alt=”Dan Smith at the WPT, CC BY-ND 2.0, World Poker Tour” loading=”lazy”>
February 23, 1989 (age 36)
Nationality
🇺🇸 American
EPT Titles8
Triton Titles1
WSOP Cashes12
Dan Smith: Chess Prodigy, Eight-Time EPT Champion, and Poker’s Most Committed Philanthropist
Dan Smith is an American professional poker player who has accumulated $60,718,816 in live tournament earnings, placing him among the top ten on the all-time money list. He holds 1 WSOP bracelet, 1 WPT title, 8 EPT titles, and 1 Triton title, with a record built across the most selective high-roller events in the world over more than fifteen years. Beyond the felt, he is equally recognized for founding the Double Up Drive, a charity matching initiative that has raised over $26 million for effective altruism organizations since 2014, making him one of the most philanthropically active figures in professional poker.
Born on February 23, 1989, in Manalapan Township, New Jersey, Smith grew up with a competitive drive shaped first by chess. He began playing at age six and pursued the game seriously through his teens, eventually earning a college scholarship on the strength of his chess record. When he was 16 he discovered poker through fellow chess players who had moved to the game, and within two years poker had fully displaced chess as his competitive focus. He left college at 18 to pursue poker professionally, a transition that coincided with a formative personal tragedy: his father suffered a fatal heart attack during a trip to the Bahamas that Smith had organized to share his first major live tournament experience with him. Smith has spoken about his father’s death as a turning point that shaped both his emotional relationship with the game and his subsequent commitment to charitable giving.
Dan Smith’s Personal Life
Smith keeps his personal life private and has shared relatively little beyond what surfaces in interviews and his public charitable work. He is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, which serves as his operational home for the global high-stakes circuit. His website, dansmithholla.com, reflects the same handle he has used across his online poker career, and he is known in the poker community by his online alias “dansmithholla,” which he has used since his early online grinding days. He has spoken candidly about dealing with anxiety and depression following his father’s death, and credits the act of charitable giving with meaningfully improving his mental state. His decision to launch the Double Up Drive came directly from that experience, and the initiative has grown into one of the most prominent charity programs associated with professional poker.
Dan Smith’s Beginning in Poker
Smith’s transition from chess to poker was rapid and total. At 16 he was already playing online before reaching the legal gambling age in the United States, learning the game through high-volume online sessions. By 18 he had committed fully to poker as a profession, skipping the conventional college path that his chess scholarship had opened. His first significant live result came in 2008, when he won the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York, for $101,960. That result confirmed his live game matched his online capabilities and set the template for a career built on consistent final table appearances across multiple formats and buy-in levels.
He moved quickly through the stakes, establishing himself as a credible presence in super high roller fields before most of his contemporaries. By the early 2010s he was a fixture at European Poker Tour high roller events, where he compiled the eight EPT titles that remain one of the most distinctive individual achievements in European poker history. His 2012 EPT Barcelona win in the €50,000 Super High Roller for €962,925 announced him as a legitimate force at the very highest buy-ins.
Dan Smith’s Strategies and Playing Style
Smith approaches tournament poker with a hybrid methodology that combines solver-based range construction with precise situational exploitation. He has described live poker as providing more room for creativity and behavioral reads than online play, and he uses that flexibility deliberately: his opening, three-bet, and shove ranges are disciplined and range-advantage-aware, but he is willing to apply pressure in spots where his read on an opponent’s frequency or psychological state justifies deviation from the theoretical baseline.
He works extensively off-table with solvers and range repositories tailored to tournament-specific structures rather than cash-game GTO frameworks, which has helped him translate preparation directly into deep runs at major events. His approach is characterized by patience in early tournament stages and aggression in spots where stack depth and range advantage converge. In a Card Player interview, he noted that “the bigger the money, the more prestige,” a framing that reflects his deliberate focus on high buy-in events where technical gaps between players are smaller and execution under pressure matters most.
Dan Smith’s Greatest Achievements in Poker
Dan Smith in WSOP
| Year | Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship | 1st | $509,717 |
Smith captured his first WSOP bracelet in June 2022, defeating Christoph Vogelsang in the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship. The win ended a lengthy bracelet drought for a player widely considered one of the best in the world without one. His WSOP record also includes a 2nd-place finish in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop in 2016 for $3,078,974, and a 3rd-place finish in the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop in 2018 for $4,000,000, two results that rank among the largest WSOP cashes of his career. He has 12 total WSOP cashes, concentrated overwhelmingly in the highest buy-in events on the schedule.
Other Major Achievements
Smith’s largest individual cash came at the 2019 Triton Million for Charity in London, where he finished third in the $1,000,000 buy-in event for $8,765,628, one of the biggest single tournament payouts in poker history. He won the 2013 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1,161,135, his primary WPT title. He reached the top spot on the Global Poker Index in September 2014, the peak of a stretch during which he was widely regarded as the best live tournament player in the world. His eight EPT titles represent the most in the history of the European Poker Tour among any individual player. He won the 2023 Triton Poker Series Monte Carlo Special Invitational for $3,870,000, his most recent major title.
