PokerRoad’s Gavin “the Caveman” Smith, late last night earned his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet in Event #44, the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Hold ‘em.

Gavin, looking particularly dapper in a black suit coat and matching fedora, removed himself from the often discussed, “most talented player yet to win a bracelet” list, by successfully outlasting a total field of 507 players including a stacked final table that held not only “Circuit Master” Dwyte Pilgrim but also Daniel Idema and South Africa’s Jarred Soloman, the only player to start the day with slightly more chips than Smith.

Soloman, due to early disappointments in both the Limit and No-Limit rounds, was unable to capitalize on his big stack status for very long and eventually went out in a surprising sixth place, but Smith was able to maintain, and despite losing and regaining the lead many times throughout the course of the evening, was eventually able to take his chips all the way to victor’s row and turn them in for a top prize worth $268,238.

Smith, no stranger to winning, has earned over $5,000,000 playing live poker tournaments according to tournament tracking sites like TheHendonMob.com, and holds multiple titles in both the US and Canada- including that of Season IV World Poker Tour Player of the Year- but until last night Gavin had never won a WSOP bracelet despite more than a half-dozen final table appearances over the last five years.  As of today, that is no longer the case, and now with that major monkey off his back thanks to a final hand of Ace-Queen suited that held up against runner-up Danny Hannawa’s 10-8 offsuit, you have to wonder what milestone is next for this highly popular and always outspoken Las Vegas pro.

The final table finish positions for Event #44, the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Hold ‘em, were as follows:

1st.   Gavin Smith- $268,238

2nd.  Danny Hannawa- $166,005

3rd.  Timothy Finne- $110,324

4th.  Michael Michnik- $81,871

5th.  Jamie Rosen- $61,441

6th.  Jarred Solomon- $46,562

7th.  Daniel Idema- $35,601

8th.  Dwyte Pilgrim- $27,438

9th.  Mike Santoro- $21,304

For further details on Gavin’s historic bracelet run check out excellent posted updates from last night’s final table, courtesy of PokerNews.com.