Yang Jams WSOP FT - So Now What?

For those of you who didn't see it last Tuesday night Jerry Yang, a previously unknown poker player from Laos and living in California, took down the $8.25 million first place prize at the World Series of Poker Championship Event. For those of us (yes, I did) that viewed the entirety of the fifteen plus hours of PPV coverage, it was very interesting to watch this final table play out. Yang went on the attack from the outset and seemed to throw everyone off their game, including the two notable professionals at the final table in Lee Watkinson and Alex Kravchenko (who was my choice and went out fourth). He's admitted that he knew that was the only way to get out of his eighth place starting position and it seemed to work magically for him.

I've hypothesized that Yang used a "reverse" strategy in this tournament. In most tournament strategy it is thought that you play tight at the onset of a final table and, as the players drop away, relax your starting hand standards. Yang seemed to turn this around from the start of play at the final table, using a hyper-aggressive style early and tightening up late, and it worked perfectly for him. As the players dropped away and his chip stack dominated the table, he selectively chose hands to eliminate his opponents and is a deserving champion.

The next question to answer is what kind of World Champion and ambassador of the game will Jerry Yang be? I don't see him rushing to play in every poker tournament that comes around. He seems as though he wants to do well for his family and for his community (his donation of 10% of his championship purse is an excellent statement to this) and, as such, could be just what poker needs at this point. Yang can show something that many of us involved in the poker world know...that the poker world is filled with players with just as big a heart as they display at the tables, that they can do admirable deeds from within their own convictions and, yes, that a man who has a deep devotion to religion is a part of the poker community and is successful at it.

Some may say that his "prayers" at the tables were disconcerting and wrong and, yes, I would be one of them. After some thought, though, I have to let that go. Yang is a man who simply was caught in the moment and vocally stated what many players potentially do in their heads when they play. I don't think that we will have this type of situation show up at the tables so it isn't a thing we have to worry about.

We will see Jerry Yang at some tournaments, perhaps increasing knowledge about charitable causes, perhaps serving as a spokesman regarding how he quantifies his faith with gaming, perhaps in ways we haven't thought of yet. I believe he will be a gentleman first and will be something that was necessary for the game of poker. And if he doesn't win another tournament, earn another cash or even participate in another game again, he has given us a champion that we can be proud of definitely.

Let The Games Begin!

The World Series of Poker $10K Championship Event (and that's what it is called...the "Main Event" monicker is a television creation) is about an hour away from its start and, from the reports I have viewed, there could be anywhere from 4000 to 12000 players that come to the felt to take their shot at becoming the next World Champion. There are many aspects that will bear watching as the cards fly.

First off is that question of how many players will actually be there. There was a much ballyhooed annoucement last week that TPTB at the WSOP (read: Harrah's) added a fourth day to the action, but this is to alleviate overcrowding and to avoid having to use the much hated Poker Tent there at the Rio. I have long contended that there will be around 5500 players who will be there and, even over four days, this still sounds logical (1500 players over the four days runs out to 6000 players). If the numbers approach last year's record, then we can definitely say that the 2007 has been an overwhelming success.

Secondly, who will win it? Looking back at the winners over this year's preliminary events, it was a pretty even balance of professionals (both notable, as in the case of Phil Hellmuth, Allen Cunningham and Erik Seidel), "unknown" professionals (just look at double bracelet winner Tom Schneider, who played excellent poker to take down the WSOP Player of the Year award) and newcomers who now can say they are a World Series champion. This is the year, though, that I believe a notable professional can take it down. I think Allen Cunningham last year demonstrated what has to be done...patient play, grind it out and, once at the final table, let the game come your way.

I certainly hope that some of the issues that plagued last year (the "mystery" chips, youthful and inexperienced "exuberance" to the point of arrogance, etc.) won't come into play. It would be refreshing to see a couple of known names make it to the final table and battle it out with the hopefuls without any theatrics being played out.

With that, let's get the chips clicking and the cards in the air. About eleven days from now, we will find out who is the champion of the World Series of Poker.