Titan Dann the Man!

The excellent G Casino, at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, recently held the Titan Poker Championship, where approximately 300 runners entered over 3 Day 1’s , with 93 players coming back for the Final Day, all chasing a share of the £18,000 cash prize pot, with nearly £6,000 going to the player who eventually prevailed.

In what was a superb and keenly fought contest, it was Gloucestershire €™s Dann Williams who outlasted the field and scooped the winners cash. The Pokeriety caught up with Dann and got an exclusive interview with the Champ about himself and his poker exploits.

TP : Congratulations on winning the event Dann €“ give us an insight into how your event played out that lead to you winning the tournament

DW : Day 1 was super ABC, no real premium hands to mention just chipped up - I ended the Day with 108k, with the blinds starting at 1k/2k/200 on day 2, which was over average, Day 1s in which your tournament life is never at risk is always a nice day!

TP : For sure €“ and from a starting stack of 20k, that ‘s good work. So what about Day 2?

DW : My table draw was kind in 2 ways. Firstly I felt there was only 1 other strong player on my table, and secondly the table was not going to be broken all day. This meant i had lots of time to pick up tells, both physical and bet sizing wise, and could create an image to help me abuse later on in the tournament, which I believe is highly important.

I tried to concentrate on playing hands against the middle sized stacks all day, allowing me to apply enough pressure to chip up undetected. Lots of players were making the pots big, and effective stack sizes shallower, so I tried to make sure the pots I played were on my terms, to utilise my chip stack effectively. I went from 108k to 250k pretty quietly, and then got AK v 66 AIPF to get to 500k when the average was around 150k. From that point i was able to find the right spots to apply max pressure to win chips quite easily.

I then find KK when another chippy 4 bets all in with A5, my Dukes (for once!) hold and suddenly I have 1.3m of the 8m chips in play,  just as the bubble bursts. I then played uber aggressive without ever getting to showdown and increased this to 2.5m as we reached the 10 handed Final Table

TP : Sounds like a dream of a run to the FT. Did you ever have any worries there?

DW : Not really! The Final Table seat draw was kind to me, as i was on the direct left of the 2nd chip leader (playing.1.1m) and i was able to just apply lots of pressure to the medium stacks when in position. I opened 50% of hands, and 3b opens from the next 2 biggest stacks 100% of the time when i had position. They were clearly unwilling to play back at me, as the pay jumps were so huge. ( £300 for 10th and £5.6k for 1st)

TP : Clearly you were playing with confidence and rightly so! Any mention or talk of a deal?

DW : Yes €“ when we were 4-handed and I was sat with 6.7m of the 8m chips in play, I suggested a chop with myself taking the winners cash and the remaining chopped up. But one player declined so we continued and within one orbit of the 4 we lost 2 more players, with me busting them both.

TP : It would have been a rude one to lose from there!

DW : Errrr yes, 7.4m against 600k with the blinds at 60k/120k , surely even I couldn’t lose this one! Actually I lost the first two all in situations and the olds demons started to enter my head; but I get a bit of form when my A9s outflops AQ and I’ve won it all!

TP : Fantastic stuff Dann. Had this been your biggest bink to date?

DW : Id won ‚¬6k online years ago in a Ladbrokes event, but live tournaments have been a whole different story. So many hard luck stories - the last 18 months has been hard mentally. 26th/5000+ in the DTD Grand Prix, with £50k up top, 6th at the APAT Masters at Wembley, with £4k up top and the whole APAT WCOAP festival at Aspers, Stratford in April also saw me run really deep in roughly 8 events, only to not make a single cash. With all that, and the addition of the costs for hotels, travel etc you can sometimes think if it’s worth pursuing as a primarily recreational player. Ive been referred to as the “Poster Boy of Perseverance” and that sums it up perfectly. So its good for one to really pay off and I draw a lot of confidence from this.

TP : That’s a great point. So where will this cash take you now in terms of playing live?

DW : Well maybe Vegas, if i decide to treat myself. If not, probably the APAT Welsh Championship, although its being held in Bristol! Its my local casino, and the APAT tour offers a great game and structure for £75. I have no real visions of grandeur, now that i have won some money, and i will continue to pick my games wisely. I may play GUKPT Cardiff as they have halved the buyin to £550 and kept the 100k guarantee I believe. But even if i play that, id likely sell a chunk of myself as im not going to be throwing this money around too much.

TP : Thanks Dann, we wish you every success for the future - finally its time for your profile and our own 60-second quiz for people to get to know you a little better!

DANN WILLIAMS - PLAYER PROFILE

Age : 30

Location : Gloucestershire

Online Nicknames : s4ooter, URFugly and LilMissSpewitt

Poker Group/Forum of Choice : Team Gotham €“ a group of other poker degens who travel and play events together all with nicknames around Batman €“ im €˜The Joker €™!

Favourite Sports Teams : Manchester United, Miami Dolphins (NFL), Orlando Magic (NBA)

Musical Taste : Varied €“ anything from Guns n Roses to Everlast to Blues

Favourite Food : Spaghetti Carbonara

Poker Hero : Chris Webber (Team Gotham member)

Twitter Handle : @s4ooter - also do podcasts via In The Muck Poker (@ITMPokerPodcast).

THE POKERIETY 60 SECOND QUIZ

Dogs or Cats? Dogs

Coca Cola or Pepsi? Coca Cola

Fall in love knowing youll eventually get hurt or never fall in love at all? Fall in love

Out First hand or Bubble Boy? First hand - At least it gives me time to find another game……

Easier to be freezing cold and keep warm or boiling hot and cool down? Cold and Keep Warm

Would you rather appear in Big Brother or go in the Celebrity Jungle? Jungle (altho did apply for BB years ago)

Put your tournament life on the line with AK or 88? Dont care, as long as my chips are the first over the line

You hold a private 6 seat game. Who do you invite to fill the other 5 seats?

Joe Rogan (UFC Commentator), Zoey Deschanel (Actress), Bret Hart (Wrestler), Joey Co-Co Diaz (Actor) and Slash (Guns and Roses guitarist)