- WSOP ME FT: Meet the Final Nine -

[jogsxyz]

These two guys should be in charge of the color coordination of the chips.

[peterpjames]

If OliverT is right about the seating, that could be interesting.

If this is true this could be great for Khan, who would have the three big stacks all on his right, as well as Lee Watkinson. It's also very interesting with the three big stacks right in a row. (Lam, then Hilm, then Kalmar) Lam and Lee Watkinson probably have the worst position, Watkinson especially with the three huge stacks all having position on him.

[Bidz]

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the winner!

[entertainme]

In seat 6 according to Pokernews, (seven as advised to Olivert by Jack Effel), we have Tuan Lam, aka Pokerstars player BABYHAN with $21,315,000 in chips.



According to Pokerstars:

Tuan Lam is a 40-year-old former poker dealer from Ontario, Canada. Known as BABYHAN on PokerStars, you'll find him regularly playing the high-limit cash games to a lot of success. Lam finished runner-up in the 2005 World Championship of Online Poker $200 short-handed no-limit hold'em event. He has played a few big live tournaments, but this is by far his biggest tournament cash so far.

Tuan has two previous WSOP cashes, NLHE in 2005 and a LHE Shootout in 2006.

The 2p2 High Stakes Limit forum talks about playing with BABYHAN.

Tuan is a married 40 year old born in Vietnam, who emigrated to Canada at age 19 and currently resides in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada according to Cardplayer:

Tuan Lam was born in Vietnam on New Years Day in 1966, during the war. He eventually immigrated to Canada at the age of 19. He now lives in the Toronto area where he plays poker professionally. Prior to turning pro, Lam worked as a general laborer for a metal company. Then, he learned how to play poker from friends and has made it all the way to the final table of the 2007 main event. This is his third year to attend the WSOP. His prior cashes were 46th place in an event last year and 78th place in a WSOP tournament held in 2005. He is married with two children. Lam arrives at the final table ranked second in the chip count.

If you read through the Tuan Lam tag in the Pokernews live updates, you'll notice Lam is not afraid to get involved in pots, including a 11.46 win against Scotty with 10''s.

Pokernews comments on Lam's railbirds:

Tuan Lam has a few railbirds sitting in the audience. They have been here since they started play. If you have ever attended a live poker tournament, you know that it can be an extremely boring experience. Tuan Lam's railbirds have easily adapted. They're playing hand-held video games. Whenever the announcer mentions that Tuan Lam is in a pot, they quickly shut off their Gameboys and scream, "Tuan! Go Tuan!"

You can watch his WSOP FT interview here.

"The more money I make in the World Series, the more I can donate to help the poor people of Vietnam."

[luvrhino]

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Jerry Yang is a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from southern California. He holds a Masters Degree in health psychology. Yang was born in Laos. He is married and has six children.

Jerry has two sons and five daughters.

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Ummm. So does he have 6 or 7 kids?

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Way to make fun of Jerry's hermaphroditic child during his 15-minutes of fame.

Jerk.

[peterpjames]

Thanks for doing this thread, it is awesome.

Balla. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Austiger]

Wow Lam looks young.

[Levarkin]

Man, there are just too many feel-good, SE-Asian dude takes Yanqui donks' money and uses it to help out here and at home stories to root for all of them. I guess I'll stick with the dude from Mississauga.

[entertainme]

In seat 7, (probably actually seat 2 if they shouldn't have redrawn), we have 36 year old Moscow citizen Alex Kravchenko, the first WSOP bracelet winner from Russia in the 2007 WSOP Event 9, $1,500 Omaha High-Low 8/OB, (second place was 2p2er MaverickUSC, Bryan Devonshire.) Though Alex is our short stack with 6,5570,000, he brings a lot of experience to the FT.



Alex has a long list of cashes at The Hendon Mob, totaling $551,946 lifetime.

Cardplayer details some of his successes:

Alex Kravchenko is a 36-year-old businessman originally from Archangel, USSR. He has been playing poker for about eight years. He is married and has two children. Kravchenko became the first Russian citizen in history to win a WSOP gold bracelet when he was victorious in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low championship at this year's WSOP – in what was the largest Omaha High-Low field in history.

Russian immigrants have won previously at the World Series. But Kravchenko's victory was clearly a milestone. Kravechenko has an impressive history of poker tournament wins in Europe. He won the Austrian Masters Pot-Limit Championship in 2001. He also won the Russian Pot-Limit Championship held that same year. He also won a Limit Hold'em title at the Helsinki Frezeout in 2002. He has cashed over 30 times in what is becoming an illustrious poker career.

This is Kravchenko's fifth time to cash at the WSOP in 2007. Kravchnko faces the biggest challenge of any player in the finale, as the lowest stack at the table.

Here's a video interview with Alex after winning his Omaha bracelet.

Pokerlistings has an interview with Alex on July 14 including:

How do the Moscow games compare to your experience here?

There are many more Limit games here. I like Limit games; and mixed games. In Europe it's bad - there are almost no tournaments like this. I really like these tournaments: Hi-Lo Split, Stud, Stud Eight-or-Better, H.O.R.S.E. - just I'd like the structures to be better.

I think the structures here this year were not good. It was too slow in the beginning and too fast on the second day.

In Europe, the difference is it's almost only No-Limit Hold'em. I would like it to be more mixed, with different games. I think people play well, both here and in Europe - I don't see any big difference. The structures here are just better, so there's more play. There are more flops; and there is more play.

That's the difference - generally the structures are much better than in Europe. I mean with No-Limit events - I can't compare the Limit events, because there are no Limit events in Europe; but if I compare No-Limit Hold'em events, the structures are better here.

Watch his WSOP FT interview here.

Beat: Alex reports he's got a cold from all the air conditioning and hasn't been feeling well.

[DHV Champ]

Although he played stud for three decades, Rahme has only been playing the game of hold'em for about two years ...

This is listed as a snippet out of Cardplayer. Well, in the WSOP Interview there´s no word about thirty years of Stud (though asked twice about it), but only the phrase that he´s been playing poker for two years ...