zengrifter
Banned
Jul. 19, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
$8.25 million answer to prayers
39-year-old poker player's $225 investment pays off
By HOWARD STUTZ
REVIEW-JOURNAL Jerry Yang is a different kind of World Series of Poker champion. Vastly different.
The diminutive 39-year-old psychologist, a Laotian immigrant, a married father of six small children and a born-again Christian from Temecula, Calif., honed his poker skills inside American Indian casinos around Riverside County. But he has played the game for only two years.
No-Limit Texas Hold'em World Championship
on Wednesday in Las Vegas. He plans to
give 10 percent of his $8.25 million purse
to charity and wants to do missionary work.
Before entering the World Series of Poker, he had never set foot inside a Las Vegas casino's poker room. He won his entry into the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold'em world championship event through a satellite tournament at his hometown Pechanga Casino. His total investment was $225.
Shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Yang became the latest World Series of Poker champion, outlasting a field of 6,358 players over the 11-day event at the Rio and collecting a prize of $8.25 million.
...more - [FONT="]$8.25 million answer to prayers -- 39-year-old poker player's $225 investment pays off
[/FONT]
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
$8.25 million answer to prayers
39-year-old poker player's $225 investment pays off
By HOWARD STUTZ
REVIEW-JOURNAL Jerry Yang is a different kind of World Series of Poker champion. Vastly different.
The diminutive 39-year-old psychologist, a Laotian immigrant, a married father of six small children and a born-again Christian from Temecula, Calif., honed his poker skills inside American Indian casinos around Riverside County. But he has played the game for only two years.

JAE C. HONG / Associated Press
Jerry Yang celebrated winning the $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em World Championship
on Wednesday in Las Vegas. He plans to
give 10 percent of his $8.25 million purse
to charity and wants to do missionary work.
Before entering the World Series of Poker, he had never set foot inside a Las Vegas casino's poker room. He won his entry into the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold'em world championship event through a satellite tournament at his hometown Pechanga Casino. His total investment was $225.
Shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Yang became the latest World Series of Poker champion, outlasting a field of 6,358 players over the 11-day event at the Rio and collecting a prize of $8.25 million.
...more - [FONT="]$8.25 million answer to prayers -- 39-year-old poker player's $225 investment pays off
[/FONT]