In what has become almost routine, an amateur with only a few years experience won poker’s top prize, the WSOP’s No-Limit Texas Holdem event. From the AP via the LV Sun:
Jerry Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from Temecula, Calif., won the $10,000 buy-in main event of the World Series of Poker and its $8.25 million top prize.
Yang, who said he uses his professional training and reads of players as a weapon, vaulted quickly from eighth to the chip lead soon after final table play began shortly after noon Tuesday.
Nearly 16 hours later, just before 4 a.m. Wednesday, a devout Yang made a straight on the river when his pocket eights looked beat versus a pair of queens, giving him the win.
“I’ve seen the miracles of God with my own eyes,” said the married father of six. “I did a lot of bluffing also.”
Yang not only made it through a field of 6,358 players that began play July 6, he knocked out seven of his eight final table opponents single-handedly, reminiscent of last year’s final table when Jamie Gold ran over his opponents.
The main difference, Yang did it from the back of the pack.
A Hmong person who grew up poor in Laos and escaped as a refugee to the United States when he was 13, Yang said he would donate 10 percent of his winnings to charity, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House.
“I know what it’s like to be poor,” he said.
Las Vegas SUN: California psychologist wins World Series of Poker in Las Vegas
Congratulations to Yang. The way things have been going, it will be a big deal the next time a pro wins the big event.