Yang's The Man in World Series Thriller
Laos-born American Jerry Yang was the latest amateur poker player to consider quitting his day job as he won the World Series of Poker main event at the Rio in Las Vegas.
For his efforts, Yang won $8,250,000 and a place in poker history. Vietnamese-born Tuan Lam was runner-up, bagging just under $5 million. A globally-represented final table saw South African Raymond Rahme 3rd, England-based Russian Alex Kravchenko 4th, and England-based Englishman Jon Kalmar 5th.
Playing by far the best poker at the table, Yang found himself heads-up against Tuan Lam and a 10/1 chip leader. Lam will probably rue some tight heads-up play as he arguably laid down too many hands, and when the chips were finally all in, it came down to a coin flip. Yang held a pair of 8s, the hand he’d knocked out Alex Kravchenko with. Up against Lam’s A-Q, Yang must have sensed that the pair would see him through again.
The flop came Q-9-5, helping Lam out with top pair. A turn of a 7 meant Yang needed a 6 or 8 to win. The magical 6 came on the river to make Yang’s straight, and dreams, come true.
Six consecutive WSOP main events have now been won by rookies. The 2007 main event saw 6,350 players fight it out over 12 gruelling days for the bracelet, the cash and the glory.
A humbled Jerry Yang said shortly afterwards: “I said yesterday that the bracelet would be a lovely thing, but the money was always important so I could get involved with the community. When I was down heavily on the final table, I got down on my knees in the bathroom and prayed to God that I could come back!”
Repaying his higher power in some style, Yang, a deeply religious man, promised to donate 10% of his winnings (just shy of $1 million) to charity.
Interview with Jerry Yang
$8 million the richer, amateur poker player Jerry Yang is now the world champion. Possibly the most humble man in poker, Jerry took time out from contemplating his new life as a multi- millionaire and ambassador for poker to talk to gambling.com.
Congratulations Jerry! You’ve had a few weeks for it all to sink in. Has it yet?
[laughs] To be honest with you, it hasn’t yet. I still look at the bracelet every day, and really I can’t believe it.
Have you had a chance to spend any of the money?
Most of it is in the bank and I’ve bought my wife a car. Plus there’s all the money I’ve donated to charity. Almost $1 million will have gone to charity by September I think.
Charity obviously plays a big part in your life.
Well yes. When I was a boy in my old country I was extremely poor, I didn’t even have clothes. I was barely surviving. My family managed to escape to Thailand in 1975 when the Communists took over my country and to see AK47s pointed at my family was terrifying. Living in a refugee camp in Thailand, I know what it’s like to be poor and sick. It’s just a great privilege now to be able to give something back to the community.
So will we see you do more work for charity?
I’d like to go back to my home country and do some work over there. Unfortunately the political situation makes that a bit difficult at the moment. However, I’d like to give money to charities based over there. 10% of any of my prize-winnings from now will go to charity and missionary work. I’d like to go to Thailand perhaps or Mexico. I met the President of Feed the Children just a few hours ago and we talked about doing some work in Kenya helping clinics and providing feeding facilities for the poor.
You talked about God a lot after your win. You’re quite a religious man.
I like to think so. I don’t want to be known as a religious fanatic, but I feel that God brought me to this country for a reason. When I was in the refugee camp, I saw my cousins die of malnutrition right in front of my eyes. At one point, I was close to death myself but I survived and I feel that it was my faith in God that helped me to overcome everything. He’s very important in my life.
How does your religious devotion sit with being a poker player and essentially a gambler?
You’re right. Gambling is against many people’s religion. In fact I kept the poker playing quiet from my father, who was very unsupportive when I phoned him to tell him I’d made the money in the WSOP! However, when I made the final table, my parents both came with a lot of my family and some of my church members, and they all prayed for me. But I think it’s how you use the end result. If your intentions for spending the money are good then that’s fine for me. I haven’t lost sight of my community.
Are you planning on turning pro or is it back to the day job?
I have already resigned from my day job! My wife’s also resigned from hers. I’m also planning on playing some more tournaments, going out meeting the fans and being an ambassador for poker.
Are you coming to London for the WSOPE?
I don’t think I can make it. I’m working on some sponsorship deals, so I’m waiting to hear what my sponsors have lined up for me. I can’t really say much more at the moment.
Is it true that before the World Series, you’d never played poker online and in fact hadn’t played much poker at all?
Yes, I’d never played on an internet site, and I’d only been playing live games at very low levels. I’d only been playing for about 2 years up until the World Series. I was watching the WPT and World Series on TV back then and thought how much fun it looked. I bought a couple of poker books and watched a lot of programmes. Then I started playing $15 buy in tournaments at the local casino. I think the biggest entry I ever paid was $125. Then I won a satellite into the World Series main event and the rest is history!
During the main event, when did you first think you could go on and win it?
I was down to something like 1.5 million chips. I went all in with pocket 8s and Alex Kravchenko called with AQ. My pocket 8s held up and I was back in it. The 8s saved me three times, including the final hand of course. The night before the final table I meditated a little and told myself to be aggressive at the final table as I was starting off the day 8th in chips I think. So that’s what I did—I went in and played aggressively. I was purely bluffing to get the blinds and antes. When the pot was dry I was always able to take it down. When I went from 8 million chips to 40 million I knew I had a good chance. Also my opponents were playing very tight. I thought, “If they’re going to play tight, I’m going to keep pushing”, and that’s what I did. But I was thinking that even if I hadn’t won, it was still a great experience.
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Posted by MVP2008 – 14 May 2008, 12:21 AM
Now what would the rest of us do with a cool 8 million? I don't know for sure, but I would probably buy a nice house somewhere at the least! Jerry Yang is a lucky guy, and a darn good player!