WSOP Bracelet Winner Pleads Guilty to Brutally Beating His Wife While Impaired
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Rudy Gavaldon, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, has pleaded guilty to brutally assaulting his wife while on hallucinogens in 2022.
The Michigan poker player was initially charged with assault with intent to commit murder nearly three years ago. Gavaldon, while awaiting trial, went on to win his first and still only WSOP bracelet in July 2023 on WSOP.com (now WSOP Online).
Bracelet Winner Awaiting Trial for Attempted Murder Violates Bond; Trial Date Set
Poker Champ Admits to Horrific Act
Gavaldon, 38 years old from Traverse City, Michigan, had been scheduled for trial in January. The date was pushed back to April 22, but he agreed to a guilty plea for assault with intent to commit murder on March 21, a felony punishable up to life in prison. Sentencing details of the plea agreement weren’t publicly available.
The second charge, habitual offender, was dropped as part of the plea agreement. Gavaldon spent time in jail following a 2011 conviction for third-degree home invasion and larceny.
Gavaldon's most recent crime involved a violent attack on his now ex-wife, Lara Gavaldon. According to the police report, Gavaldon told officers upon their arrival at the crime scene at 12:05 a.m. on July 30, 2022, that his wife was dying and needed medical attention.
Authorities spotted Galvadon walking in the roadway while carrying his child. His 28-year-old wife was discovered in their home and transported to a nearby hospital, and eventually med flighted downstate to Grand Rapids Hospital, with life-threatening injuries while he was taken into custody.
Victim Speaks
Lara Gavaldon has 24,000 Instagram followers, and she uses the social media platform to share information about her recovery. She also recorded a three-part video in which she explained the graphic details about the violent crime her ex-husband admitted to committing.
"I lost my right eye after being attacked by my ex-husband, Rudy, in July of 2022," Ms. Gavaldon said. "At that point, we had been together for over 10 years, and married for over nine."
Gavaldon's injuries were so severe that her right eye is now a prosthetic eye. She explained in the first video that her now ex-husband had dealt with drug addiction but didn't have a violent past.
"After some time, he woke me up in a panic and frantically told me that he'd taken a large amount of magic mushrooms, and that he was dying," the domestic assault victim said, referring to the day of the incident. "He told me that I needed to call 911 for help. His behavior did catch me off guard. Usually, he was calm and collected, and he was in a state of panic."
Ms. Gavaldon then said her panicked husband asked her to call 911 for emergency, which she did. But the 911 operator told her there were no medics available. She then, as she explained in one of three Instagram videos, attempted to comfort her husband, but had to give him the bad news that help wasn't on the way.
"And that is the last thing that I remember," Lara Gavaldon said.
She then said she blacked out following the attack, and the next thing she recalled was waking up in a hospital "a few hours from our home."
"It took several days of being there before I could even begin to comprehend what had happened," she said about her lengthy hospital stay.
The poker player's ex-spouse shared images of cuts on her face and both eyes swollen shut. She said she initially couldn't see out of either eye, but vision gradually returned to her left eye. But doctors informed her that vision in her right eye would never return.
Rudy Gavaldon, 11 months after attacking his wife, won Michigan WSOP Online Event #3: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo 6-Max for $20,193. He finished 10th in a separate WSOP Online event that same month, and finished third in a $215 buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) tournament six days before he won a bracelet. He is scheduled for sentencing June 6.
If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-790-SAFE (7233) immediately for help.