Dan Smith’s Top 10 Biggest Live Cashes
| Place | Event | Year | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Triton Million for Charity London ($1,000,000 buy-in) | 2019 | $8,765,628 |
| 3rd | WSOP $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop | 2018 | $4,000,000 |
| 1st | Triton Poker Series Monte Carlo Special Invitational ($200,000) | 2023 | $3,870,000 |
| 2nd | WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop | 2016 | $3,078,974 |
| 1st | Bellagio Super High Roller ($100,000 buy-in) | 2014 | $2,044,766 |
| 3rd | Triton Poker Series Jeju ($2,000,000 Main Event) | 2019 | $1,732,572 |
| 1st | EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller | 2012 | $1,183,100 |
| 1st | WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic | 2013 | $1,161,135 |
| 2nd | Poker Masters Event #7 ($100,000 NLH) | 2018 | $700,000 |
| 3rd | WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship | 2018 | $521,782 |
alt=”Dan Smith at the poker table, CC BY-ND 4.0, World Poker Tour” loading=”lazy”>
FAQ about Dan Smith
How much has Dan Smith won in poker?
Dan Smith has accumulated $60,718,816 in live tournament earnings as of early 2026, placing him among the top ten on the Hendon Mob all-time money list. His biggest single cash was $8,765,628 from the 2019 Triton Million for Charity event in London, one of the largest individual tournament payouts in poker history.
How many EPT titles does Dan Smith have?
Dan Smith has 8 European Poker Tour (EPT) titles, the most of any individual player in the history of the EPT. His EPT victories span multiple years and events, including the 2012 EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller, which was one of his breakthrough results at the highest buy-in levels. His ability to win multiple titles on the same tour is a distinguishing feature of his career record.
What is the Double Up Drive?
The Double Up Drive is a charity matching initiative founded by Dan Smith in 2014. Smith matches donations made to a curated list of effective altruism organizations, essentially doubling the impact of each contribution. The campaign has raised over $26 million for high-impact charities since its launch, making it one of the largest individual charity efforts associated with professional poker. Smith has said the initiative grew out of his personal experience with grief following his father’s death and his discovery that charitable giving positively affected his mental well-being.
Does Dan Smith have a WSOP bracelet?
Yes. Dan Smith won his first WSOP bracelet in June 2022, taking down the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $509,717, defeating Christoph Vogelsang in the final. The win ended a long-discussed bracelet drought for a player who had been one of the best in the world without one for several years.
Where is Dan Smith from?
Dan Smith was born on February 23, 1989, in Manalapan Township, New Jersey. He now lives and is professionally based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the operational center of high-stakes live tournament poker. He started playing chess competitively in New Jersey from age six and transitioned to poker when he was 16.
Was Dan Smith ever ranked number one in the world?
Yes. Dan Smith reached the number one ranking on the Global Poker Index in September 2014, the highest ranking in live tournament poker at the time. The GPI measures performance across a rolling window of major live events, and Smith’s consistent deep runs during that period placed him at the top of a system designed to identify the world’s best live tournament player.
What is Dan Smith’s biggest poker win?
Dan Smith’s biggest live cash is $8,765,628, earned from a third-place finish at the 2019 Triton Million for Charity in London, a $1,000,000 buy-in event. It is one of the largest single-tournament payouts recorded in live poker history. His other major seven-figure cashes include $4,000,000 for third in the 2018 WSOP Big One for One Drop and $3,870,000 for winning the 2023 Triton Monte Carlo Special Invitational.
Did Dan Smith play chess before poker?
Yes. Dan Smith was a competitive chess player from age six and reached a level high enough to earn a college scholarship based on his chess ability. He played seriously through his teens before discovering poker at 16 through other chess players who had made the same transition. He left college at 18 to pursue poker professionally, choosing the game over the academic path his chess career had opened.
What is Dan Smith’s online poker handle?
Dan Smith’s online poker handle is “dansmithholla,” which he has used across multiple platforms throughout his career. The handle also serves as his social media identity and is the name of his personal website. He used the alias during his formative online grinding years before transitioning his focus primarily to live high-roller events.
How many WPT titles does Dan Smith have?
Dan Smith has 1 WPT title, won at the 2013 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas for $1,161,135. The Five Diamond is one of the WPT’s flagship annual events, held at the Bellagio, and the win contributed to the stretch of elite results that pushed Smith to the number one GPI ranking in 2014.
Is Dan Smith involved in effective altruism?
Yes. Dan Smith is one of the most prominent advocates of effective altruism in the poker community. His Double Up Drive matches donations to a curated list of high-impact charities evaluated by platforms like GiveWell, directing funds to organizations where the per-dollar impact is maximized. Smith has said that learning about effective altruism changed how he thought about giving and that matching donations was a natural extension of the doubling logic familiar to poker players.
What happened to Dan Smith’s father?
Dan Smith’s father passed away from a heart attack during a trip to the Bahamas that Smith had organized to bring him to his first major live poker tournament. Smith was 18 at the time. He has spoken publicly about how his father’s death affected him deeply and how dealing with the resulting anxiety and depression ultimately led him toward charitable giving as a means of coping. The experience was a direct catalyst for his eventual founding of the Double Up Drive in 2014.
