Anyone reading this probably knows Gavin Griffin as one of the most accomplished tournament poker players on the planet. He is likely best-known as the first winner of poker's "Triple Crown" with a WSOP bracelet in 2004, an EPT Grand Final title in 2007, and a WPT Borgata title in 2008. When he won his WSOP bracelet, he was at the time the youngest person to ever do so, back in an era where it was an anomaly rather than a regularity for someone in his early 20s to win major poker tournaments. He's one of only 17 players to have multiple $1 million-plus cashes in live tournaments, and that list is populated by household names. In the world of tournament poker, Gavin has been there and done that.
None of this, though, is what I think of when I think of Gavin Griffin. I think of the Gavin who is, quite simply, as good a friend -- and human being -- as they come. In 2007, Gavin endured much (friendly) abuse from his fellow pros as he dyed his hair pink to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer, after being inspired by his then-girlfriend Amy's battle against the disease. Despite how much he and his spiky pink hair stood out at every event that year, there was not a trace of self-promotion in Gavin's effort; it was just a small example of his generosity and willingness to stand behind the people he loves.
It was a tremendous honour for me to stand up at Gavin and Amy's wedding in the summer of 2010. To me, Gavin is a true Hero of poker, a man who has tasted success on multiple occasions at the highest level of the game but has never allowed himself to get a big head about it. He's as honest, genuine, and generous and they come in the poker world. I'm proud to have Gavin as a Hero Poker teammate, but more importantly, a great friend.
Terrence Chan, Hero Poker Pro
Hero Poker: Biggest pot?
Gavin: My most memorable hand is probably also my biggest pot. I was heads-up with Marc Karam in Monte Carlo at the European Poker Tour Grand Finale. We had been playing for an hour and a half and the stacks were pretty deep and almost even. It seemed like it could go on forever, but Marc had recently started 3-betting me alot. On the last hand of the 25k/50k level, I raised K5 on the button to 125k with around 5 million effective stacks. Marc once again 3-bet to 400k. I felt like any 4-bet size was awkward and I didn't want to fold king high to someone who was 3-betting me as much as Marc was so I decided to just call. The flop came 234 rainbow, a really good flop for my hand. He led out for 500k. I have at least 8 outs, probably 11 and he might fold a bad ace high like A7 along with pretty much all king high hands. I didn't want to make it something like 1.3 million because he'd have over 4 million behind and I wouldn't be getting a very good price to call. I decided to commit myself and make it 2 million. He thought about it for a bit and moved all in. I asked for a count just to be sure I didn't estimate incorrectly and found out it was around 2.7 million more to call. It's not even close at that price so as soon as I heard my estimate was right, I immediately said "I call, you've got the best of it." He said "I'm not so sure about that," and showed 7s4h. I was a favorite with 14 outs twice! The turn was a 3, pairing the board and not really changing anything, but the river was the beautiful Kh, sealing up the win and 1.8 million euros for me.
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