Capture the Flag - Jeff Williams

Jeff “yellowsub86” Williams has been a regular in the medium-stakes cash games on the Internet for years, ever since he won the 2006 European Poker Tour Grand Final at just 19 years of age.

Williams, who turned a $40 satellite entry into $1 million, achieved poker stardom with the win in Monte Carlo. However, despite his enormous amount of success early on, the levelheaded Williams stayed in school at the University of Georgia and invested his winnings, saying, “There is more to life than just cards.”

Since 2006, he has gone on to amass $2,572,155 in career tournament earnings, which includes two top-three finishes at the World Series of Poker, to go along with his hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-game winnings.

Card Player caught up with the 24-year-old poker pro to talk about where he is these days, as well as what kind of advice he has for beginning players in areas such as bankroll management, game selection, and pot-limit Omaha.

Brian Pempus: First off, how did you get started in poker? Describe your progression up in stakes over the course of your career.

Jeff Williams: I started playing poker when a lot of kids my age did — around the time of the [Chris] Moneymaker boom. My friends and I would watch the broadcasts and play penny-ante games with the change that we all had in our cars. I soon discovered online poker, first playing on PartyPoker, with no success, and then on PokerStars, where I first started to win. Before my first big tournament score, I played anywhere from 25¢-50¢ to $5-$10 no-limit hold’em, depending on my mood that day. After the EPT score, I settled into the stakes that I play today — anywhere between $3-$6 and $10-$20 no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha.

BP: Did your big win on the EPT in 2006 change your life? What effect did it have on the stakes that you played, bankroll decisions, and so on?

JW: Winning the EPT was an amazing experience, but I would not say that it changed my life. I was, and still am, very lucky to have my parents’ guidance when I won that money, as they kept me from blowing all it and played a part in my staying in school at the University of Georgia. I was a little more liberal with my bankroll, though, knowing that I could always deposit if I lost all of my money online. That gave me the freedom to take shots in bigger games.

BP: Can you talk about the current state of medium-stakes games online? How have the cash games changed since you first started playing? You have played primarily shorthanded pot-limit Omaha recently. Is this your preferred game at the moment?

JW: The medium-stakes games, from $1-$2 to $5-$10, have gotten significantly tougher over the past two years, ever since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [UIGEA] was passed. Since recreational players have found it harder and harder to deposit, there is much less money floating around for professionals to win. However, there are still great games online; it just takes patience to find them. The games also have gotten much bigger. When I first played on PokerStars, the biggest no-limit game that ran was $5-$10, and people were in awe of guys playing for $2,000 pots. Now, there are 30 of those games that run daily, and action can be found all the way up to $500-$1,000 no-limit hold’em online. Pot-limit Omaha is definitely my preferred game right now. I think that both recreational players and professionals prefer Omaha to hold’em, since it is considered less boring than no-limit hold’em. I felt my edge was bigger in the pot-limit Omaha cash games that ran on the Internet than in the no-limit hold’em games.

BP: So, do you think pot-limit Omaha is the game of the future?

JW: I think so. In my experience, people have more fun playing Omaha than no-limit hold’em, which makes it a no-brainer that its popularity would increase. Also, a lot of the high-stakes action these days is in Omaha, so people watch these games and want to play themselves.

BP: What does it take to be successful in the medium-stakes games online? What advice would you give beginning players who want to play pot-limit Omaha cash games? Can you provide some basic shorthanded cash-game strategy?

JW: To be successful at the medium stakes, one has to have an excellent grasp of fundamentals, solid bankroll management, and an understanding of table selection. To beginning players, I would say, hone your pot-limit Omaha skills by playing shorthanded or heads up. The fewer players there are in the game, the more decisions you will face, which can only help your skills. For shorthanded play, aggression wins. Being in the lead and betting multiple streets is a good place to start, since many pot-limit Omaha players will not call without very good hands, because they fear the nuts. Position is also crucial, as you should try to play your big pots when you are in position, and play very few hands from the small blind or the big blind in a six-handed game. There are also some excellent poker forums online, and a few good training sites that have informative videos to refine players’ skills.

BP: What are your personal views and rules regarding bankroll management? What specific advice would you give to up-and-coming players in this area?

JW: Bankroll management is an underrated skill, especially for professional players. Pot-limit Omaha has enormous variance — most say roughly twice the variance of no-limit hold’em — and therefore requires a large bankroll to support even medium-stakes play. For a professional who’s looking to live off his bankroll, 100 buy-ins for a given limit is probably sufficient, but he needs to be aware that this is the low end, and if he hits a downswing, he needs to be prepared to drop down in stakes.

BP: Can you talk more about game selection in online cash games? Why is it important at the medium stakes?

JW: Game selection is a more important skill as the stakes increase. At lower stakes, pretty much any table selected is going to yield a decent number of fish, but as the games get tougher, more and more professional players populate the tables. Having knowledge of the difference between a fish and a pro, as well as playing in the softer game, can be worth many thousands of dollars to your bottom line. As the stakes increase, fewer and fewer fish are going to be found, so at low stakes, game selection is going to be of low importance, while at medium stakes, it’s of medium importance, and at high stakes, it’s of high importance.

BP: How many hands would you estimate you’ve played in online cash games over the years? Can you describe the importance of putting in a high volume?

JW: The software I use says that I have played 911,740 cash-game hands, which is not all of the hands I’ve played, since some of my play has been on different computers. It also doesn’t include multitable tournament and sit-and-go play, which is probably another million or so. Playing a high volume is very important. A winning player can lose money over a surprisingly large sample of hands, due to bad luck and variance, but if he plays enough hands, he will win over the long run. The only way to ensure that enough hands are played is to play a ton of poker. It will also help your skill set as a player, because as more hands are seen, more decisions are made, and more is understood about the game.

BP: What advice would you give a beginning player who wants to put in a ton of hands in order to improve?

JW: Go for it! He should make sure to have good tracking software installed in order to tabulate results, invest in a comfortable chair, and get a mouse that feels right. Before starting to play a ton of hands, he should make sure that he understands the game well and is not making fundamental errors. It’s like golf; even if you play a ton of rounds, it does no good if the ball is always slicing.

BP: How was your 2010 in online cash games and tournaments? What are your goals for 2011? Is there any cash-game area in which you are currently trying to improve? Are you trying to learn other forms of poker?

JW: I had a great 2010 in both tournaments and cash games. The only place where I slacked was in volume, as I put in only 100,000 hands all year in my main game of heads-up pot-limit Omaha, and went to only a few tournament series. My main goal for 2011 is to play more, and hopefully it will show in my results. A few friends and I have been trying to study some of the other games, mainly deuce-to-seven triple draw, razz, and limit hold’em, with mixed success. Learning a new game takes a great deal of time and dedication, which cuts into the time spent playing the games in which you already are good.

BP: What hobbies or interests do you have outside of poker? What are your plans for the future?

JW: I am beginning to learn to enjoy wine-tasting. I also like to travel, hang out with my friends, and play video games. I plan on continuing to play poker for the immediate future. Longer term, I plan on treating poker as more of a hobby and getting into some sort of commodities-trading business. ♠