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#33
07-17-2007, 03:37 AM
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Re: - WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -
In seat 5 with 16.32 million chips we have Raymond Rahme. At 62, Raymond, from Johannesberg, South Africa, is the oldest player at the final table.
 Raymond is one of three Pokerstars players to make the final table.. Although he doesn't show any cashes on databases like The Hendon Mob, bios, such as Cardplayer, tell us otherwise: Raymond Rahme is the first person ever to appear at the final table of the main event from the continent of Africa . At age 62, he is also the senior participant at the final table. He is married to his wife Teresa, and together they have six children. Prior to his retirement, Rahme owned and operated a bed and breakfast inn. Although he played stud for three decades, Rahme has only been playing the game of hold'em for about two years. Yet, Rahme has already enjoyed significant tournament success. He's taken first and second place at major events held in South Africa. He also took fourth place in the All Africa Poker Championship recently, which was the largest poker tournament ever held in Africa. As part of his prize, he received a travel package to Las Vegas and an entry into the 2007 main event. And now, he is ranked fourth in the chip count at the start of the final table. Apparently Raymond is something in South Africa! We get some glimpses that he's a popular guy from Pokernews updates: Life is Good, Baby During an all in hand between two opponents, Raymond Rahme came over to his rooting section and sat in the middle of them, stretched out and relaxed. This is the way life is supposed to be when you're 62 and eligible for Social Security. Scotty Nguyen walked by and high-fived Rahme. "Life is good, baby!" he said. Look, Ma -- I'm on TV! After Raymond Rahme emerges victorious from an all in pot, his rowdy cheering section stands up and chants "Africa!" There's a big smile on Rahme's face as he glances above and sees his big smile splashed on a TV screen. He leans back to get a better view of his mug and someone yells out to him from the audience "You look good, baby!" Gonna Be A TV Star! Raymond is from Johannesburg, South Africa and is a retired entrepreneur who was successful in the auto body business and owned several bed & breakfast hotels. He's being followed around for a major documentary being made on him representing South Africa in the World Series. The All-Africa TV station shows the WSOP, the WPT and other poker events 24/7 and Raymond will be on his own show. In fact, the TV company making the film has already planned a royal reception for Raymond upon his return to South Africa. These shots leave me thinking Ray is probably a genuinely nice guy: Ray & Scotty Ray consoles Ray Hensen Ray & Kenny Tran 
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#34
07-17-2007, 04:34 AM
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Re: - WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -
man, hotntot has laid some beats on me in tournaments. i always thought he was crap, but then i kept seeing him with big stacks in cash games, and yeah, i guess he's at the wsop ft. he's just one of those aggro scandinavian goofballs, i guess.
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#35
07-17-2007, 05:06 AM
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Re: - WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -
Tournament director Jack Effel told me that the tournament staff made a mistake at the end of play on Monday morning. There should NOT have been another redraw at 9 players as the redraw took place at 10 players.
The corrected seating chart is: 1. Rahme 2. Kravchenko 3. Childs 4. Yang 5. Watkinson 6. (empty) 7. Lam 8. Hilm 9. Kalmar 10. Khan -- All 9 players were sponsored as of Monday at 4pm. FullTiltPoker.NET has 6: Kravchenko, Childs, Yang, Watkinson, Hilm, and Kalmar. PokerStars.NET has 3: Khan, Rahme, and Lam Hilm, as the chip leader, also has a secondary sponsorship deal with Swiss watchmaker Corum as its final table "brand ambassador" and will be wearing a Corum watch at the final table. -- Even though Monday was a day off from play, it was "media day" for the players as each player had to honor its media interview obligations with ESPN Original Entertainment TV (done by 441 Productions), ESPN pay-per-view TV (done by Poker PROductions), and Bluff Media (worldseriesofpoker.com, Sirius Satellite Radio). Each player had to spend about 2 hours doing all the interviews at the Rio. -- On Tuesday morning at 10am, Harrah's will hold a press conference. At about 10:45am, each of the 9 players will be awarded a Corum watch. Hilm, having secured a last-minute deal with Corum as its final table "brand ambassador", will put the watch on his left wrist immediately after the presentation and wear it during the duration of the final table. -- Each player will only be allowed 4 "friends and family" supporters seated in the first row inside the TV arena, which has less than 200 seats, many of which will be occupied by various dignitaries (Harrah's/WSOP executives, sponsors, former WSOP Main Event World Champions, etc.) Some of the "friends and families" will have flags with them (bought from a flag shop in the shopping mall at the Stratosphere Hotel). Hilm's cheering section will have a Danish flag, the same one they used on Sunday (I bought the flag for them as a value-added service, as I am Hilm's agent for the duration of the Main Event and I did Hilm's deals with FullTiltPoker.net and Corum on short notice.) Rahme's section will have FOUR South African flags. Watkinson's wife Timmi DeRosa will have an American flag. Kalmar's crew will have the Union Jack, the flag of the UK. I don't know yet whether Lam's supporters will have a Canadian flag. (Lam, who is originally from Vietnam, now lives in Toronto and is a citizen of Canada.) -- Agency affiliations: Childs hired Poker Royalty (Brian Balsbaugh, James Sullivan, et. al.), while Hilm, Kravchenko, and Yang hired me to get them sponsors on short notice.
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#36
07-17-2007, 06:27 AM
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Re: - WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -
[ QUOTE ]
Even though Monday was a day off from play, it was "media day" for the players as each player had to honor its media interview obligations with ESPN Original Entertainment TV (done by 441 Productions), ESPN pay-per-view TV (done by Poker PROductions), and Bluff Media (worldseriesofpoker.com, Sirius Satellite Radio). Each player had to spend about 2 hours doing all the interviews at the Rio. [/ QUOTE ] What if they said, "No, I don't want to talk to the media?"
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#37
07-17-2007, 06:38 AM
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Re: - WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Even though Monday was a day off from play, it was "media day" for the players as each player had to honor its media interview obligations with ESPN Original Entertainment TV (done by 441 Productions), ESPN pay-per-view TV (done by Poker PROductions), and Bluff Media (worldseriesofpoker.com, Sirius Satellite Radio). Each player had to spend about 2 hours doing all the interviews at the Rio. [/ QUOTE ] What if they said, "No, I don't want to talk to the media?" [/ QUOTE ] Any player who has one or more sponsors has to honor the media obligation associated with the sponsorship deals. Unless you want to turn down all sponsorship opportunities, you would WANT to do all the interviews you can during "media day" so that you can deliver value to your sponsors. Big time poker tournaments are NOT just about "playing poker" anymore. They are now televised "sports entertainment" events which allow participants to leverage the value of being on TV.
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