Jerry Yang, the Southern California psychologist from Temecula, won the 38th World Series of Poker this morning shortly before 4:00 am.
Yang collected $8.25 million in winnings. He defeated Tuan Liam of Toronto after almost two hours of heads up play that began around 2:00 am.
Yang took the lead yesterday afternoon and held the lead for almost 16 hours. He won when he drew a six on the river card for a nine-high straight on the 205th hand of competition.
World Series of Poker has narrowed the field to the final four players. The current leader is Jerry Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist from Southern California who won the first two hands when play began after noon and has been riding a hot streak ever since.
He's vying against South African grandfather Raymond Rahme, Vietnamese Canadian Tuan Lam and Russian Alex Kravchenko for the $8.25 million top prize. A field of more than 63,000 players began tournament play on Jul. 6 at the Rio hotel-casino.