Jerry Yang’s WSOP Watch Auctioned on Ebay

There are probably hundreds of thousands of auctions going on at any point on Ebay but it is not often the case that one of them catches the attention of the wider poker public. However, couple days ago, an item appeared that created some buzz within the community.

The said item is Corum Admiral’s Cup watch won in 2007 by WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang. The Corum watch was awarded to Yang together with the Main Event bracelet and well over $8 million in prize money. Anyone who followed the finish of that year’s Main Event certainly still remembers colorful Yang with his memorable table antics.

Although the champ lacked no luck at the final table, it seems it had run out on him not long after his epic victory. In 2013, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) announced a public auction of Yang’s property due to his omission to pay revenue taxes.

The items that were listed, aside from the Corum watch and the bracelet, included numerous other expensive watches and different jewelry. Apart from being down on his luck with the IRS, it seems that Yang did not have much better luck on the green felt either, as his winnings after the Main Event victory amount to only around $190,000. His debt towards IRS was in the vicinity of $600,000.

The former champ did own a restaurant business at the time and was negotiating with IRS about keeping some of his property, including his WSOP bracelet. The things apparently did not pan out, and the public auction took place in Sacramento where people were bidding for Yang’s former property.

Amongst that property was afore mentioned Corum watch that is now up for sales on Ebay. The current owner claims that he procured the watch last year in Sacramento and that he has all the necessary paperwork confirming that the watch is authentic – the very same watch given to Jerry Yang after his victory.

The bidding started very low, but given that these watches go for about $9,000 at retail price alone, without additional value of being the part of poker history, the price continued to grow. Right now, there are 49 bids and the going price is $4,050 with about 36 hours left on the auction clock.

The watch will probably get some more bids in and reach a decent price, but it is sad in a way to see a piece of history being sold on a public auction. There was some speculation and rumors that the watch would be bought and returned to Yang, but there is not a very high likelihood of that happening. However, if it does happen, we will make sure to let you all know, as it would be a nice surprise.