Jerry Yang is a professional poker player that has experienced much success in the short time that he has been competing professionally. Having won more than $8 million playing poker, he is a player who has turned his passion into a lucrative career. Yang has won a WSOP bracelet and has a stated ambition to be one of the best and most respected poker players in the game. He counts, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey amongst the poker players that he admires the most.
Yang won his biggest tournament and made his biggest splash at the 38th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event 55 Hold’em championship. He was the last man standing in one of the world’s most competitive and prestigious tournaments. This biggest win in Jerry Yang’s young poker life, occurred on July 17 in 2007. He would take home $8,250,000. This was an incredible feat for someone who had only been in the game for two short years.
Jerry Yang was born and raised for much of his life in Laos. His beginnings were poor and humble. His experiences and past would shape him and make him an incredibly compassionate person. As evidence of this, he agreed to give 10% of his WSOP Main Event Championship winnings to three different organizations. They were the Make-A-Wish Foundation, The Ronald McDonald’s House and Feed the Children.
Yang is much more than a poker player. As stated above, he only started playing poker seriously two years prior to his big win. He first burst on the international scene when he participated in the WSOP Main Event Championship. Prior to that, he had already earned his degree as a health psychologist (graduate degree). He worked as a social worker and continues to do so even today. He also has a full domestic life which includes a wife and 6 children. Today he lives in Temecula, California.
Yang’s big win was the result of a satellite entry into the big tournament. He invested $225 to enter the tournament and came out more than $8 million richer. This really is a dream come true for all aspiring poker players. It also appears to have been a great win for an individual who has come a long way and who seems to be committed to reaching out and helping others in both of his professional lives (poker and as a psychologist). It will be interesting to see where Yang’s career goes from here. Undoubtedly, it will be exciting for fans that follow him, especially for those who aspire to follow in his footsteps and experience similar success, to see if he is able to consistently compete with the world’s top players.
