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Give Others a Chance to Make a Fatal Error

Looking for that Fatal Error by David Williams

In a huge event with a bunch of inexperienced players, being too aggressive can cost you money, says David Williams, 27, who's been playing tournaments and huge cash games in Vegas since his big payday three years ago.

Sometimes finesse can be the better part of valor.

"In a way, most everyone who isn't a big-name pro is a weak player. Most players who are at the WSOP are going to be weak. So you want to play a lot of pots with them, you don't want to push them out of pots too much. You want to give them a chance to make mistakes.

"You can raise a lot of hands and steal a lot of blinds and antes, but against weaker players if you don't raise so much or just call and see a lot of flops, you can give them a chance to make a mistake.

You can do it with any hand as long as you can figure out where you are in a hand and you can make big laydowns," David, who left his native Dallas after his first huge payday, says. "If you have skill at reading (most amateurs won't) and are experienced and you're against amateurs, you won't always get good hands, but you can give yourself a chance to win a big pot with someone who is inexperienced who may flop a big hand. Say you have 8-9 and K-8-8 flops. Someone who has ace-king just may get all his chips in the pot, where a professional would lay it down.

That's fine against amateurs, but how do you make headway against pros?

First of all, observe.

"I've been trying to change my game and been paying attention to what the successful players are doing and trying to adjust and seeing how they've been getting all those chips early."

And play.

"I'm playing as many tournaments as I can, especially the last few months, so I can get my game tweaked and figure out what I'm doing wrong."

And train.

"I'm getting ready for playing long stretches, because I'll be playing a lot of events, not just the Main Event. So I'm getting myself kind of in training."

And analyze.

"First off, a lot of players aren't as good as they think they are, and everyone isn't always playing their 'A' game. And everyone thinks they are better than they really are in their own mind. It's a lot easier to look outside than to look inside and see yourself. If I sit down and they are all playing their 'A' game, then I'll have some trouble, but if some of them are gambling a little too much or someone is not really focused, that's the person you target to play a pot with, and that's where you'll make your money."

How can you tell if someone is off? David says playing too many hands is a good tipoff.

And Williams says that playing aggressive and a little bit loose is working for him.

"I play a lot of pots and I raise a lot. I can mix it up. Sometimes I just totally slip a gear on them and play super tight, but no one notices it and they still think I'm the action guy and all of a sudden I'm getting a lot of action on my good hands, which is great. So I switch gears a lot."

A last word of warning: David says he is "100 times better" than he was three years ago when he finished second.