Griffin breaks a poker bracelet record

02/02/2008

Gavin Griffin (26) has a reputation for breaking poker records in his short but lucrative career in professional poker, and this week at the Borgata he added an impressive new line to his rankings when became the first player in poker to win an EPT title, a WSOP bracelet and a WPT title.

Griffin took home a $1 401 109 winner's cheque, a custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a Tag Heuer watch and a $25 000 seat in this season's WPT Championship for his win at the 2008 Borgata Poker Classic Championship this week after a tough heads up finish against David "Big Dragon" Tran. Second placed Tran picked up a consolation cheque for $737 685 for his time and trouble.

Competing against Griffin at the final table were outstanding players like Lee Watkinson, Ervin Prifti, Noah Schwartz and Thomas Hare.

Hailing from Darien, Illinois, Griffin took a Worlds Series of Poker gold bracelet at the 2004 $3 000 Pot Limit Hold'em event as a college student at the age of 22 - a record for the time and beating by three months the previous record holder Allen Cunningham as youngest-ever WSOP winner.

Though Eric Froehlich and then Jeff Madsen cracked the age record in subsequent years, neither out-cashed Griffin's $2.4 million win at the European Poker Tour 2007 Grand Final.

Griffin was a student in speech pathology at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth when he started playing in small stakes games with friends, building skill and experience and eventually taking up part-time work as a private poker room dealer whilst in his fourth year of college.

"This is where I really developed into a very good poker player," Griffin subsequently told the media. He quit college to play professionally, making his first big win at the 2004 WSOP in Event 25, Pot-Limit Hold'em, where he collected $270 420. It was only his second major tournament.

The next three years were marked by continued success and cashes, and a few disappointments at many key poker tournaments, culminating in last year's EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Early in the tournament, Griffin wasn't feeling the event and was fighting a cold. But he outlasted 705 competitors - the biggest playing field in the tour's history - when he beat Canadian Mark Karam in heads-up play and took home the winner's purse of Euro 1 825 010.

A glance through Griffin's recent tournament record shows just how successful this young player has been in a short timespan:

Season 6, Borgata Poker Classic 1st $1,401,109
Season 6, Legends of Poker 20th $25,150
2007 WSOP, Event 31, World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit... 56th $9,212
2007 WSOP, Event 13, World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em 7th $58,924
2007 WSOP, Event 8, No-Limit Hold'em w/re-buys 24th $16,212
EPT Season 3, EPT3 Monte Carlo Grand Final 1st €1,825,010
2006 WSOPC, Harrah's Rincon 3rd $86,685
2006 WSOP, Event 25, No-Limit Hold'em Shootout 55th $4,805
2006 WSOP, Event 5, No-Limit Hold'em Short-Handed, 6/table 16th $14,214
2005 WSOP, Event 4, $1,500 Limit Hold'em 95th $1,590
2004 WSOP, Event 30, No-Limit Hold'em 25th $8,980
2004 WSOP, Event 25, Pot-Limit Hold'em 1st $270,420

Cashes 12
Total Winnings $3,722,311
First Place Finishes 3
WSOP Bracelets 1

Despite this, Griffin remains a modest and courteous young man, and recently commenting in a Poker Listing's interview:

"My career goals as a poker player are to make a living at it. I have no illusions of grandeur; I'm not hoping to be considered the greatest player of all time; I'm not looking to win 35 bracelets. I want to live a comfortable life because I play poker and I'm good at it.

"I like pitting my brains against other people's and seeing how it turns out," he said. "I like the exhilaration of making a great call and being right, making good laydowns, great value bets. I really just like playing and all that it entails."