Gavin Smith Wins Mirage Poker Showdown Main Event

Gavin Smith overcame the odds and a severe chip disadvantage in the last hour to take the championship of the World Poker Tour’s first event of Season Four, the Mirage Poker Showdown in Las Vegas. Smith’s $10,000 buy-in earned him $1,128,278, as well as a $25,000 entry in the WPT Championship at the end of the season. Ted Forrest, who will also be playing at the final table of the PPT event at the Mirage today, was runner-up, winning $579,386.

At ten minutes until 9:00pm, Smith was in second place with 1,600,000 chips, less than half the stack of the leader, Chris Bell, who held 3,400,000 chips. Forrest was close behind Smith with a 1,300,000 chip stack.

About twenty minutes later, a huge hand turned the tide of the competition. Bell raised to 200,000 on the button, while Smith re-raised to 600,000. Bell called and the two went to the flop, which unveiled 9-7-5. Smith put his tournament life on the line, pushing all-in, and Bell called. It was an excellent call by Bell, as he had Smith in a corner, showing A-9 for top pair against Smith’s A-J. The turn was a meaningless 7, giving Smith three outs, the three remaining Jacks, to stay alive on the river. Smith’s prayers were answered on the river, as a Jack gave him the tremendous pot, doubling him up, and taking Bell down to 1,270,000 chips.

Smith knocked out Bell a half-hour later, as Smith caught an Ace on the flop to allow his A-Q to overcome Bell’s pocket 8’s.

Going into heads-up play, Smith had a massive lead over Forrest, 4,595,000 chips to 1,760,000.

It only took four hands for Smith to take the title. The first three went along uneventfully, but on the fourth, Forrest, holding A-J of clubs, raised Smith’s original call of the big blind. This was exactly what Smith was looking for as he was holding Q-Q and pushed all-in, getting the call from Forrest. Neither player improved on his hand and Gavin Smith became the champion of the main event.

The chip leader going into the final day, Thang Pham, took fourth place, while Eugene Todd and Mark Ellerbe came in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Related stories: John Phan Leads Mirage Poker Showdown Main Event After Day 1; Robert Mizrachi Takes Over Lead at Mirage; Thang Pham Heads Mirage Final Table; Days 1 and 2 Leaders Eliminated

Originally published May 27, 2005