Jerry Yang

It only cost Jerry Yang $225 to win more than $8,000,000 at the World Series of Poker 2007 in Las Vegas. Jerry entered a satellite tournament on popular Internet poker room Full Tilt Poker for $225 and won his seat in the massive no limit tournament for free. Once in Las Vegas, Jerry Yang outlasted thousands of other entrants to win the main event bracelet and massive prize pool along with it. Jerry Yang aka "The Shadow" now players online poker regularily on the high stakes tables at Full Tilt.

California psychologist Jerry Yang pounced when he sensed weakness. When he needed outside help, his prayers were answered. Yang began playing poker only two years ago, but he quickly jumped from eighth in chips at the final table and won the World Series of Poker’s main event. He used his dominant position to knock out seven challengers and take home an $8.25 million payday and poker’s most coveted bracelet early Wednesday morning. “I study my opponents very carefully, and when I sensed something, when I sensed some weakness, I took a chance,” said Yang, 39. “Even if I had nothing, I decided to raise, reraise, push all-in or make a call.” Yang started playing poker only two years ago. He won a seat into the main event of the 2007 WSOP via a satellite held at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA. His total investment in that event was $225. The socially-conscious Yang is determined to give something back to charity. He is pledging 10 percent of his winnings from this tournament to three different charities – the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House. 6,358 players started the Main Event of the 2007 World Series of Poker on July 6th. Nine men remained yesterday to play the final table. Truly a worldwide final table, Players with origins in Denmark, Russia, Canada, England, South Africa and the U.S. gathered to play for a first prize of $8.25 million, the most coveted of WSOP bracelets, and a place in poker history.

The 39 year old Jerry Yang has only been playing poker for 2 years and has a huge title under his belt. Jerry Yang has won the 2007 main event of the World Series Of Poker. Jerry Yang plans to give 10% of his winnings to charity. He won the 10k buy-in to the main event via a sat. tournament at a local casino. He parlayed $225.00 into $8.25 Million. Nearly 16 hours later, after a dominating final table performance that saw him bust all but one of his final table opponents, Jerry Yang from Temecula, CA beat Tuan Lam from Canada to capture the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship. Yang, who qualified for the Main Event in a live $225 satellite at the Pechanga casino, picked up the bracelet, a Corum watch, and $8.25 million in prize money. Yang promised to donate 10% of his winnings to the Make a Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House, joining a long list of poker players who use their winnings to improve their world.

Here are the chip counts and seating assignments as final table play began: Seat 1 - Raymond Rahme - 16.32 million Seat 2 - Alex Kravchenko - 6.57 million Seat 3 - Lee Childs - 13.24 million Seat 4 - Jerry Yang - 8.45 million Seat 5 - Lee Watkinson - 9.925 million Seat 6 - Tuan Lam - 21.315 million Seat 7 - Philip Hilm - 22.07 million Seat 8 - Jon Kalmar - 20.32 million Seat 9 - Hevad 'Rain' Khan - 9.205 million Philip Hilm started the day as the chip leader, with Yang well back in the pack, but Yang started off the day very aggressively, taking the chip lead in the first dozen or so hands, then taking on Hilm in hand #15, the first big moment of the day. Yang raised from late position, and Hilm called from the small blind. Yang led out on the flop of , and Hilm called. The turn brought the , and Hilm check-raised all-in when Yang bet out again. After a short time to think, Yang called with for top pair, top kicker. Hilm showed for a pair of fives with a flush draw, and the river brought the . Philip Hilm took only 15 hands to go from chip leader to first bustout of the Main Event Final Table, earning $525,934 for his 9th-place finish. Only 9 hands later, Lee Watkinson fell victim to Yang as he was eliminated in 8th place ($585,699). All the money went in preflop, as Watkinson went all-in from the big blind over the top of Yang's raise from the small blind. Yang asked for a count, and when the officials arrived at almost 10 million in chips, Yang thought for a moment and called. 2007 WSOP Winner Jerry Yang Erik Seidel Ram Vaswani Michael Graves Dao Bac Robert Mizrachi Chandrasekhar Billavara Rafi Amit Blair Rodman Tom Schneider Bill Edler Frankie O'Dell Freddy Deeb Saif Ahmad Lukasz Dumanski Ernest Bennett

Fred Goldberg Robert Cheung Greg Hopkins John Guth Ryan Young Alexander Borteh Alan Smurfit Jeffrey Lisandro

