Gavin Griffin Takes Down the 'Trifecta'

Not only is he among the very few poker players ever to cash more than $2 million in a single event ($2.434.061 for winning the EPT Grand Final 2007 in Monte Carlo), he's now also the only player ever to have won titles on all the three major poker circuits, WSOP, WPT and EPT. And Gavin Griffin, USA, is only 26 years old.

On top of that the young and somewhat underrated player is also one of the most likeable characters in the world of top tournament poker. Never more than a split second away from another huge smile, Griffin has also on several occasions proven himself a man of conscience. Biggest display of this was when he turned up for the EPT Grand Final in 2007 with his hair dyed neon-pink to raise awareness of breast cancer.

If there ever was a player you'd like to do something memorable and worthy of the poker history books, Gavin's your man, and at the Borgata Poker Classic 2008 he did just that.
Because not only did the title land him a nifty $1,401,109, it also made him the first player ever to win a WSOP title, an EPT title and a WPT title.

At Borgata, Gavin bested a final table with people like Lee Watkinson and the tournament veteran David Tran to take home the title, and he did so without ever really being in danger of not at least finishing 2nd.
Entering the final table as 2nd in chip count but with more than 33% of the chips, he and chipleader David Tran ran the show from start to finish.

Among them they took out short stack after short stack, and there was never really any doubt they would eventually end up playing heads-up for the title.
And with Ervin Prifti, Lee Watkinson, Noah Schwartz and Thomas Hare - all American - busting out in that order - it all came down to Griffin vs. Tran for the spoils.

The chip count when heads-up began:
Gavin Griffin - 6,520,000
David Tran - 8,695,000

Three hands into the play, Griffin caught up with Tran after a massive 4.2 million pot, but then the two settled in for what could have been a long battle. Tran managed to build a slight lead in the next few hands, but only twelve hands into the 1-on-1 duel the deciding pot was played.

The crucial pot - a classic race situation - came after a preflop raising war between the two players, where Gavin Griffin with the blinds at 40,000/80,000 made it 200,000 from the button. Tran popped it up to 875,000 and Griffin re-raised it to 2.475 million before Tran moved all-in over the top for a total of 6.6 million.

"Ok, I call," Griffin said with a shrug and tabled:


and saw Tran flip over


for a typical race.
"Pretty big pot, sir. You're gonna have some left if I win, though," said Griffin.

The flop gave Griffin the lead, when


dropped in, and Tran was now looking for a miracle to bust Griffin.

With 13,340,000 in the pot and only 1,875,000 left behind, Tran was in reality almost all-in, and he would be massively behind if one of his two outs didn't show.

Turn and river:
  

This pot in reality placed the title in Griffin's hands.
Tran fought long and hard and managed to double up through Griffin twice - and see another double-up vanish when the players chopped a straight, where Griffin caught the splitting miracle on the river.
But after just 37 hands it was all over. Down to just 1.24 million in chips David Tran moved all-in once again, and after asking for a count down, Griffin calls.

David Tran:                    Gavin Griffin:
   vs.  

Flop:


After a short sigh and a "damn-he-hit" look, Griffin regains his optimism and exclaims:
"That's a pretty good flop."
10 outs - Queens, Jacks and Tens - and Griffin didn't have to sweat it for long.

Turn:


River:


Winning pair on turn and to top it off the straight on the river.
Gavin Griffin wins the Borgata Poker Classic and cashes $1,401,109, a TAG Heuer watch and a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Oh yeah - and he's now up their with the biggest of them all:

Gus Hansen - 4 WPT titles
Phil Hellmuth Jr. - 11 WSOP Bracelets
Carlos 'The Matador' Mortensen - Main Event winner in both WSOP and WPT.