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Forsiden >> Pokerartikler og pokernyheder >> Pokerartikler >> David Williams wins his first WSOP Gold Bracelet
David Williams wins his first WSOP
Gold Bracelet
2004 main event runner-up earns well-deserved top prize in
Seven-Card Stud championship.
Las Vegas, NV - Aside from the multi-million dollar financial boon of a second-
place finish in the championship event at the World Series of Poker, the
runner-up position may very well be poker's most frustrating end-result.
Just
imagine - day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year- suffering through the torment of poker flashbacks. If I would have played
that hand this way, or done something different, maybe I would have been the
world champion. Instead, the name of the WSOP runner-up often becomes
lost. Years later, it is little more than the answer to a trivia question rather
than a revered figure inside the poker world. Just ask Julian Gardner, Alan
Goehring, Kevin McBride, Dr. Bruce Van Horn and several other top-quality
poker players how many celebrity contracts they have signed lately. All of
these would-be champions were just one big hand away from poker
immortality.
David Williams finished second in the main event at the 2004 World Series of
Poker at a time when the popularity of poker was soaring. Like Sammy Farha
before him and Steve Dannenmann the following year, Williams became
something of a cult figure in poker circles following his countless appearances
on ESPN's multitude of poker broadcasts. Williams' natural charisma made
him the perfect pitchman to a new, hipper, more energetic generation than
the one previous. And although Williams has made the most of his fame, the
one thing that had still eluded the 26-year-old poker pro, thus far, was
winning a WSOP gold bracelet.
Recognizing that all glory is fleeting, on July 7, 2006, David Williams erased
two years of uncertainty and conjecture by winning his first-ever WSOP title.
To everyone's surprise, Williams won his poker prize in a game for which he is
not particularly known - seven-card stud.
"I play a lot of the mixed games against some very good players," Williams
later explained. "I play with Chau Giang, David Singer, Mike Wattel, and top
players who really know the game. I picked up on some of the things they
do, and that really helped me. I also talked to (noted sports handicapper)
Alan Boston who is a very solid stud player and got some very good advice
from him."
Whatever the stud specialists shared with Williams must have worked. Williams topped a field of 474 players in the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud
championship and won $163,118 for first place. With all due respect to the
other competitors, Williams' victory almost looked too easy.
On the scale of tough final tables, this one was certainly high up on the list.
Three of the eight finalists were former gold bracelet winners - including
Johnny Chan (with 10 wins), Miami John (with three wins), and Jack Duncan
(with one). David Williams arrived as the chip leader.
Matt Hawrilenko, from Philadelphia, arrived as one of the shortest stacks. He
lasted 45-minutes before finally losing his remaining chips on a draw with big
cards, which missed completely. Hawrilenko, who finished fifth in last year's
$3,000 buy-in limit hold'em championship, took eighth place this time -
earning $16,312.
It's not often that ten-time gold bracelet winner Johnny Chan is short stacked
at a poker table. But he arrived with little ammunition on this night. Low on
chips throughout, Chan was eliminated when he lost with a pair of sixes to"Miami John" Cernuto's trip nines. Those in the packed gallery expecting to
see yet another night of history being made at this year's WSOP in what
would have been Chan's record-breaking 11th gold bracelet left
disappointed, along with Chan. The 1987 and 1988 world poker champion
collected $22,836.
Ivan A. Schertzer went out next. The attorney from Florida went out losing to
David Williams' three kings. The final verdict was seventh place - and a
settlement for $29,361.
Another famous name went out when longtime poker pro "Miami John" Cernuto went bust. Three-time WSOP event winner Cernuto (one of the
world's best Omaha high-low tournament players) was bidding for win
number four, but instead was bounced off the final table when his pair was
topped by a set. The former air-traffic controller landed safely in fifth place,
good for $35,886.
Mitchell Ledis, from Las Vegas, was the next player to go out. On his last
hand, he started off with buried kings, which failed to improve. His
adversary, David Williams made three sevens and that ended the night for
Ledis. The real estate investor closed the deal for $45,673.
Jack Duncan was well on his way to becoming one of this year's most compelling human interest stories. The 78-year-old casino owner from Washington State who used to play poker regularly with the late casino
pioneer Benny Binion back in the 1950s showed that he can still play with the
best by finishing in third place. Duncan, the winner of a gold bracelet in
2002, hoped to become the second-oldest WSOP event winner (to Paul
McKinney who won last year) by taking the top prize in this tournament.
Instead, Duncan lost when his pair of queens was cracked by John Hoang's
pair of aces. Third place paid $71,772.
John Q. Hoang battled valiantly for more than three hours before finally
succumbing to defeat. The 39-year-old former software engineer was
outchipped during the entire heads-up match, although Williams was
certainly put to an unwanted test of endurance. Williams won the final hand
with a rather unimpressive (6s-4s) Ks-3h-4c-Jd (8h) versus Hoang's (Ad-8s)
4c-5s-9d-3c (10s). A lonely pair of fours is normally not very worthwhile in
seven-card stud, but in Williams case - it was worth $163,118, and a lot
more in terms of significance. Hoang, who won also won major tournament
in Tunica, MS in the past, collected $110,920 for second place.
Williams' win seemed so right. Prior to finishing second to Greg "Fossilman"
Raymer in the 2004 world championship, Williams attended Southern
Methodist University in Dallas. He first acquired knowledge of game theory
by playing the card game called "Magic." The $3.5 million cash prize for
second place certainly changed Williams' life. He moved to Las Vegas, turned
pro, and accepted big-money endorsement deals. But no amount prize
money buys peer respect and self-assurance. When the WSOP coveted gold
bracelet was strapped to Williams' wrist inside the Rio poker arena, the latest
poker champion displayed great appreciation for the significance of the
victory.
"It's really all I have thought about or cared about," Williams said following
his greatest personal triumph. "I wanted it so bad that I changed my daily
activities to put myself in a much better position to win. Now, I am so happy
I feel like crying. I'm fighting back the tears right now. It's the best I've ever
felt in my life."
by Nolan Dalla
Provided by UltimatePokerForum.com
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