David Williams

David Williams is a professional poker player who made his first live-event cash in 2004. In the first 8 years of his career, David cashed 67 times, made 36 final tables, won 7 events, earned a WSOP Circuit ring, won a gold bracelet, won a WPT title, and earned over $8.2 million. During that time he was also a successful online poker player.

David was born on June 9, 1980, in Arlington, Texas. He grew up mastering Magic: The Gathering in high school, and quickly became a skilled player. Traveling the championship Magic circuit in the late 1990s, he made the Top 8 of Grand Prix events in cities such as San Diego, Cannes, Moscow, and Cleveland, and won Team Events in Yokohama and Taipei in 2001, eventually earning over $30,000.

In spite of the hours spent playing Magic, David excelled at school and was an honor student who scored a 4.0 GPA and a 1550 SAT score. He continued his education at Princeton University, where he started playing poker in home games. Soon he was playing poker to fund his education, and changing colleges to study economics and business at Southern Methodist University. After consistently winning in live cash games, David decided to embark on a poker career in 2002. During that time he was also showing success online. Playing online as “RugDoctor” and later as “dwilliams” on PokerStars, David had several impressive scores including winning a WCOOP event in 2009 to earn $107,800.

He made his first live-event cash at the 2004 WSOP, when he finished runner-up to Greg Raymer in the Main Event to earn $3.5 million. To finish the year, David was runner-up for $573,800 in the WPT $10,000 NLHE at the 2004 Borgata Poker Open, and won the $1,500 LHE at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic to earn $121,057.

In 2005, David cashed in 13 events, starting with a 25th place finish in the $7,800 WPT Main Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) to earn $17,300. He also cashed at the WSOP Circuit Atlantic City, cashed in the Main Event at the Five Star World Poker Classic, cashed at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s New Orleans Bayou Poker Challenge, and made the money at the WSOP. He also cashed at the Bellagio Festa Al Lago, and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Although David hadn’t had any big cashes in 2005, he made up for it in 2006. His first cash that year was at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars, when he finished 4th in the WPT Main Event to earn $280,000. After cashing at the Five Star World Poker Classic, he won the $5,000 HOSE for $91,250 at the WSOP Circuit Caesars Las Vegas, finished 4th for $221,958 in the WPT Main Event at the Mirage Poker Showdown, and was runner-up in the NLHE at the Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker Tournament to earn $50,000.

At the 2006 WSOP, David cashed 3 times, which included winning his first bracelet and $163,118 in the $1,500 Stud, and finishing runner-up in the $5,000 NL Deuce-to-Seven for $256,091. His other pair of cashes that year were both at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.