Poker mind games no match for psychologist

Las Vegas -- This year's winner of the World Series of Poker world championship is a California man whose reported time as a psychologist likely served him well.

No stranger to mind games in his reported profession, California resident Jerry Lang finally knocked out his last competitor Wednesday after surviving 205 hands in the poker championship, The Las Vegas Review-Journal said.

For taking first in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Las Vegas tournament, Lang will return home to Temecula, Calif., with a cool $8.25 million in prize money.

After joining the final table at the 38th rendition of the gaming event, Lang and his fellow competitors played for nearly 16 hours until the psychologist knocked out Toronto native Tuan Lam for the win.

The newspaper said the river card in that final hand ended up giving Lang a nine-high straight, enough poker firepower to take the World Series of Poker crown.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.