Jerry Yang plays at Full Tilt now(credit: Full Tilt Poker)
To get things underway, last year’s Main Event champ, Jamie Gold, spoke to the final table players and told them he understood what they were going through. Then, he announced the most famous and perhaps most eagerly anticipated words in poker, “shuffle up and deal.” Each of the final table mates sat down to play and began a marathon, 16 hour match to decide who would become poker’s world champion in 2007.
The seat assignments and chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1: Raymond Rahme - 16,000,000
Seat 2: Alex Kravchenko - 6,570,000
Seat 3: Lee Childs - 13,320,000
Seat 4: Jerry Yang - 8,500,000
Seat 5: Lee Watkinson - 9,975,000
Seat 6: Tuan Lam - 20,290,000
Seat 7: Philip Hilm - 23,070,000
Seat 8: Jon Kalmar - 20,220,000
Seat 9: Hevad Khan - 9,205,000
Although Hilm began the day in the chip lead, he would still be the first man out of the final table. Yang played aggressively and took a ton of chips off Hilm right out the gate. On hand fifteen, immediately after taking over the chip lead from the Dane, Yang raised it up preflop to 1 mil. Hilm called with an 8d,5d in the small blind. The flop was Jd,Kd,5c. Hilm checked. Yang bet 2 million. Hilm called it. The turn was the 2h. Hilm check-raised all-in after Yang bet another 4 million. Yang called and showed his holding which was an Ad,Ks. The river was a blank and Hilm went from first to worst. His ninth place finish netted him $525,934.
Yang then had a clear chip advantage with over 44 million of the big ones. Yang, whose nickname might just very well become “The Terminator”, knocked out Full Tilt pro Lee Watkinson only nine hands after he did away with Hilm. Yang was in the small blind. The action folded to him. He raised it up to 1 mil. Watkinson checked his hole cards and said he was gonna re-raise. He went all-in. Yang got up and thought it over. Finally, he made the call which was about 9 million more. Both players flipped over their cards. Yang held As,9dh and Watkinson showed an Ac,7h. The flop came 2c,6d,4h. Watkinson desperately needed one of the sevens in the deck or a runner-runner for a straight. However, the turn brought a Kd and the river was a Js. Watkinson was eliminated in eighth place earning $585,699.
Lee Childs, the IT guy who took a break from his job to try his hand at poker, decided it was time to take a stand against Yang. In the small blind, he raised the action up to 720k. Yang, who was in the big blind, re-raised him all-in. Childs didn’t seem too happy with that. However, he made the call. Childs had a Kh,Jc which was a dominant favorite over Yang’s Js,8s. Unfortunately, the turn brought Yang an eight. That sealed Childs’ fate and he headed home in seventh place with a payday of $705,229.
Hevad Khan, the 22 year old internet phenom, got the wind knocked out of his sails by the Russian, Alex Kravchenko. Kravchenko, the short stack, doubled up to about 6 million whereas Khan went down to just over 7 mil. This made Khan ripe pickings for Yang, who finished him off a few hands later, adding to his chip lead and widening the gap between himself and his closest competitors. At this point he was sitting pretty with over 70 million chips while Tuan Lam, who was second in chips, had less than 20 mil. Yang had also knocked everyone out of the final table thus far.
However, the next elimination would belong to the South African, Raymond Rahme. In first position, Rahme raised it up to 2.7 mil, which was almost ten times the big blind. Jon Kalmar looked down at his hole cards – As,Kh – and made the call. Rahme couldn’t contain himself and called with his pocket hooks. He asked the dealer to ‘keep it small.’ The flop was 10c,9h,6h. The turn brought a 3c and Rahme prayed for his jacks to hold. The river was also a three, which gave Rahme the knockout and Kalmar a trip back to the UK with over $1.255 million in tournament winnings.
Interestingly enough, the first five players were all knocked out within the first sixty hands of the final table. It took almost double that amount of time to get to the next elimination. Alex Kravchenko, the Russian businessman, raised to 2.1 mil in the small bland. Yang moved all-in from the big blind. Kravchenko called with an A,Ko. Yang flipped up his pocket eights. The flop brought Yang a third eight. Unless Alex got super lucky…like runner-runner lucky, he would be out. The turn yielded a four and put the final nail in the coffin for Kravchenko. He received a nice payday of $1,852,721, however.
After the break, the final three returned. Lam, Yang and Rahme sat down to blinds of 300k/600k with a 75k ante. On the second hand back, Yang raised to 2.6 mil. Rahme reraised to 8.7 mil. Yang, of course, called. The flop was Ad,Jh,8h. Rahme checked, and Yang fired out with a bet of 10 million. Rahme decided to re-raise all-in. Yang got up. He had to decide whether he should call the 17.3 million bet.
Yang, the psychologist, paced and kept looking over at Rahme. Finally, he said that he figures Rahme’s just on a draw so he’s got to call. Rahme shows his pocket cowboys. Yang happily showed his A,5. He made top pair on the flop. The turn and the river didn’t help Rahme so he headed back to South Africa with the film crew and $3,048,025.
By the time heads-up play began, Yang had over 100 million chips. Tuan Lam was sitting at a more than 4-to-1 disadvantage with just 23 million chips. Over the next forty minutes or so, Yang would continue to dominate. Lam seemed desperate but kept his cool. He only moved all-in once during that time. He did it preflop when he had the button and Yang folded so there was no real confrontation … until he doubled up with two pair, kings over fours.
After the double up, Lam went on a mini-rush winning three straight hands in a row. On the very last hand, Yang raised to 1.5 million preflop. Lam re-raised his opponent all-in. Yang had another pair of eights, and Lam had the Ace and Queen of diamonds. The flop brings Lam his queen. It’s Qc,9c,5s. However, the turn is a 7. This gives Jerry a few more outs. He can win with any of the remaining sixes or eights in the deck. The river brings that six.
Folks, we have a new WSOP Main Event champ … Jerry Yang!
Here are the final table results for you:
1) Jerry Yang - $8,250,000
2) Tuan Lam - $4,840,981
3) Raymond Rahme - $3,048,025
4) Alex Kravchenko - $1,852,721
5) Jon Kalmar - $1,255,069
6) Hevad Khan - $956,243
7) Lee Childs - $705,209
8) Lee Watkinson - $585,699
9) Phil Hilm - $525,934