Dan Smith

Last Updated on June 23, 2026 by Bala Kumar

Dan Smith is one of the most accomplished American poker players of the modern high-stakes era. Known online as “dansmithholla” and “Danny98765,” Smith has built his reputation through relentless dominance in super high roller tournaments, deep cashes on every major international circuit, and one of the most active philanthropic platforms in professional poker.

The New Jersey-born professional has spent over a decade competing against the toughest fields in the world, from the EPT in Europe to the Triton Super High Roller Series in Asia and the PokerGO Tour studios in Las Vegas. Smith is widely regarded as one of the best tournament poker players never to be considered a “celebrity” pro,  a quiet crusher whose results speak louder than his media presence.

As of June 2026, Smith has banked more than $61 million in live tournament earnings, placing him 7th on the all-time live money list and 5th among all American players. He owns one WSOP bracelet, one World Poker Tour title, eight European Poker Tour victories, a Triton Super High Roller Series Invitational, and has held the world’s number one ranking on the Global Poker Index.

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Real-Time Stats (Updated June 23, 2026)

Dan Smith — Quick Facts

Dan Smith , Early Life & Path to Poker

Before becoming a high-stakes regular, Dan Smith was actually a serious chess prodigy. He started competing in tournaments from the age of six, and his talent was strong enough that he earned a chess scholarship to the University of Maryland.

Smith started playing online poker at just 16 years old, well under the legal US gambling age. He honed his skills through small-stakes online play, reportedly making around $30,000 in a two-month run during his junior year of high school. A heavy downswing late in school caused his parents to make him step away, and he briefly returned to chess at university.

A series of personal events, including the passing of his father, led him to drop out of college. After transferring schools and reconnecting with poker-playing friends, Smith fully committed to the game in 2007 and turned professional at just 18.

His first major online victory came that same year at the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event for $203,193, the result that confirmed poker was going to be his career.

How Dan Smith’s Pro Career Took Off

Smith’s first real live tournament victory came in 2008 at the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York, banking $101,960 from a 250-runner field. Earlier that same year he had logged his first live European cash at EPT Barcelona, finishing 7th in a €2,000 NLH for €21,300.

The breakthrough year was 2012,  one of the most explosive single seasons any modern poker player has produced.

Dan Smith’s 2012 Breakout Year

Three EPT €5,000 wins in five days at Monte Carlo remains one of the most remarkable streaks in tournament history. The full season earned Smith the 2012 Global Poker Index Player of the Year award, plus second place in both the Card Player and Bluff Magazine POY races.

Two years later, in September 2014, Smith reached the world’s #1 ranking on the Global Poker Index, the highest peak of his career.

Dan Smith’s WSOP Bracelet, Finally in 2022

For over a decade Smith carried the unwanted title of “best player without a WSOP bracelet.” He finally shed it in 2022.

The heads-up format suits Smith’s analytical chess background perfectly. The win was followed by genuine emotion at the rail, a moment recognized across the poker community as long overdue.

Beyond the bracelet, Smith has logged 17 WSOP final tables and over $12.5 million in WSOP earnings across 83 career cashes at the series.

His most painful near-misses at the WSOP include:

• 2016 Event #67: $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, finished 2nd to Fedor Holz for $3,078,974
• 2018 Event #78: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, finished 3rd for ~$4,000,000

These two One Drop deep runs are still among the largest individual paydays in WSOP history.

World Poker Tour (WPT) Success

Smith defeated Australian poker veteran Gary Benson in heads-up play to capture the Five Diamond title. His total WPT earnings now exceed $1.3 million across seven recorded cashes.

European Poker Tour (EPT) Dominance

With eight EPT titles, Smith is one of the most successful Americans ever on the European circuit. His EPT trophies include multiple Monte Carlo wins, multiple Berlin wins, and the Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller, making him a perennial threat at virtually every EPT stop he attends.

Triton Super High Roller Series

After years of consistent deep runs on the Triton circuit, Smith finally captured his first Triton title in November 2023:

The Monte Carlo Invitational drew a 58-player field with 15 re-entries and a $14.6 million prize pool. Smith outlasted high-roller titans Elton Tsang, Stephen Chidwick, Jason Koon, and Phil Ivey to claim his 10th seven-figure score.

