William Chen
2006 World Poker Tour Champion
William Chen is making a splash at the current 37th World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas. Barely three weeks into the tournament Chen already grabbed two (2) WSOP gold bracelets.
First he beat out 414 other players in the Limit Texas Hold'em event (Event #7) to take home $343,618 in cash and the WSOP bracelet. Then repeated the feat at the No-Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table event cashing in $442,511 and, of course, his second bracelet for the 2006 WSOP.
Chen has a Ph.D. in math from Berkley, thus, he never fails of putting his background in math to use and making intelligent play after intelligent play.
This math genius currently holds the No. 3 ranking for Player of the Year (POY) and has so far collected total winnings of $838,599. A highly-skilled poker player who almost always finish in the money, here's a list of some his poker accomplishments:
| TOURNAMENT/EVENT | DATE | PLACE | WINNINGS |
| 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table | 07/15/2006 | 1 | $442,511.00 |
| 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker Pot-Limit Omaha | 07/11/2006 | 19 | $12,295.00 |
| 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker Limit Hold'em | 07/04/2006 | 1 | $343,618.00 |
| 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold'em Short Handed 6/Table | 07/02/2006 | 64 | $4,738.00 |
| 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker No-Limit Hold'em | 06/29/2006 | 61 | $7,578.00 |
| 2005 36th Annual World Series of Poker Omaha High-Low 8/OB | 06/23/2005 | 35 | $3,305.00 |
| 2005 36th Annual World Series of Poker Pot-Limit Hold'em | 06/14/2005 | 25 | $4,970.00 |
| Thunder by the Bay Limit 7 Card Stud | 10/14/2001 | 8 | $800.00 |
| 5th Annual Golden Gate Classic Limit 7 Card | 01/28/2001 | 3 | $2,250.00 |
| 2000 Pot of Gold No Limit Hold'em | 12/10/2000 | 7 | $1,214.00 |
| Thunder by the Bay Limit Hold'em | 10/21/2000 | 1 | $10,320.00 |
| Thunder by the Bay Limit 7 Card Stud | 10/15/2000 | 2 | $5,000.00 |
Chen will soon publish his book called, The Mathematics of Poker. He said the book "delves into the theory of poker games. It won't really help you with one particular game but it tells you how to play theoretically correct if you don't have reads on your opponent. And it also tells you about how much bankroll you really need for various games and how to adjust your play for tournaments."
With still a few more weeks into the 2006 WSOP at the Rio All-Suite Hotel, we'll see if William Chen's poker expertise will hold up all the way through the Main Event. If he makes it to the Final Table, his opponents will have to match his smart poker playing to win.
And that's no easy task.
