POKER VT - Virtual Training with the Pros

Derek “Derk” Williams is a 29 year old professional poker player originally from Louisville, Kentucky now residing in Las Vegas. While a Ph.D. candidate and instructor at the University of Louisville one of his students introduced him to poker in late 2005. He started playing online shortly thereafter and by 2007 had quit academia to be a professional poker player.

Derk can be found playing mid-to-high stakes sit-and-gos and MTTs on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. He won the high stakes sit-and-go leader board on FTP in May 2009, has several other high leaderboard finishes, and over $100k in MTT winnings.

In 1999 Derk was the United States Academic Decathlon national mathematics champion. He earned bachelors and masters degrees with highest honors in computer engineering and computer science. He has spent time as a researcher at the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research and also programmed computers for the U.S. Navy. As a graduate student he taught courses on everything from calculus to C programming to design of operating systems.

With a background in, and love for, teaching and tutoring, Derk brings to PokerVT the ability to break down difficult theoretical concepts in sit-and-gos and will show you how to apply them during play. By watching his videos you’ll master how to play at all stages of any type of sit-and-go, what observations you should be making about your opponents and how to adjust your play accordingly, what software is useful for improving your game, what you can expect to make playing different types of sit-and-gos online, and learn independent chip modeling — a way to mathematically analyze how correct some plays in sit-and-gos and multi-table tournaments are — in detail.

Derk runs the monthly SNG contest where members can win hundreds of dollars in prizes and currently has several video series available on Poker VT including:

*Introduction to SNGs with slideshow presentations on play at all stages, basics of ICM, using SNG Wiz, bubble play, and heads up play.

*Review of his own play, both live and in review, breaking down hands in detail, showing how to observe and adjust to opponents.

*Member review series, going over member’s submitted hand histories, finding common and uncommon mistakes made through detailed analysis.

*Videos on 9 man, 6 man, Steps, and DON single table tournaments, and super turbo MTTs.