Psych-out at the WSOP
Yang, a 39-year-old father of six, only started playing poker two years ago.
I hate him already.
(Just joshing, Doc.)
Yang is, in fact, not an atypical poker success story. A Hmong immigrant from Laos, Yang follows in the footsteps of numerous other top players including Scotty "The Prince of Poker" Nguyen, the 1998 World Series Main Event winner who came to the U.S. from southeast Asia and discovered the American dream through the great American game.
The poker-playing shrink bested a diverse final table, including players from Denmark, England, Russia, and South Africa, as well as Vietnam-born Canadian Tuan Lam, who finished second. The best-known player in the surviving nine, Spokane-area poker pro Lee Watkinson, busted out in eighth place.
As SSTOL regular Tom Galloway sagely predicted a few weeks ago, the Main Event field was narrowed considerably this year by fallout from recent legislation passed by Congress. Fear of possible prosecution has caused many online poker sites a primary source of qualifiers for the WSOP to discontinue accepting action from U.S.-based players. Only a handful of online casinos, including PokerStars, Ultimate Bet, and Full Tilt Poker, continue to keep the welcome mat out for courageous card-playing Americans.
Nice going, Dr. Yang. Save wisely you've got a sextet of future college educations to fund with those millions.
By the way, I'm SwanShadow at PokerStars. Come play with me.
Labels: Hero of the Day, Ripped From the Headlines, Vegas
2 insisted on sticking two cents in:
Dr. Yang's name caused a few double takes here at work. Y'see, I work at Google, and Jerry Yang also happens to be the name of a Yahoo co-founder who recently returned to being their CEO.
Tom: I knew that name sounded familiar. I just couldn't place where I'd heard it before. (I'm sure the Yahoo Yang's fortune makes the new WSOP world champion look like a relative pauper.)
Post a Comment
<< Home