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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
any 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This year, those captions have been replaced
by names like Fischman, Keller, and Esfandiari.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 fueled
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. Waswani
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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