[2] An amateur player at the time, Yang entered the 2007 World Series of Poker after winning a $225 satellite at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

Even if I had nothing, I decided to raise, reraise, push all-in or make a call....The only way that I could win this tournament was by being aggressive from the very beginning and that’s exactly what I did.

"[2] Once Yang was guaranteed a share of the prize money, he pledged to donate 10% of his winnings to three charities (the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Feed The Children, and the Ronald McDonald House),[2] as well as his alma mater, Loma Linda University.

When the communists took control of that country in the 1970s, his family escaped to Thailand where they spent four years in a refugee camp.

Yang holds a master's degree in health psychology from Loma Linda University and worked as a psychotherapist and social worker.