Kevin Vandersmissen

A former construction worker from Belgium, Kevin began doing a different kind of building back in 2009 – on a poker bankroll. Vandersmissen actually became interested in the game in 2006 after seeing the dynamic action of Casino Royale, but it was only a few years on that he decided to have a crack at it full-time. He quickly became known as one of the best tournament players to ever come out of his country, ranking in the top 0.1% of tournament earners according to Official Poker Rankings in 2010 – just one year into his new career path. Playing as the screenname ‘Civell’ on Pokerstars, the Belgian talent racked up over $2,500,000 in online MTT earnings at this site alone between 2010 and 2015.

Vandermissen’s biggest online victory came in 2015 after he won the largest weekly tournament going – the Sunday Million. Getting through a field of more than 5,500 players, Kevin picked up $172,918 for the victory, yielding a return on investment of more than 80,000%!

Being based in Europe during this period, Civell also made regular appearances on the live poker circuit. Alongside his online poker achievements, Kevin bagged over $1,600,000 in just 28 live tournament cashes. He is best known for shipping the €3,500 No Limit Hold’em Main Event at the PaddyPower Irish Open in Dublin for $553,316 – his biggest ever poker win. He has multiple other six-figure scores in the live arena. One of these was as a result of his runner-up finish at the EPT Main Event in Hinterglemm, where Vandersmissen earned $368,601 for the deep run. In 2010, he won the Full Tilt Poker Main Event in Barcelona after getting past a tough final table that included German tournament crusher Dominik Nitsche.

A former coach for the Phil Ivey’s training site, Kevin retired from poker in 2015 and is now focusing on a couple of start-ups he’s established in Mexico where he lives with his wife. He still enjoys playing the game casually and occasionally streams his online forays to his audience on Twitch. He recently entertained viewers with a bankroll challenge where he had a shot at turning $100 into $10,000 to inspire future grinders out there.