Jerry Yang is the 2007 WSOP Champion!
It took about 16 hours, but at the end of the day a virtually unknown in the poker world, Jerry Yang (not to be confused with Yahoo founder Jerry Yang) went on to win the biggest tournament in poker – The 2007 WSOP (World Series of Poker).
Yang made many questionable calls to eliminate 8/9 of the players at the final table of this year’s WSOP, but he had luck on his side. Everyone thought he was playing like a maniac, but his play held out.
In the final hand, Jerry Yang and Tuan Lam pushed all their chips in preflop. Yang showed pocket eights and Lam showed Ad-Qd. After a flop of Q-5-9, Lam took the lead and pumped his fist, assuming he was en route to doubling up. The turn was a 7, giving Yang a gutshot straight draw, in addition to a possible set with one of the two remaining eights in the deck. Yang had six outs, and one of them, the 6 of hearts fell on the river to knock out Lam and give Yang the victory.Lam earned $4,840,981 for his second-place finish. Yang has earned instant celebrity status, the most coveted bracelet of the year and $8.25 million.
Who is Jerry Yang?
Yang is a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from
southern California. He holds a Masters Degree in health psychology.
Yang was born in Laos. He is married with six children. Yang
started playing poker only two years ago. He won a seat into the main event through a $225 live satellite at the Pechanga Resort and Casino.
Here are the final results/winnings of the final table at the 2007 WSOP:
| 1. | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 |
| 2. | Tuan Lam | $4,840,981 |
| 3. | Raymond Rahme | $3,048,025 |
| 4. | Alexander Kravchenko | $1,852,721 |
| 5. | Jon Kalmar | $1,255,069 |
| 6. | Hevad Khan | $956,243 |
| 7. | Lee Childs | $705,229 |
| 8. | Lee Watkinson | $585,699 |
| 9. | Philip Hilm | $525,934 |
Congrats Jerry!