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Yang and a huge mountain of cash were all that was left after plowing through a field of 6,358 players that began to play in stages July 6. Everyone paid or won $10,000 to enter the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event, the biggest poker tournament of the year. The ethnic Hmong immigrant from Laos had nearly the shortest stack of chips when nine finalists began play at about noon Tuesday. Despite being the smallest player at 5-foot-3, the married father of six was an intimidating force at the table from the beginning whenever he stood up to stare down an opponent or to reach for his chips. In what surely will be one of the most talked-about faceoffs this year, Yang quickly declared an all-in reraise on the ninth hand of play. Lee Childs, a 35-year-old software engineer from Reston, Va., folded pocket queens, face up, on a board with a seven, four and deuce. “I raised when I had even deuce-four. You know, nine-10; seven-deuce even,” Yang said. “And fortunately they folded.” Later, when players fought back, they were quickly dispatched. Philip Hilm, a 31-year-old Dane making a living playing poker in England, busted out after pushing all-in against Yang with a pair of fives after the flop and the chance for a flush. Yang made the call holding an ace and king for a pair of kings and Hilm never improved, finishing ninth for $525,934.

“I couldn’t just sit and let him dominate the table like that,” Hilm said. “I don’t know if he was really catching lots of cards or if he was just lucky at the right moments. I guess we’ll know when we watch the TV.” Lee Watkinson, a 40-year-old poker pro from Cheney, Wash., pushed all-in before the flop with an ace and seven, but Yang read through the show of strength by calling with an ace and nine. Watkinson finished eighth for a $585,699 payday. “I was playing for the bracelet,” Watkinson said. “I wasn’t going for third, fourth or even second. I wanted to make a play and be a contender.” Childs, who quit his job a month ago to play poker for a living, finished seventh with $705,229 when he went all-in with a king and jack against Yang, with a jack and eight. Childs lost when an eight came on the turn. CNBC video Dealing into the World Series of Poker July 17: The explosion of internet gaming has led to a mass of entries. But action by Congress has hurt that growth. "On the Money's" Darren Rovell reports. CNBC

“My goal when I came in to the tournament was to trust my instincts, make the right decision and hopefully not get unlucky,” Childs said. “I was that close to doubling up.” Hevad Khan, an Internet poker pro from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., finished in sixth when his ace and queen of spades couldn’t top a pair of jacks belonging to a surging Yang. Khan didn’t seem disappointed with sixth place and his $956,243 payday as he celebrated with friends in the audience. Slide show: Week in Sports Pictures July 9 - 15 Soccer spills, shortstop sprawls, foiled fencers and more in this week's edition Jon Kalmar, a 34-year-old poker pro from Chorley, England, was the only player to bust out against someone other than Yang. He lost a head-to-head bet against South African retiree Raymond Rahme when his ace and king failed to improve against Rahme’s pocket jacks. Kalmar proclaimed himself “thrilled” with his prize and said he intended to use his $1.25 million in winnings for finishing fifth to pay bills and perhaps buy a car. Alex Kravchenko, 36, was Yang’s next victim, when he was all-in before the flop with an ace and king but Yang nailed three of a kind, holding a pocket pair of eights. Kravchenko finished in fourth with $1.85 million. Don't miss this on MSNBC.com The sex doctors will see you now | Intimate question? After CEO's missteps, what's next for Whole Foods? Good old days: Tough on gays on film Woods starts out strong in British Open | Scoreboard Squirming fly larvae pulled from traveler's head | Rahme went down when he pushed all-in with pocket kings on a board with an ace. After several minutes of pacing and a stare down, Yang made the call holding an ace and a five, for two aces, and Rahme shook his head in resignation. “That was the only mistake I made in the whole tournament,” Rahme said. When play got down to heads-up, Yang faced another refugee from South Asia, Tuan Lam, a 40-year-old Vietnamese Canadian online poker pro from Ontario. Yang had 104.5 million in chips to Lam’s 23 million and it took several hands for both players to get into an all-in confrontation.

Dan Schreiber Hoyt Corkins Katja Thater Shankar Pillai David Stucke Ralph Schwartz Ben Ponzio Eli Elezra Scott Clements James Mackey Donald Baruch Ryan Hughes Francois Safieddine Sally Boyer Saro Getzoyan James Richburg Phil Hellmuth Michael Keiner Allen Cunningham Jason Warner Chris Reslock Will Durkee Alex Kravchenko Michael Chu Burt Boutin Gary Styczynski Tom Schneider Mike Spegal Ciaran O'Leary Steve Billirakis Frederick Narciso Championship Event Deuce to Seven Lowball Limit Holdem Shootout No Limit Holdem SHOE Pot Limit Omaha No Limit Holdem Deuce to Seven Triple Draw No Limit Holdem 7 Card Stud High Low 6-handed No Limit Holdem Omaha High Low HORSE Championship Limit Holdem Pot Limit Omaha HiLo Seniors Championship Mixed Holdem No Limit Holdem Pot Limit Holdem Omaha High Low No Limit Holdem Limit Holdem Pot-Limit Omaha w/rebuys Seven Card Stud Headsup No Limit Holdem 6-handed No Limit Holdem Razz No Limit Holdem No Limit Holdem HORSE No Limit Holdem Stud High Low Pot Limit Omaha No Limit Holdem No Limit Holdem Shootout Seven Card Stud High Low No Limit Holdem Ladies Championship Limit Holdem HORSE No Limit Holdem Seven Card Stud

