He was also part of the first poker podcast I listened to. Not sure if it was the first poker podcast period, but very much at the infancy of podcasts back in like 2006.

It was called 'The Circuit' and had Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith, and the host was Scott Huff (if my memory is correct).

he became good friends with a friend of mine. had the pleasure of meeting him this summer and getting some stories from him.

a hooker tazing him after he broke her phone and him chasing her down the hall in the rio in his underwear to the hooker bar for a drink.

playing the dealers choice one year (i forget what year). and when it was his game just looked blind flicking through all the plaques and said "**** it im the best at all these games ill pick it blind"

having him go from chirping at a guy at a the hooker bar by saying "bud skip the rio daily and go all out for the hooker its your best chance at any action ever I know!" to drinking with him a bit later

meeting the man who was on hooker watch to make sure he didnt get robbed by a hooker again lol

having him tell me to **** off cause im from toronto and im not a leaf fan.
his ability to drink and drink a lot despite a heart condition that hospitalized him...before getting tazed.

the man just was a joy and the world will be a sadder place

Gavin vs Ivey on PAD is one of the best half hour of televised poker ever. RIP Gavin.

This is true, but more importantly I think he helped create “poker celebrity” by being fun and engaging to watch, and making televised poker feel like a great home game even with millions at stake. So he was there at the right time, but was definitely a part of making it the right time in the first place.

Very true as well. WPT would've been cancelled after year 1 if FT's were filled with guys like Ike Haxton and other GTO-bots LOL. We're lucky they were filled with guys like Gavin, Antonio, Laak, and others with actual fun personalities to watch on TV!

Rip Gavin

legendary video, RIP

Seemed like a good guy sad news

I was friends with Gavin before he played poker but then lost touch. Shortly after I started playing poker I remember reading about his million dollar WPT win, and thinking, wow, I used to know that guy, and I would watch him when he'd play on FTP and was always rooting for him despite his flat calling. We added each other on Facebook at some point but we never connected again after that. Hard to believe he's gone.

heh people on twitter are actually ****ting on the gofundme page for his kids.

i had faith in people now i lost it again

Remember him from the poker boom days and the tv shows that followed. Condolences to his family and all here that knew him.

So true. RIP Gavin

Nolan's article about his passing...
http://www.nolandalla.com/the-windmi...g-gavin-smith/

A Greyhound tonight it is.

RIP.

What the ****

In 2007, I was was at the craps table in Binion's a little before 2am one night. Gavin and a few friends were at the table and obviously had consumed more than a few adult beverages.

When he and his buddies headed to the poker room to play in the 2am tourney, I tagged along.

It was a very low buy-in tourney ($60 as I remember) and as the tourney started, I was at the same table as Gavin. He was chatting with everyone and making it a fun table to be at. Figuring he would not be averse to a proposition bet, I proposed a $100 "last longer" bet with him. The first of us to get busted from the tourney would pay the other, $100.

As he tipped the waitress $20 from his huge wad of cash, he accepted my bet. He was playing wildly and I thought it was a good bet.

A few hands into the tourney, I proposed another $100 prop bet. I bet the next 3-card flop we saw, would be mostly or all the same color. He could choose the color.

He said he'd take the bet, with the added stipulation that if all 3 cards were the same color, the loser would have to pay double ($200). I agreed, he chose "red", and we waited for the next flop to occur.

It was 2 red cards and one black. I paid him his $100 and the table got a good laugh.

I was later moved from his table but, periodically, he would loudly yell across the room "Hey 'Illinois Last Longer', where's your stack?" I'd report my status and he'd reply with his.

When we got down to the final 2 tables, I was reunited with him back at my table. I flopped bottom 2-pair and an opponent flopped a set, and I was out. I paid Gavin another $100 and wished the table good luck.

He was wild and crazy and made playing in the tournament with him a blast.

Sad to hear he passed and I send my condolences to his friends and family.

https://www.gofundme.com/rip-ol039-gavin-smith

RIP. Always enjoyed the shows he were on. Will never forget the joke he made at a PAD-table that made Sam Grizzle chuckle during the Hecklers week.

God damn some of the big name successful pros donating on that page are cheap as hell.

Poker monkey Souther with the $250 donation leaking on the haters.

RIP to Gavin, who was consistently hilarious and a joy on the Poker Road and Pokerwire Radio podcasts, and at every televised poker table he was featured on.

I didn't know Gavin personally, but I was a fan. He was great for poker during the boom years, and it was especially nice to see him on the early Poker Night in America broadcasts.

Not only did the man have a vastly different playing style than most in those early years, which brought him success. But the personality he brought to those Televised games was unmatched.

I'm not sure why I remember this, but back in 2006'ish... Gavin had a pretty active MySpace page. This was the early days of social media, MySpace was where it was at back then if you had any social media presence at all.

I remember Gavin had the Five For Fighting song "The Riddle" embedded into that page, and the song would auto-play when viewing. Given his passing, this song feels especially fitting for a man that lived a big life, even thought he was taken far too soon.

RIP Gavin Smith...

Thats racist yo black planet was before my space and was cool too.

Who cares????

One of the original stars. His eccentricity immediately stood out to me.

Looks like he had managed to lose a lot of weight too, so quite surprising.

RIP Gavin

Back in the day I was an avid listener of the poker podcasts he was on and he was the main reason they were so enjoyable to listen to.

These days whenever something bad happens almost immediately there is a gofundme set up asking for donations (and many are straight up grifts) so I can understand why people are so jaded and negative about gofundmes in general.

That said it is very sad that young children are left without their dad and I hope they get the support they need.