandiari. Now, add “Gavin Griffin” to the list of young gun champs.
The larger question is this: Has poker now passed the proverbial torch from one generation to the next? Perhaps. There are certainly more young people playing poker than at any time in history – inside cardrooms, on college campuses, and over the Internet – their enthusiasm fuelled by life-altering prize pools and starry-eyed exposure on television. In addition, there are now more ways to improve as a poker player than ever before – including books on strategy, videos, daily tournaments (B/M and online) which all serves to expedite the learning curve from amateur to poker champion. Certainly, a by-product of more young players entering poker tournaments will be more men and women in their 20s winning major poker tournaments. In short, we can probably expect to see more “Gavin Griffins” as tournament winners.
Gavin Griffin was born August 28, 1981 – making him only a few months younger than Allen Cunningham when he became the youngest ever to win at the World Series in 2001. Griffin was born in Darien, IL – suburb west of Chicago. Griffin spent four years studying at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas – where he majored in speech pathology. He worked as a poker dealer and has since taken up playing full time. This is Griffin’s first year to attend or play in the World Series. He came, saw, conquered – and collected $270,420 in first place prize money.
The Pot-Limit Hold’em event attracted a strong field of 316 entries. 301 players were eliminated on day one, which meant the second day would start with the final 15. It took three hours to play down to the final nine players. They took their seats at the final table, in an event taped for broadcast by ESPN. The finalists were eliminated in the following order:
9th – Jerry Reed – Reed, from San Jose, came in with the second shortest stack. He went “all in” with a weak ace (A-3 of clubs) and was called by Gabriel Thaler with a dominant hand (A-9). Both players hit an ace, but Thaler’s kicker was higher. That meant a speedy exit for Reed, who took $17,440 for 9th place.
8th – Phi Nguyen – Nguyen won a gold bracelet here last year in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. But he could do no better than eighth in this tournament. Nguyen went out when he raised pre-flop with 2-2 and was re-raised all in by Gary Bush with A-9. Bush made a straight and took the pot. Nguyen, who works as a poker host at the Hawaiian Gardens Casino near Los Angeles, collected $26,160.
7th – Phil Hellmuth – The 1989 world champion, and nine-time gold bracelet winner was making a bid to become the first poker player in history to ever win TEN Word Series events. Trouble was, Hellmuth was desperately short-stacked during most of his two hours at the final table. He was never able to move beyond 100K in chips. On his final hand, Hellmuth tried to take the pot with 9-6 after the flop came J-6-5. Hellmuth caught two pair when a 9 came on the turn. But a third spade on the river gave Griffin a flush – effectively busting Hellmuth. The temperamental poker pro added $34,880 to his bankroll.
6th – Frank Sinopoli – 32-year-old Sinopoli, a.k.a. “Take That,” went out next. He became the shortest stack and moved “all in” with K-J after the flop came J-8-6. Problem was, Gavin Griffin nearly beat Sinopoli into the pot with his chips, holding 8-8. Griffin’s set of eights improved to a full house, which meant Sinopoli was out. “Take That” got taken for the rest of his chips. But he did receive $43,600 for 6th place.
5th – Ram Vaswani – Englishman Vaswani is also known as “Crazy Horse.” Vaswani, part of the famous Hendon Mob group, was the European Poker Champion in 2000. He has now made two WSOP final tables. Vaswani went out when he bet the size of the pot with J-10 suited, only to get re-raised for the remainder of his chips by Griffin, with A-Q. Neither player made a pair, which meant Griffin’s ace-high was best. Crazy Horse was bucked off the final table in 5th place – good for $53,320.
4th – Tom Lee – Lee, a Vietnamese-born retired real estate broker now living in Denver, was the next player to be eliminated. Lee became short-stacked and caught pocket 8s on his final hand. Lee looked to be in an excellent position to double up when Griffin called the raise and showed A-8. Griffin essentially had three outs to hit the ace, which is exactly what happened with the final board showed A-7-3-K-5. Lee received $61,060.
3rd – Gabriel Thaler – Three-handed play lasted over two hours. Each player had his own cheering section in the audience, which rotated their applause as the chip lead changed several times. Just when it looked like a player might be eliminated, he managed to stage a furious comeback and get back into contention. After the second-hour of three-way action, the chip counts were very close to even. Then, disaster struck for Gabriel Thaler, a 28-year-old poker pro from Cupertino, CA. Thaler took a horrible beat when his Q-Q was dethroned by Griffin’s 7-7. The final board showed 8-6-4-9-5, giving Griffin a straight. Thaler officially took $69,780 in prize money.
When heads up play began, the chip counts were approximately, as follows:
GARY BUSH: $700K
GAVIN GRIFFIN: $250K
It took 45-minutes for Griffin to emerge as the victor. Bush was gradually worn down to about $100K before being brushed with a sledgehammer. On the final hand of the night, Bush started with 7-7 and was “all in” against Griffin’s K-K. The two cowboys held up, and Griffin became the youngest WSOP winner in history.
The runner up, Gary Bush is from London. He enjoyed the support of a rabid cheering section, which turned the final table into a match that more closely resembled a World Cup soccer match than a poker final. Ultimately, they left disappointed by the outcome, but got several thrills along the way. Bush was “all in” several times and clawed his way back from only about five-percent of the chips in play at one point (when three-handed), to the chip lead within a 20-minute span. Bush, nicknamed “The Whacker,” was voted Player of the Year in Europe in 2003. He made more final tables last year than any other player on the European tournament circuit. Bush collected $139,540.
Meanwhile, Gavin Griffin’s name becomes immortalized – at least until the next young poker champion is crowned. The way things are going, he may have a short reign as the youngest player ever to win the gold bracelet.
-- Official Report by Nolan Dalla, Media Director -- 2004 World Series of Poker
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