[OLD HEAD]

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Event #10 - Recap
provided by - Nolan Dalla - WSOP Media Director
Event #10
Seven-Card Stud
Buy-In: $1,500
Number of Entries: 478
Total Prize Money: $652,470
Defending Champion (2005): Cliff Josephy

Victory at Last!

David Williams Wins His First WSOP Gold Bracelet

2004 main event runner-up earns well-deserved top prize in Seven-Card Stud championship

View Final Results

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.

Name Chip Count Seat #
"Miami" John Cernuto $86,000 1
Jack Duncan $106,000 2
Mitchell Ledis $42,500 3
David Williams $142,000 4
Matt Hawrilenko $32,000 5
Ivan Schertzer $118,500 6
Johnny Chan $26,500 7
John Q. Hoang $169,000 8


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 2005 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.”