2007 World Series of Poker Winner: Jerry YangJerry Yang finally eliminated Tuan Lam to win the 2007 World Series of Poker's Main Event, the $8.25 million first prize and his first WSOP bracelet after nearly 14 hours of grueling play.
Yang was a true rookie who had never won in poker circuit play.
An amateur poker player from Temecula, California, is the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. Yang holds a Masters Degree in health psychology and works as a psychologist and social worker. He is married with six children.
He was born into a family of Hmong mountain dwellers in Laos, arriving in the US a refugee from the Vietnam War at the age of 13, during which he said his father fought on the side of the United States.
"The communists invaded my country back in the '70s," he said. "My family immigrated to Thailand. In fact, we escaped. We got caught by the communists once. It was either be killed or try to escape again. We managed to escape to Thailand and I spent the next four years in a refugee camp."
Yang started playing poker two years ago. He entered the 2007 World Series of Poker after winning a $225 satellite at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.
Yang survived a field of 6,358 in the Main Event to make the final table for his first career money finish in a poker tournament. At the final table Yang went from starting 8th in chips to holding a big chip lead which he never relinquished. Heads-up against Tuan Lam he won the title with 8♣ 8♦ against Lam's A♦ Q♦ when he hit a nine-high straight on the river after Lam had caught a queen on the flop. Yang won $8,250,000 for the victory, and he has pledged to donate 10% percent of his winnings to three charities: the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House.
Sportsbook.com
Online Gambling Odds
- Proposition
Betting had made Jerry Yang a 9 to 1 underdog to win the 2007 World Series of Poker prior to final table play.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
1. Jerry Yang $8.25 million
2. Tuan Lam $4,840,981
3. Raymond Rahme $3,048,025
4. Alex 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
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Ace King, Gambling911.com
Originally published July 18, 2007 8:21 am ET
