David Williams

David Anthony Williams (born June 9, 1980) is a professional poker player and popular Magic: The Gathering player who also competed on Season 7 of the popular FOX cooking show MasterChef, where he finished as co-runner-up.

Williams was born in Arlington, Texas.

At 16, he attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a two-year early college entrance program at the University of North Texas.

Later, he briefly attended Princeton University before switching to study economics at Southern Methodist University.

Williams currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Williams has one daughter, Liliana.

His initial foray into Magic's Pro Tour came in the late 1990s.

He made the Top 8 of eight Grand Prix events in cities such as San Diego, Cannes, Moscow, and Cleveland with Team Event wins in Yokohama and Taipei in 2001.

He also made the top 8 of the first Pro Tour in Japan, finishing 7th at PT Tokyo 2001.

He had already won over $30,000 playing Magic when he made the Top 8 of the 2001 World Championships in Toronto.

However, he was disqualified without prize for marked cards because three of his four Accumulated Knowledge cards were bent more than the other cards in his deck, making them easier to cut to when Williams cut his own deck after his opponent shuffled it.

The tournament's judging staff determined that the bending was not accidental and that Williams had cheated based on two criteria:

Williams admitted that the cards were marked but disputed the determination that he cheated by marking them intentionally.

Williams was suspended by the DCI from sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments for one year.

During this suspension, Williams started to focus more on Texas hold 'em, especially on the Internet.

He made a successful comeback after his suspension was finished, and won money at several more Magic events, though his focus was mainly on poker.

Even though there is more money that can be made in professional poker than in professional Magic, Williams has said he will continue to play both games, although poker will take precedence.

Like many who play both, he has asserted that the two are for different purposes: he plays Magic to have fun, and poker to make money.

Williams's poker success was capped at the 2004 World Series of Poker.

He won his buy-in through an online poker site and made it to the final table of the Main Event, ultimately finishing second to Greg Raymer, but still winning $3.5 million for the runner-up prize.

Four months later, he finished second at the Borgata Open World Poker Tour, where he collected $573,800.

Following the 2004 World Series of Poker, David Williams became a member of Team Bodog.

Williams won his sole WSOP bracelet in 2006 in the $1,500 Seven-card stud event when his defeated John Hoang's.

His mother, Shirley Williams, often attends his poker events, and even competed in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, outlasting her son in the process.

In March 2006, Williams made a second WPT final table, finishing 4th for $280,000.

Two months later, he made another WPT final table, again finishing 4th.

In 2009, Williams, playing under the screen name "RugDoctor", defeated poker professional Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn to capture Event #42 ($2,100 8-Game) of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).

Williams also appeared on the game show King of Vegas, finishing in third place.

He now has his own blog that offers an inside look at his personal and professional life.

The webisodes air on the internet TV channel RawVegas.tv.

Williams is an accomplished Magic player.

As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,900,000.

$4,317,983 of his live winnings have come at the WSOP, and most of the rest has come from the WPT.

In 2010, he won the WPT World Championship, defeating Eric Baldwin in heads-up play and winning over $1.5 million.

Williams parted ways with Bodog after the 2010 WPT World Championship.

In June 2010, Williams joined Team PokerStars as a sponsored pro.

Williams competed as a contestant on the seventh season of the United States cooking competition MasterChef in 2016.

He was one of three contestants to make it into the finals, ultimately losing to Shaun O'Neale and finishing as co-runner-up with Brandi Mudd.

He had six total challenge wins during the season.