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Poker Stories Podcast: Poker's First Triple Crown Winner Gavin Griffin

Poker Stories Is An Audio Podcast Series That Features The Game's Best Players and Personalities

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Poker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Gavin Griffin was one of the original young stars of the poker boom, becoming the then-youngest World Series of Poker bracelet winner in history at the age of 22 at the 2004 summer series. The Darien, Illinois native earned $270,420 for taking down the $3,000 pot-limit hold’em event. He busted Phil Hellmuth at the final table, which prompted the Poker Brat to utter the now infamous line of, “If there weren’t luck involved, I guess I’d win every one.”

A few years later, Griffin made the trip to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final Championship and took it down for $2,429,103. In 2008, he won the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Open for another $1,401,109. The three marquee tournament titles made him the first player ever to win poker’s Triple Crown, a feat that has since been accomplished by only eight others. In 2012, he nearly added a second bracelet, finishing runner-up in the $1,500 Omaha eight-or-better event. The 39-year-old has more than $5 million in career tournament earnings.

Highlights from this interview include ‘cleansing’ rain, the relationship between Dalmatians and horses, ‘losing’ for a living, leaving TCU for poker, riverboat casino dealing, winning his WSOP bracelet, Hellmuth’s quote, running good while being sick, David Pham’s consistent lie, the Triple Crown, what you do with a free Harley Davidson, feeling the pressure from PokerStars, a $1,000-$2,000 2-7 triple draw game, side bets with Gavin Smith, Mike Sexton’s chuckle, being an ‘equities analyst,’ and disappointing Tobey Maguire fans.

You can check out the entirety of the interview in the audio player at the top of the page or download it directly to your device to play on the go from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Bryn Kenney, Justin Bonomo, Antonio Esfandiari, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Dan Smith, Michael Mizrachi, Mike Sexton, Maria Ho, and many more. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes automatically when they are released.