The "Second Place":

[Baulucky]

Nobody talks about this 23 yr old kid that was (the 3rd smallest?) one of the smaller stacks to begin the final table and finished 2nd, scored for life (if he doesn't squander it all), and made $3.5 M (beating Moneymaker's 2003 record). Well done David.

America loves a winner... (so much so that 2nd place doesn't count).

[PITTM]

seriously, im 21, and i dream of being that good, the last hand was a pretty rough one to not call on, full boat over full boat. yikes. way to do it for the young internet players david!

rj

[GWB]

Plus he was from Texas /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Actually 2 of the final 9 were from Texas. /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Jurollo]

I think america's loves that kid too but 2+2 loves fossilman too... Pittm, as a younger player as well this is one of my dreams... I get giddy about the $100K prize in a tourney I am in in june I can't even put into words what 3.5 million would be like, he played great.

[Baulucky]

Actually I can only remember 3 hands he played (with way the best of it every time, on the first one set against pair on flop being the one I clearly recall, etc). The rest of the time went unnoticed, always lurking, always moving ahead. For my taste/style, the best final table player of all. (Sorry Greg).

[Lazymeatball]

I hear Williams used to be a money winner on the Magic: The Gathering tournament trail.

[astroglide]

i believe he called all-in w/K9o against JJ, which flopped a set of jacks and lost to a running 4flush. that's how the action was described from the gutshot relay, but we can only know when we see it on tv. he certainly seemed to flop sets (which held up) at the perfect time.

[astroglide]

he was banned from professional play for 1 year because of cheating (marked cards). i don't expect there will be much positive support from the magic community, and i'm concerned about how this may shed light on poker players in general once the news inevitably makes its way to the major outlets.

[Lazymeatball]

wow, suspected cheating in MTG tourney's? That's hilarious, I realize there is big money on the line providng incentive for this, bust still funny to hear of Nerd cheating.

[Lori]

I can't give my take on my match against DW as he now has enough to sue me senseless, but I can show this (http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=1962) link.

Lori

[astroglide]

well, he was banned for it. they found the cards to be unquestionably marked, which is much further than "suspected" cheating.

[TimM]

Some friends and I used to play Mille Bornes for money. We reworked the rules for doubles teams and made it into a skill game. Every once in a while we would find the "Right of Way" card had been marked.

Of course, we'd play poker too. It was exhausting to play since there were certain players who would be trying to pull something on every hand. If they got caught, everyone would just laugh about it and go on to the next hand.