David Williams v Scott Fischman
2005 WPT Young Guns of Poker
David Williams: 5s-5h
Scott Fischman: Ah-Qc
Board: 8d-Qd-5d-Qh-Qs
Do you ever get the feeling that some days it’s just not going to be your day at the poker table?
You know the one – that familiar sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach that no matter how well you play, your well-calculated moves are doomed to failure followed by the sense of crushing inevitability when your worst nightmares eventually come true.
Certainly, David Williams is no stranger to emotions like these. The generally affable Bodog pro and former Magic: The Gathering enthusiast has carved out a nice little niche for himself in the poker world, raking in over $6 million in tournament winnings and a World Series of Poker bracelet to boot – but things didn’t always go so smoothly, especially on the World Poker Tour.
Back in 2004, Williams finished runner-up to Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer in the WSOP Main Event and, just four months later, he was again ruing what might have been after being fortuitously overturned in heads-up play by Daniel Negreanu during the WPT Borgata Poker Open.
However, after licking his wounds from those two near misses, Williams returned that December for another crack at his first major title by competing in the WPT Young Guns of Poker invitational. He was soon left wishing he hadn’t. After starting brightly, Williams soon found himself on life-support when a sick outdraw caused him to lose the majority of his chips to the aggressive Joe Cassidy. Having raised in the dark pre-flop, Williams couldn’t have been happier to look down and find Qs-3s after Cassidy led into him on a perfect 3d-4c-3c board. A raise inevitably followed, with Cassidy moving all-in and Williams calling in a flash, confidently tabling his trip threes.
Cassidy somewhat sheepishly turned up Ad-5c for nothing but the wheel draw, but a sickening 2d fell on the turn to complete his straight and a blank Jd river meant that Williams was left with barely enough chips to survive another rotation of the table. Nevertheless, the Texan maintained his composure and, after quadrupling up with pocket queens, Williams somehow managed to drag his way back into the game.
Stealing a few more pots as his resurgence continued, all the momentum seemed to be with Williams, and when he picked up 5s-5h with the blinds at 8,000/16,000 and 89,000 remaining in chips, he rightfully pushed his luck one more time by moving all-in. Finding one opponent in Scott Fischman, who himself moved all-in with Ah-Qc, Williams was left contesting a coin-flip that would put him right back in contention.
Certainly, there could have been few better flops for Williams than the 8d-Qd-5d that arrived, with neither player holding a diamond and Williams’ set of fives a commanding 92% favourite to win the pot. As we know, however, poker is never that simple, and when a Qh fell on the turn, the sense of impending doom that crept over Williams was palpable as he gritted his teeth and braced himself for the river.
Incredibly, the fifth street brought with it the case Qs and Williams’ full house was brutally rivered by Fischman’s quad queens in the most unfortunate of runner-runner suck-outs. With that, Williams hard-fought comeback was finally over and, for all his enterprise, he ultimately departed in sixth place from a table of six. Sometimes you really have to wonder why anyone bothers with this poker business... |
