More on Yang

This guy is already one of my favorite poker players!

From Gary Wise's Blog at ESPN.com:

Poker is a lonely game. We come to the table, one player vs. an army and fend off the attacks of all comers. People may offer their services as single-serving friends as commonalities are discovered, but even they're eyeing your stack, and what's more, you know they are.

Today's final table would consist of nine lonely men if not for Jerry Yang's faith. "Am I playing for a higher purpose? Absolutely."

The father of six, with charity and missionary credits on his resume, is a Methodist of the most devout kind; a man who put his life, faith and belief in God, trusting the higher power will know better what to do with such things.

"If I win, I still won't be a full-time poker player," Yang told me on a break after notching his third elimination of the day, his Js-8s outlasting Lee Childs' K-J. "I'll donate 10 percent of my winnings to charity and accept the title with honor, but there are more important things than poker."

What could possibly be more important than poker? Family. His six kids are here cheering dad on. Charity. He'll be making donations to Ronald McDonald House, Make A Wish and other similar institutions. Missionary work. He plans on taking advantage of the WSOP bounty by using his time to help others. It's a noble idea from what seems like a noble man who could make for a most noble champion.

Of course, Yang's devotion is going to inspire some interesting debate about God's place in poker. In an industry built on mathematical logic, prayer has mostly been held off save for those desperate souls seeking help on hitting a two-outer or to those looking to blame the greater power that causes that two-outer to fell them. Jerry Yang, then, could be ushering in an entirely new era. It sure looks like he is thus far.

There are people who will criticize Yang. It's the nature of jealousy that we find reasons to hate those who have the things we want to have. Seasoned players will denounce Yang, refuting his spiritualism as silly. After all, these are people who have dedicated their lives to a pursuit of logic, deflecting the all-too-human longings for a belief that luck can be affected to constantly do the mathematically correct thing. They would tell you that there's no room in poker for spirituality.

Yang may now be showing us there's room for both poker and prayer in one life. He's Moneymaker with a PhD and a bible, an everyman who can't believe he's here and who has faith in his understanding as to why he is. Were we predicting Jerry Yang would be our champion a year ago? A month ago? A day ago? No, but that's the beauty of the game. Any two cards, any one man or woman, can win.