William Chen (born 1970 in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...

) is an American

quantitative analyst Quantitative may refer to: * Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties * Quantitative analysis (disambiguation) * Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry * Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player, software designer, and badminton player.

Biography

Chen holds a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

(1999) from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was an undergraduate at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

triple-majoring in Physics, Math, and Computer Science, and was also a research intern in Washington University's Computer Science SURA Program where he co-wrote a technical report inventing an ''Argument Game''. He heads the

Statistical arbitrage In finance, statistical arbitrage (often abbreviated as ''Stat Arb'' or ''StatArb'') is a class of short-term financial trading strategies that employ mean reversion models involving broadly diversified portfolios of securities (hundreds to thousan ...

department at

Susquehanna International Group Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) is a privately held trading and technology firm. SIG comprises a number of affiliated entities specializing in trading and proprietary investments in equities, fixed income, energy, commodity, index an ...

Poker career

At the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

Chen won two events, a $3,000 limit

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...

event with a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

of $343,618, and a $2,500 no limit hold 'em short-handed event with a prize of $442,511. Prior to these events Chen's largest

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

win was for $41,600 at a no limit hold 'em event at the

Bicycle Casino The Bicycle Hotel & Casino (commonly, "The Bike") is a poker cardroom in California. Founded by George Hardie Sr. in 1984, located in Bell Gardens, California, The Bicycle Casino offers a selection of poker games and Asian games, with a wide ra ...

's ''Legends of Poker'' in 2000. Chen has been a longtime participant in the rec.gambling.poker newsgroup and its B.A.R.G.E offshoot. He has also been a member of

Team PokerStars A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

. With Jerrod Ankenman, Chen coauthored ''The Mathematics of Poker'', an introduction to quantitative techniques and game theory as applied to poker. In February 2009, he appeared on ''

Poker After Dark ''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007.

s "Brilliant Minds" week, finishing in 5th place after his lost to Jimmy Warren's after Chen pushed all-in on a flop of . As of 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,900,000. His 38 cashes at the WSOP account for over $1,725,000 of those winnings.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Bill 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American poker players American people of Chinese descent American computer programmers UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni Washington University physicists Living people World Series of Poker bracelet winners 1970 births Auburn High School (Alabama) alumni