Gavin Smith, aka "Birdguts" or "Caveman", was born on September 4th, 1968 in Guleph, Ontatrio, Canada. As a child Gavin Smith learned to play cribbage and rummy with his father, and when he was 26, in 1994, he learned to play poker. It didn't take him long to get into the game, and by 1996, two years after he started playing the game, Gavin Smith started to work as a poker dealer. Two years later, in 1998, he had already opened a poker club of his own. Before getting into the world of poker he also managed to work as a taxi driver and had a job on a golf course. Well, you can't say Gavin Smith isn't a versatile fellow.
The first live professional poker tournament Gavin Smith won cash in was on November 1998, when he was 30. He participated in the $500 Limit Hold'em tournament of 1998 World Poker Finals in Mashantucket, and took the 9th place and $1,087. The prize wasn't as grand as he wished it to be, but Gavin Smith made up his mind to make it to the top. And so, a year later, on December 5th, 1999, he won the 1st place in the $500 Limit Hold'em tournament at the 1999 World Poker Finals in Mashantucket, along with $14,280 and some acknowledgments from the professional poker world.
So that was the first time Gavin Smith has won the 1st place, but his actual big break was yet a year later, on November 6th, 2000. The World Poker Finals tournament of Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo was as tough for the competitors as any tournament would be. But one anonymous Gavin Smith made it all the way to the top, took the 1st place by storm and won $26,200 along with it.
The years 2000-2005 were quite busy and very profitable for Gavin Smith. By April 2005 he made over $200,000 in live poker tournaments and championships, but hardly won any significant cash prizes since his big break in November 2000. But as he played more, Gavin Smith gained more practice and braced himself for what was about to come.
Being a regular and constant player in various WPT and WSOP events, Gavin Smith also participated in several WPT Season 4 events, one of which was the Mirage Poker Showdown $10,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament. This tournament was a great success for Gavin Smith, who took the 1st place and brought home some $1,153,278. A few days earlier he won another tournament at the Mirage Poker Showdown, and got $155,000 in this $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event. But this time, obviously, the latter counts more to the poker fans and critics.
Gavin Smith is well known in the poker world for his table-image as a "clown". People say every game with him is a pleasant and enjoyable experience. When asked about his "table manners", Gavin Smith said: "It gets me calls, it gets me people making crazy plays against me… it gets me a number of different things."
Gavin Smith has a degree in economics, which is always good for a poker player when it comes to understanding the math, the odds and probabilities of the poker game. Between tournaments, Gavin Smith returns to his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. A few years ago he signed a sponsorship agreement with Full Tilt Poker, and he's been playing online in their website under the nickname "Birdguts".
Gavin Smith Quick Facts
Cashes: 65
Total Winnings: $3,977,802
First Place Finishes: 6
WSOP Bracelets: 0