Some other tops pros that are now signed on with poker rooms are Hevad Khan who can multi table as many as 20 sit & gos at once. Pot Limit Holdem 6-handed No Limit Holdem Seven Card Stud No Limit Holdem Omaha High Low No Limit Holdem Pot Limit Omaha Limit Holdem Omaha8/Stud8 Pot Limit Holdem Limit Holdem Mixed Holdem Casino Employees $8,250,000 Every year, thousands of poker players dream of becoming the World Series of Poker Champion. In 2007, the honors went to Jerry Yang. He beat out 6,357 poker players including second place finisher, Tuan Lam to win over $8 million dollars and the coveted gold bracelet. It is even more interesting because he has only been playing part-time for two years and this was his first WSOP. Unlike other online qualifiers of recent years, yang won his seat for the main event via a satellite at Pechanga Casino for only a $225 investment. He started the final day of the tournament out as the second to shortest stack. However, he didn't let that slow him down. He charged out of the gate and stampeded the other players when they got in his way. He was responsible for knocking out all but one player on the final table and he won more than 50% of the total hands played. While he might receive criticism for his unusual playing style, most would agree that aggression is often the key ingredient to winning tournaments and he was the most aggressive player of the nine by far.

Originally Yang came from Laos and when the communists invaded his country back in the seventies, his family escaped to Thailand where they spent four years in a refugee camp. He has lived in the United States since 1979. He currently lives in Temecula, CA with his supportive wife and six children. He is a psychologist and social worker by trade and used his skills to analyze his opponents while playing. In his pre-game interview he said "I am living the dream and all my credit goes to my God." After thanking his family and the staff at the World Series, he said he was grateful and that if it was Gods will, then he would be victorious. From the $8.25 million dollar prize money, he will be donating 10% to children's charities including the Make a Wish Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House, and Feed the Children. Yang's had Watkinson's dominated. The flop brought the , no help to either player. When the turn brought the , Watkinson could only win with a 7, and the on the river sealed his fate. Watkinson was the only high-profile pro remaining at the final table, ensuring that a new household name would be created when a new champion was crowned. Less than an orbit later, Lee Childs found himself on the receiving end of a Yang beatdown, as he went to the rail in 7th place, earning a $705,229 payday in the process. In another battle of the blinds, Childs raised from the small blind, and called Yang's all-in from the big blind.

Childs was in a dominant position as players revealed their cards, with to Yang's , and the flop didn't help either player. The on the turn moved Yang into the lead with two pair, eights and fours, but gave Childs a flush draw to stay alive. None of his outs hit on the river, though, and the sent Lee Childs to the cashier's cage in 7th place for his first WSOP cash.

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Online superstar Hevad 'Rain' Khan spent the entire tournament hovering around the chip lead and providing entertainment to the railbirds with his almost made-for-tv antics, but he reined in his histrionics on the last two days as the final table neared. Over the course of the Main Event, Khan proved that he was much more than an online guru who can play 30 sit n' go tournaments at once, also showing excellent live poker skills as he marched to his first WSOP final table. The 22-year-old from New York became the 4th player to fall to Jerry Yang at the final table when he was eliminated on hand #56 Jerry Yang donates prize money Yang raised from middle position to 1.5 million and Khan reraised from the small blind to 6 million. Raymond Rahme thought for a few minutes before getting out of the way, and Yang called. Khan pushed his last 3.44 million into the pot in the dark, before the flop came out. The flop brought the , and Yang called, revealing . Khan turned over the , and was looking for one of his outs to improve. The turn and river brought the , and Khan was eliminated in 6th place, for $956,243. Two hands later, Jon Kalmar became the first million-dollar man of the Main Event, as he picked up $1,255,069 for his 5th-place finish. Kalmar also earned the distinction of being the only player on the final table not eliminated by Jerry Yang, as South African Raymond Rahme sent him to the rail. Jerry Yang - Sometimes, Nice Guys Finish First

