Dan Smith (poker player)

Dan Smith was born on February 23, 1989, in Manalapan, New Jersey. He started playing online poker at age 16, before the legal gambling age in the US. A former chess player who earned a chess scholarship to college, Smith decided to leave his studies in 2007 to pursue a full-time poker career.

Smith's first live cash and victory came in 2008 when he won the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in New York for $101,960. Over the next few years, he gradually built his reputation, cashing in multiple World Series of Poker (WSOP) events from 2010 onward.

2012 was a turning point. Smith started by winning the $100,000 Challenge event at the Aussie Millions for A$1,012,000. He then went on a tear at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, winning three separate €5,000 events in five days for a combined €520,980. In August, he captured the €962,925 first prize in the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona. With six tournament wins in 2012, Smith won the GPI Player of the Year award and finished runner-up in the Card Player and Bluff POY races.

In December 2013, Smith won the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1,161,135. In June 2014, he took down the Bellagio Super High Roller $100,000 buy-in event for $2,044,766. That same year, he was ranked number one in the world by the Global Poker Index (September 2014). In the 2014 WSOP Main Event, he finished 20th for $286,900.

In July 2016, Smith finished second in the WSOP $111,111 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller for One Drop, earning $3,078,974. In September 2018, he placed third in the WSOP $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, winning $4,000,000. In 2019, he finished third in the Triton Million for Charity (buy-in £1,050,000), taking home over $8.5 million. In 2023, he again placed third in the WPT Million for One Drop, earning over $2.8 million.

Long regarded as one of the best players without a WSOP bracelet, Smith finally captured his first in June 2022. He defeated Christoph Vogelsang in the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship, winning $509,717. As of July 2024, his live tournament winnings exceed $55,000,000; The Hendon Mob records his total as $59,678,767, with a best cash of $8,765,628.

In 2014, Smith founded Double Up Drive, a charity initiative that has raised over $24.7 million for various causes.

Smith now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is known by the nicknames "King Dan," "Truck Dan," and "Cowboy Dan."