Dan Smith’s Top 10 Career Cashes

The 2019 Triton Million for Charity in London remains the largest cash of his career. Smith finished third in a star-studded final featuring Bryn Kenney and Aaron Zang in a tournament that produced one of the largest first prizes in poker history.

2024–2026 Recent Activity

Smith has remained one of the most active high-stakes regulars over the past 18 months:

His 2024 U.S. Poker Open win was the 5th PokerGO Tour title of his career, adding to a steady stream of mid-six-figure cashes on the ARIA-based circuit.

Where Dan Smith Has Played

Unlike many WSOP-focused American pros, Smith built his career on a relentless travel schedule. Major series he has competed in regularly include:

• World Series of Poker (WSOP) — Las Vegas (Horseshoe & Paris)
• WSOP Europe — Rozvadov, Prague
• European Poker Tour (EPT) — Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Berlin, Prague, London
• PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) — Nassau, Bahamas
• Aussie Millions — Crown Casino, Melbourne
• Triton Super High Roller Series — Jeju, Monte Carlo, Cyprus, Madrid, London, Vietnam
• Super High Roller Bowl — Las Vegas, Bahamas
• PokerGO Tour — ARIA Resort, Las Vegas
• U.S. Poker Open — ARIA Resort, Las Vegas
• WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic — Bellagio, Las Vegas
• Poker Masters — ARIA, Las Vegas
• Partouche Poker Tour — Cannes, France
• Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) — multiple US stops
• Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) — Hollywood, Florida

Players Dan Smith Has Faced

Smith has battled the entire upper tier of modern high-stakes poker. Notable opponents he has shared final tables, heads-up matches, or major pots with include:

• Bryn Kenney — the all-time money list leader; faced at multiple Triton final tables including the 2019 Triton Million
• Stephen Chidwick — frequent Triton and PokerGO Tour rival
• Jason Koon — Triton stalwart and high-stakes specialist
• Phil Ivey — multiple deep runs together at Triton and Super High Roller Bowl events
• Aaron Zang — co-final-tabled the 2019 Triton Million for Charity
• Fedor Holz — defeated Smith heads-up at the 2016 One Drop High Roller
• Phil Hellmuth — 17-time bracelet winner and frequent WSOP and PokerGO opponent
• Daniel Negreanu — long-time PokerGO Tour and WSOP competitor
• Jesse Lonis — recent PokerGO Tour and Triton rival
• Justin Bonomo — frequent super high roller competitor
• Adrian Mateos — high roller specialist and 6-time WSOP bracelet winner
• Paul Phua — Triton co-founder and high-stakes regular
• Elton Tsang — Triton crusher Smith defeated at the 2023 Monte Carlo Invitational
• Gary Benson — defeated heads-up at the 2013 WPT Five Diamond
• David Stamm, Andrew Lichtenberger, Eric Wasserson — among his deepest US Poker Open rivals
• Theis Vad Hennebjerre — the Danish businessman whose invitation sent Smith to the 2023 Triton Monte Carlo Invitational

Dan Smith Poker Style & Strategy

Chess-Influenced Tournament Strategy

Smith’s chess background shapes everything about how he plays. He treats every spot as a problem with multiple solutions, weighting ranges, position, and ICM pressure with the kind of structural thinking most pros reserve for end-of-tournament play.

High Roller Specialization

Smith has built a career out of being one of the few tournament pros who genuinely thrives in $25,000 – $250,000 buy-in events. Where most players burn out or go broke in these fields, Smith has remained profitable for over a decade, thanks largely to disciplined bankroll management and selective scheduling.

Heads-Up Excellence

The 2022 WSOP $25K Heads-Up Championship win highlighted Smith’s natural fit for one-on-one play. His ability to range opponents narrowly and balance his own betting is rooted in his chess training and online heads-up volume.

Smart Staking and Action Sharing

Smith is known for being one of the most active stakers and action-sharers in professional poker. In a single 2014 WSOP summer, he reportedly cut more than 200 deals — buying pieces of players or staking entire buy-ins outright. The approach flattens variance while keeping him invested in dozens of fields simultaneously.

