World Series of Poker Crowns New Champ

A 39-year-old California resident, Jerry Yang (not to be confused with California resident and CEO of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang), has outlasted over 6,300 players and won the World Series of Poker Main event, a whopping $8,250,000, and the coveted title. Yang, a psychologist, earned his seat by winning a satellite tournament for $225. According to a story in USA Today, Yang came to the U.S. at 13 as "a refugee from the Vietnam War, during which he said his father fought on the side of the United States." Yang said:

"The communists invaded my country back in the '70s. 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."

Before the final table began Yang said he would donate 10 percent of his winnings to charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House. On his game plan for the final table, Yang said, "The only way I would win this tournament is to be aggressive from the very beginning and that's exactly what I did." And indeed he did. Congratulations to Yang on his historic win.

Read blow-by-blow coverage of the event at Pokernews.