David Williams
Top Professional Poker Player
David Williams has been playing poker since 1997 and has already won an estimated $3.5 million.
David currently resides in Dallas, Texas where he attends Southern Methodist University. He decided on SMU after he was accepted into Princeton and Harvard and went to Princeton in 1998, but was so homesick he eventually went back to Texas. He has a 4.0 majoring in Economics with a minor in Math. When he completes his education, he plans on moving to Los Angeles "to enjoy the weather, poker and wonderful traffic". I asked him whether winning $3.5 million is going to have an impact on deciding his career path and whether it was going to include poker. He told me, "I am majoring in economics at SMU, but even before the money, I had no clue what career path I wanted to follow. I enjoy economics but have never wanted to have a typical 9-5 job. Now that I have the money it makes life easier and if I play my cards right I probably won't have to work ever. I do plan on working though, either by starting my own business or managing my investments. I definitely don't want to sit around and do nothing the rest of my life. I don't plan on making poker a career, it is something I love and I worry that if it becomes a career then I may not like it as much.
David has already achieved "celebrity status" as a player in Magic: the Gathering. I wasn't too familiar with the game but David told me, "Magic is a strategy card game that is played one on one in tournaments. It is sort of like Pokèmon for adults, although most of the tournament players are from 17-25. I began playing as a hobby in 8th grade and found out about the pro tour, which is a circuit of invite only tournaments held around the globe for prize money (nothing like poker money, but pretty good for a HS student). It has elements of chess and poker, but no game is like it. You have a deck of cards which all have a specific function which is explained on the cards, and you use them in combination to defeat your opponent. Like poker, there is luck in the game, which keeps it appealing for all. I have traveled to approximately 35 countries to play Magic, and was once one of the top players in the world." I mentioned his celebrity status as a Magic player and asked him if he was prepared for what ESPN's coverage of the World Series was going to bring. He said, "I can only be as prepared as much as I have experienced which is not much. Magic isn't that big, and I've only been recognized twice in my life in public for that. This is probably going to be much bigger. The only thing is I am a homebody and don't leave much except for school and poker, so I doubt it will affect me that much. I love the spotlight so I will try and take advantage of it as much as possible. I've always wanted to be famous. ;-)."