However,
last year, Gavin Griffin set another record that is proving
much more difficult to shatter — he became the first and only
player to win a WSOP bracelet, a World Poker Tour title
and a European Poker Tour title, a distinction that would come
to be known as poker's "Triple Crown".
Gavin
Griffin instead enrolled at Texas Christian University and began
studying to become a speech pathologist. At home for summer break
after his freshman year, Gavin Griffin was invited to a friend's
weekly $20 buy-in home game. Though the stakes were small, it was
enough to put a dent in a starving student's budget.
After
losing more than he'd have liked to his friends, Griffin began
studying some poker strategy texts and posting hands in online
poker forums. His abilities quickly improved and he began winning
in the game.
By
his senior year, Griffin had a part-time job dealing at a private
game in Arlington, TX. He'd work a five- or six-hour shift, then sit
down himself and grind it out. This game was no fish pond either —
high-stakes online poker players such as Raja Kattamuri
and Dustin Sitar cut their teeth in that room.
Playing
against better poker players proved to be an excellent
training ground for Griffin, who soon started playing online as well.
Before he could graduate, Griffin was making enough money that he
decided to move back to the Chicago area, leaving the books behind
for a career as a poker pro.
That
summer, 22-year old Gavin Griffin decided to take his first shot at the
World Series of Poker—and what a shot it was. Griffin won the
$3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event at the 2004 WSOP, earning his first
bracelet and over $270,000. That day he became the youngest player
ever to win a WSOP bracelet. He followed that up only days later with
another WSOP cash in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
In
the two years that followed, Gavin Griffin garnered steady cashes and
final-table finishes, including three WSOP cashes , a WSOP-Circuit
final table, and two final tables at Bellagio. Still, another
six-figure payday eluded him. That all would change in Monte Carlo.
Gavin
Griffin sat down to play the 2007 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo
with a shocking head of bright pink hair. No, it wasn't the result of
a lost prop bet or a drunken prank — with his girlfriend Kristen at
his side, Griffin went pink to raise awareness about breast cancer, a
disease Kristen had beaten only two years before.
Gavin Griffin went on to outlast 705 poker players and beat Marc Karam heads-up to take down the title and over $2.4 million, at the time the largest poker prize ever awarded outside the United States.
Gavin Griffin went on to outlast 705 poker players and beat Marc Karam heads-up to take down the title and over $2.4 million, at the time the largest poker prize ever awarded outside the United States.
Later
that year, Gavin Griffin cashed three more times at the 2007 WSOP and made
the final table of the $5,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em
tournament, ultimately finishing seventh. After the WSOP, he spent
the fall doing a huge amount of breast cancer fundraising with
Kristen, including the 40-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which
they completed together in Long Beach, CA.
The
poker circuit took him to the WPT Borgata Winter Open in
January of 2008 and Griffin captured the third and final element of
the Triple Crown. Gavin Griffin defeated a 507-strong field in
the $10,000 main event, overcoming a final table that included Lee
Watkinson, David Tran and Noah Schwartz to take down his first WPT
title and the $1.4 million winner's prize.
The
win boosted Gavin Griffin's career tournament earnings to a
staggering $4.5 million, earned in under four years, and before his
30th birthday.
Shortly
after his Triple Crown win, Gavin Griffin was
signed as a member of Team PokerStars Pro. In the
little free time he has when he's not traveling the worldwide
tournament circuit, he is a major film buff and has built a
600-strong DVD collection.
He
also enjoys cooking meals for himself and Kristen, with whom he lives
in the Los Angeles area. He can be found playing online poker
on PokerStars about 15-20 hours a week.
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