Coaching with Team Leggo

Smith is also a coaching partner with Team Leggo, applying his math and chess background to tournament strategy education for other pros and recreational players.

Online Poker Career

Smith has been a regular at online poker tables under the screen name “Danny98765” on PokerStars and continues to play on multiple sites today. Confirmed online earnings sit at over $3 million across 770+ cashes. His first major online breakthrough was the 2007 Full Tilt FTOPS Main Event win for $203,193, the result that turned him fully professional.

Double Up Drive, The Charity Side of Dan Smith

In 2014, Smith founded Double Up Drive, an end-of-year charity matching campaign that has become one of the largest philanthropic platforms in poker.

Key facts about Double Up Drive:

• $24.7 million+ raised for evidence-based charities to date
• Donors pledge funds that are matched dollar-for-dollar by a team of high-stakes professionals led by Smith
• Beneficiaries include The Life You Can Save, GiveWell top-rated charities, and The Humane League
• The model has been credited with bringing serious effective altruism into the heart of the poker community

Smith’s first charity drive in 2013 was a personal $25,000 contribution to the Humane League that grew to $125,000 through matching,  the proof of concept that became Double Up Drive a year later. During the 2020 pandemic, he expanded the campaign with a dedicated COVID-19 charity drive in partnership with Run It Once.

Personal Life & Lifestyle

• Hometown: Manalapan Township, New Jersey
• Currently lives in: Las Vegas, Nevada
• Background: Former competitive chess player with a scholarship to the University of Maryland
• Sports: Diehard New York Yankees fan
• Interests outside poker: Effective altruism, daily fantasy sports, chess, and travel
• Coaching: Member of Team Leggo (poker coaching collective)
• Notable bets: Has famously made high-stakes prop bets, including a now-legendary DFS wager against Blake “Empiremaker2” Stevenson that involved his Las Vegas condo

Smith is known for keeping his private life out of the spotlight. He doesn’t carry the celebrity-pro media schedule of some of his peers, preferring to let his Hendon Mob page do the talking.

Dan Smith Net Worth (2026)

Based on confirmed live earnings, online winnings, staking returns, real estate, and investments,  minus his substantial annual charity donations,  Dan Smith’s estimated net worth in 2026 is in the range of:

$45 Million – $55 Million

Main income sources include:

• Live tournament winnings ($61M+ gross)
• Online poker earnings ($3M+ confirmed)
• Backing and action-sharing returns
• PokerGO Tour high roller cashes
• Real estate holdings in Las Vegas
• Private investments
• Poker coaching with Team Leggo

Smith donates a substantial percentage of his earnings through Double Up Drive each year, which keeps his net worth below his gross winnings.

Dan Smith Social Media

X (Twitter):@DanSmithHolla

Instagram:@kingdan23

Personal Website:dansmithholla.com

Why Dan Smith Is One of the Best Modern High-Stakes Players

Dan Smith’s poker legacy is built on several pillars:

• #7 on the all-time live earnings list, with $61M+ in confirmed winnings
• Longevity at the highest stakes, over a decade as a profitable super high roller regular
• Eight EPT titles,  among the most ever by any American player
• A Triton Invitational title worth $3.87 million
• A WSOP bracelet in one of the toughest formats (heads-up)
• A chess player’s discipline applied to poker math and game theory
• Pioneering charity work through Double Up Drive ($24.7M+ raised)
• Held the world’s #1 ranking on the Global Poker Index in September 2014
• Global tournament reach across WSOP, EPT, Triton, Aussie Millions, PCA, WPT, PokerGO Tour, and more

He’s never been the loudest player in the room, but few have produced a result sheet of comparable depth and consistency.

Final Thoughts

Dan Smith represents the modern era of high-stakes poker,  quiet, analytical, globally mobile, and increasingly philanthropic. From a teenage online grinder to 7th on the all-time live tournament money list, his journey reflects the value of patience, study, and disciplined bankroll management at the very top of the game.

Even in 2026, Smith continues to add to his trophy case across the PokerGO Tour, Triton Super High Roller Series, and major bracelet events, with a $345,000 cash already on the books in May. With the 2026 WSOP Main Event approaching and the Triton calendar still loaded with stops in Madrid, London, and Jeju, the next big Dan Smith score is likely just around the corner.

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