We are about to set off on an interesting journey in the poker world. What's it going to be like to have a soft-spoken, 'nice guy' as our world champion? Although he has only been world champion for a few hours, Jerry Yang seems to stand out among champions of the past. Does that mean none of the champions of the past are nice guys? No, but I can't ever recall a world champion who had six kids, worked as a social worker/psychologist, and made sure to remember to thank God in every post game interview he did. To have a humble, quiet guy in poker's 'White House' should be a fascinating ride. The story is vaguely familiar – guy goes to first WSOP, guy puts up $225, wins a seat, goes on to win – but somehow, only hours later it already feels different. At least at first glance, Yang seems to be truly the everyman of the modern America. Yang was born in Laos, immigrated in his teens, and has worked hard to raise his family and find his place in the U.S. Yang took up poker a couple years ago, and is now your world champion. I have read things this morning like Yang was so poor when he was growing up in Laos, when his family would kill a pig for food, the kids would blow up the pig's bladder, and use it as a ball. A far cry indeed from a Hollywood Agent, or an East Coast patent attorney. It will be really interesting to see how the mainstream media reacts to Yang, and if his humble, conservative nature will strike a chord with those who stand in the way of poker – many of whom are similarly aligned. Yang's apparent 'aw shucks' attitude may be just what the doctor ordered in a year that will have a lot to do with how the poker business operates in the U.S. for years to come. Yang's reign will start right away, as one would assume he will be booked on the talk show circuit immediately, and will start today his era as a prime ambassador of the game of poker.

There is something very refreshing about having a champion that middle America can once again identify with. Where will the next year take us? Only time will tell. Count on God and family being two planks of Yang's platform as champ. It should be interesting to watch. Don't touch that dial. Rahme raised to 2.7 million from late position, and Kalmar pushed all-in from the big blind. Rahme thought for a moment before calling with , a coinflip with Kalmer's . The flop brought the , and Rahme kept the lead with his Jacks. The turn didn't help Kalmer with the , and he had to catch a King or an Ace on the river. The river card was the , and Raymond Rahme sent Jon Kalmer to the rail in 5th place. Kalmar made an incredible comeback at this World Series after losing most of his bankroll in preliminary events. A disheartened Kalmar was ready to fly home to England and skip the Main Event, but the ticket change cost was too high so he decided to play in the last mega-satellite at the Rio. He rode that mega-satellite into the Main Event and all the way to a million-dollar payday at the final table. After a whirlwind first 60 hands where over half the table was eliminated, play slowed considerably as the remaining four player settled in for the long haul. Over 100 hands passed between the elimination of Kalmar in 5th and the elimination of Alex Kravchenko in 4th ($1,852,721). Kravchenko became the first Russian citizen to win a WSOP bracelet when he won Event #9 earlier this summer, and with his final table finish at the Main Event, Kravchenko passed Kiril Gerasimov on the all-time Russian money list. Kravchenko started the final table with the short stack, but doubled up several times over the day to put himself into contention, before running into Jerry Yang on hand #167.

Kravchenko raised from the small blind to 2.1 million, and quickly called when Yang pushed all-in from the big blind. Yang found himself in another race, as he held to Kravchenko's . And once again, Yang found himself ahead, when he flopped a set on the flop, leaving Kravchenko only a runner-runner straight draw to stay alive. The turn sealed Alex's fate with the , and Kravchenko was drawing dead. The river was the , and Alex Kravchenko was sent to the rail in 4th, ending a fantastic WSOP for this Russian star. Kravchenko hadn't even finished his paperwork when he was joined in the cashier's cage by Raymond Rahme, eliminated in 3rd place ($3,048,025) by the unstoppable Jerry Yang. Yang raised from the button to 2.6 million, and Rahme re-raised from the big blind to 8.6 million. Yang bet out 10 million on the flop of , and Rahme check-raised him all-in for 27.35 million. Yang thought for several minutes before pushing in the additional 17.35 million. Yang didn't seem happy with the call, until Rahme flipped over , for pocket Kings cracked by Yang's . The turn and river brought the , and Yang sent another victim to the rail. The 62-year-old Rahme became the first person to make the final table of the Main Event from Africa, wishing Nelson Mandela a happy birthday from the final table.

Heads-up play between Jerry Yang and Tuan Lam lasted for 35 hands, more than the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Main Events combined. For the record, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Jamie Gold dispatched their opponents in a total of 16 hands. In the final hand, Yang found himself in another coin flip situation, with the to Tuan Lam's . With a nearly 5-1 chip lead, Yang called Lam's all-in re-raise and all the money went in preflop. Lam took the lead on the flop of , and Yang needed an 8 or a runner-runner to win. The turn brought the , and was one of the runners Yang was looking for. When the came on the river, Yang pulled out a miracle last hand to finish off his dominating final table performance and become the 2007 WSOP Main Event Champion. Tuan Lam was eliminated in second place, earning $4,840,981. Yang picked up $8.25 million for his win, a Corum watch, and the most coveted prize in poker, the Main Event bracelet. Yang pledged to donate 10% of his winnings to charity, and said that he wanted to give something back to the community. He thanked his wife, who he said worked very hard, but "does not have to work anymore!", and said he was going to ensure his six children received the best education.

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