David Sands Bio

One of the newest members of the Brunson 10, David Sands (known online as Doc_Sands) has had a knack for winning major online poker tournaments over the last two years. In fact, few players have ever gone on a run quite like the one Sands had in late 2008 through 2009.

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Ending up at DoylesRoom.ag might have always been in the cards for Sands. He credits his poker education to reading lots of poker books, but singles out one in particular as being helpful: Super System, by Doyle Brunson himself. After some initial success, Sands headed to Vegas, where he was able to learn from some of the world’s best players. By analyzing his own play and discussing hand histories with other young pros, Sands was able to take his game to the next level.

Sands certainly wasn’t a stranger to live tournament success even before his huge online run; he had already cashed in the World Series of Poker a couple times, and had won a $1,000 buy-in event at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, a win which earned him $54,152. But it was what he was able to do over that run that truly made him a star.

Towards the end of 2008, Sands picked up a huge win in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed Sunday tournament – just the first of many major Sunday wins to come. Over the next year, he would find himself in first place in the Sunday Mulligan, a Full Tilt Online Poker Series event, a PokerStars Sunday 500, and another $1K Monday tournament at FTP. Perhaps Sands’ greatest claim to fame is as a world record holder. He has won more of the Sunday “majors” in online poker than any other player: eight, overall.

In total, Sands has won over 35 different significant online poker tournaments, compiling total winnings of over $2.3 million in online tournament play. While he’s most notable as an online tournament player, Sands hasn’t shied away from cash games, and has had some success in live tournaments as well, cashing eight different times at the World Series of Poker and winning more than $240,000 in total.

With a resume like his, it might seem like Sands would be nearly guaranteed a spot in the Brunson 10. However, Sands had to fight for his spot with three other young pros: Dan Kelly, Faraz Jaka and Michael Martin. The battle was to take place during the 2010 World Series of Poker, with the player with the best results earning their place on the Brunson 10 team.

Early on, it looked like the battle would be between Sands and Kelly, with Sands holding an early lead. But when Kelly won his first WSOP bracelet, he automatically qualified for the Brunson 10, leaving the three other competitors to chase after the exclusive spot on the DoylesRoom squad. In the end, Sands finished comfortably ahead of the competition, becoming the 8th member of the Brunson 10.

With a record of online success like Sands’, it’s unlikely that DoylesRoom will regret their decision. Sands may not have the high volume of play that some of the other young stars of poker do, but he makes up for it with consistent results at the highest levels. No matter what the future holds for Sands, his record in the Sunday majors guarantees he’ll be an online poker legend for many years to come.
David Sands plays at DoylesRoom.ag