University of Georgia Freshman Wins EPT Grand Final

He may be two years away from being allowed to sit down at a game in Vegas or Atlantic City, but that didn’t stop Jeff Williams from finding a game last week. The 19-year-old University of Georgia freshman from Dunwoody, Georgia (suburban Atlanta) won the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo Saturday, bringing back to the States over $1 million (€900,000).

Needless to say, this was Williams’ first live tournament, one for which he qualified on PokerStars.com, the sponsor of the event. In fact, the four final players all qualified via the online poker room, one of whom won a seat without investing a single penny.

Williams was not intimidated, however, even with two very strong pros, Marcel Luske and Ross Boatman, at the final table. He constantly put his competition to the test, repeatedly raising and re-raising, most of the time forcing the other players to fold. In the cases where he actually was called, he either won or was able to afford the loss.

In the end, Williams took out the UK’s Arshad Hussain with A-10 versus A-8 to win the title. Looks like that college education has been paid for.

Originally published March 13, 2006