2008 North American Poker Championship Recap



For PokerRoad fans and followers the story of the 2008 North American Poker Championship was the story of the reemergence of Gavin Smith.  In a candid segment on PokerRoad Radio, Gavin opened up about his struggles over the last few months and touched many of his fans and listeners with his brutally honest approach to his own recent past.

With the forums over at PokerRoad abuzz with support for Gavin, the final table played out along the desired storyline right up to the last card of heads up play.  Gavin was able to control the table and work his way down to the final two, with only amateur Glen Witmer left between the G-Man and a major tournament victory. 

Gavin went into heads up play at a more than 2-to-1 chip disadvantage, but with a structure that left plenty of room for play, Gavin was still in great shape.  Gavin’s small ball strategy allowed him to chip away at Glen and gain ground at a slow, but steady pace.

After chipping up, the cards turned on Gavin and he saw all his gains fall to a hot Witmer, who kept making hands.  After getting up to 5.5 million, Gavin’s stack slipped back to just over four million while Witmer was back up to 9.5 million.

With the blinds at 30k-60k, and with a 10k ante, Gavin limped from the small blind and Witmer raised to 500k.  Gavin, who had been spot on with his reads throughout the tournament, moved in over the top of Witmer’s raise.  Glen quickly called and when the cards were up the two were in a coinflip for the largest pot of the tournament. 

Gavin had a slight advantage with his pocket fives, but Witmer was in a great position to take a shot at the title with his AK of spades.  The flop was Q-J-2 with no spades, although a gutshot straight was added to Witmer’s outs.  The turn paired the jack, adding three more outs for Witmer.  When the ace of clubs hit on the river, the hand and tournament went to Witmer, leaving Gavin as the bridesmaid.

For the win, Witmer earned $1,254,152 CAD and Gavin’s runner up finish brought $612,427 CAD.

On the way to heads up play, Witmer and Smith had a tough contingent of players to get through.  The 2008 NAPC was the third run of the tournament, and Marc Karam has now cashed in all three and final tabled two.  In the first NAPC, Karam finished 6^th and followed that up with a cash last year.  This year he was back at the final table, but still fell short of his expectations with a 5^th place finish ($196,851 CAD).  Karam’s exit came when his pocket queens fell to Witmer’s AK, just like Gavin’s pair was fated to do later in the tournament. 

After Karam was gone, the final four had an interesting dynamic: the amateur (Witmer), the home grown pro (Gavin), the Internet player (Ryan Fisler), and the female tournament veteran (Kathy Liebert) left to contend for the title.

Fisler was the next to go.  After raising preflop, and getting called by Witmer, Ryan moved all in on the jack high flop, only to have Witmer instantly call with AJ.  Fisler showed his AK and was drawing thin after being outflopped.  His 4^th place finish was worth $262,469 CAD.

Kathy Liebert won a coinflip against Gavin earlier in the tournament but in three-handed play she lost a big pot to Smith that left her with only a few big blinds, and she was eliminated a few hands later by, none other than, Glen Witmer.  Liebert’s 5^th World Poker Tour final table left her still short of a title, but continued to solidify her spot as one of the top female players in the game.  Her third place finish was worth $319,377 CAD.

The North American Poker Championship didn’t finish up exactly like Gavin had hoped for, but a rejuvenated Smith was excited instead of disappointed in the hours after the tournament.  There is a spark in his eye that hasn’t been there over much of the last year and anyone around can tell that Gavin has a renewed excitement for the game and life in general.  He is playing at the top of his game and after the NAPC the rest of the poker circuit has been put on notice that the Gavin Smith of old is back, and will be a force to be reckoned with at the tables.