The Gulf Coast Poker community is mourning the unexpected passing on Saturday of Mark Davis, a skilled pro with an impressive tournament resume.
Davis, 46, was a poker champion with over $2.3 million in live tournament cashes recorded by The Hendon Mob. He had big wins in major World Poker Tour (WPT) and WSOP Circuit events over the past few years. The late Alabama poker star was a mainstay and a familiar face in popular card rooms such as Choctaw (Oklahoma) and Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina).
A Poker Champion Gone Too Soon
Davis was a three-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, which included a $334,678 score for taking down the WSOPC Cherokee Main Event in 2022, beating out 1,402 entries. He was most known for winning the $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown that same year for a career-best $1,000,000.
That victory received a great amount of attention around poker circlues because he denied Darren Elias a record-extending fifth WPT title during heads-up play. Davis, upon reaching the final table, called upon high-stakes crusher Chance Kornuth, founder of Chip Leader Coaching, for some guidance as he chased a life-changing score.
“As far as a poker coach, my style mimics his style without even knowing anything about him or me,” Davis said at the time. “So it’s just a perfect marriage. I know exactly what he’s talking about when he’s telling me some things to do and he’s talking in his own little lingo, and I know exactly what he means, I know exactly where he’s coming from.”
Kornuth’s coaching turned Davis into a World Poker Tour champion. And after the victory, Kornuth was there to celebrate the seven-figure score with his student.
Davis last cashed in a tournament just over a week ago when he took 68th place for $652 in the $400 No-Limit Hold’em Mini Main Event at the Gulf Coast Poker Mid-South Mini-Series in Tunica, Mississippi.
Michael Graydon, a fellow Alabama poker player who was in Las Vegas to celebrate the WPT title with Davis, shared a memory of his longtime friend on Facebook, saying the two grew up playing poker together in an old limo shop. Graydon wrote that his late friend “was fierce at the tables but had a huge heart and was there for people when they needed him.”
PokerNews learned that Davis has suffered a stroke and was airlifted to the hospital where he suffered additional strokes. He was a respected and beloved member of the poker community.
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