Gambling Today

Three PokerStars players have earned a combined $8,845,249 at the final table of the 2007 World Series. Tuan Lam, Raymond Rahme, and Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan all made it to the biggest final table in poker and put on a great show for the world.

Tuan Lam, 2nd place, $4,840,981

Raymond Rahme, 3rd place, $3,048,025

Hevad Khan, 6th place, $956,243

Lam, Rahme, and Khan join scores of other PokerStars players who won millions in this year’s main event. Be sure to check out the list of all PokerStars World Series Main Event winners.

Here’s a list of all the reports from the final table:

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 1)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 2)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 3)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 4)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 5)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 6)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 7)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt.

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 9)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 10)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 11)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 12)

2007 World Series: Final Table Coverage (Pt. 13)

This has been a very long seven weeks on Las Vegas with too many stories to list here. We saw members of Team PokerStars make multiple final tables. We saw Supernovas win bracelets. We watched Team PokerStars’ Katja Thater win her first World Series bracelet. Finally, we again witnessed how powerful a PokerStars field can be when it brings its online experience to the live felt. For a look back at the entire summer, be sure to visit our 2007 World Series coverage page.

I can’t let this final post from the World Series go by without thanking the people who helped make this blog what it has been. Thanks to my co-bloggers Simon Young and Craig Cunningham for their excellent prose, friendship, and support over these past few weeks. I also cannot forget photographer Neil Stoddart and the entire staff of Image Masters for taking the photography on this blog to the next level. I owe many thanks to Matt, Chris, Susan, and Joan for everything from wrangling the players to a couple of key food deliveries that kept me going throughout the Series. Thank you to all the players who were good enough to put up with countless questions, photographs, and intrusions on your game as we sought to tell your story to the world. Finally, I thank you the readers for coming here by the thousands and offering kind comments along the way.

Now it’s time at last to put the World Series to bed. It has been an adventure, but I owe my family seven weeks of life and a lot more.

I’m going home.

How appropriate that this is Part 13 of our final table coverage.

Tuan Lam, after making it heads-up for the World Series Championship bracelet has just finished in second place. He got all-in with AQ versus Jerry Yang’s 88. Lam looked good for his second double up during heads up place when the flop came down 5Q9. Good fortune, however, would not continue to go his way. The turn was a seven, opening up four more outs for Yang’s eights. Only an eight or a six would keep Lam from doubling up.

A six fell on the river, giving Yang the straight and forcing Lam into a second place finish. Still, it was an amazing run for Tuan “BABYHAN” Lam. He walks away this morning with $4,840,981.

More details to come.

It was the hand of the tournament so far.

Jerry Yang had raised to 2.6 million and PokerStars’ Raymond Rahme re-raised 6 million more. Yang called. When the flop came J-8-A the South African checked, Yang bet 10 million and Rahme moved all in over the top for 17 million more.

Yang looked like he had been caught. He paced back and forth, muttering to himself, ignoring the crowd’s whispers. “There’s a friggin’ lot of money in there,” he said.

We on the rail started to note things. Raymond so rarely made this kind of move. It seemed almost certain he was good and had sprung a deadly trap.

Raymond sat up on his knees, his ESPN microphone transmitter hanging off his belt. He leaned across the felt, his face the same mask of seriousness it had been since he put in the re-raise. And then something odd happened. Raymond started talking. From our spot about twenty feet away, we couldn’t hear what he said. Regardless, Raymond’s voice seem to startle Yang.

Yang immediately stopped his lion’s pace and sprang for the table.

“What?” he said. It was if he could divine the secrets of the universe if Raymond would just repeat himself. Raymond obliged.

And there began a one-minute conversation that we couldn’t hear. When the ESPN broadcast comes out, we knew it would be one of a few things we’d be waiting for. Whatever Raymond said, it seemed to set Yang onto a different course.

We turned to each other and agreed Raymond wanted the call. The leaning forward on the table, the spontaneous talking–they seemed like reverse tells and Raymond was hoping Yang would step into the trap.

Later we learned from Tuan Lam what Raymond said:

“Make your decision.”

Tuan Lam said, “As soon as he said that, I knew he didn’t have it.”

That was surely what Yang thought as well, because it was just a couple minutes later that he muttered, “Alright, I call.”

The crowd was already on its feet. Now it surged forward. It took about ten seconds for the hands to be revealed, but when they were, Yang pumped his fist, and we knew we were wrong about Raymond. He didn’t have a set. He didn’t have AK with the heart flush draw. He had a pair of kings, needing a king or runner-runner to win. Yang held A5.

The turn was a 3 and the river a 2, and Rahme’s sensational run at the World Series was over.

With that Raymond Rahme busted in third place of the World Series of Poker Main Event after his pocket kings were cracked by Jerry Yang’s A-5. After a day when he see-sawed in chips - up to 30 million at one point, and down to 15 million at another - Rahme goes home with $3,048,025 having fought to the bitter end.

“Emotionally I will get over this in about ten minutes,” he said. “Quite simply, I made a mistake, the only one I think I have made in the whole tournament. But I am happy with myself and how the tournament went. I said I wanted to go for the bracelet once we were down to four players, and I think I did that.”

At 62 - and the oldest player to make the final table - you could forgive the father-of-six for being physically exhausted. “No, I feel physically 100% - I feel 40, not 62. And, yes, I shall be back here next year at the age of 63!”

His exit propelled Yang to a huge 104,445,000 in chips to Tuan Lam’s 23,025,000. With Yang’s relentless aggression we should have a new champion soon.

That leaves the one remaining PokerStars player left in a quest for the bracelet.

***

Tuan Lam was standing in the airport booked to Vietnam. His luggage was loaded on the plane, but something stirred inside him. “I just felt like I needed to play in the Main Event, and so I decided to head to Las Vegas instead.” After he finally convinced the airline to remove his luggage, he headed to the Rio to play in the WSOP $10k No Limit Hold-Em Championship.

He was shaken when he left to eat at the dinner break. “My confidence was low, but when I won with the K-Q hand, it was back. I kept playing my best game from there. With the A-5 hand, I got lucky. But I play short-handed and heads-up a lot.”

Tuan jumped from his chair when Jerry Yang made his incredible call of Raymond’s all-in, reveling in the moment amidst his friends and family. They went outside beside the temporary tent to have some peace before the battle ahead. “Jerry is aggressive, he raises and puts pressure on. I understand this, and I can play with him.”

He is at a significant chip disadvantage, no question. He may not win the bracelet tonight. Tuan has significant experience in this situation, so he won’t be intimidated and he won’t have many, many heads-up battles to draw from.

He’s ready to battle Jerry Yang for the most cherished title in all of poker.

If this final continues in the same fashion, we will all still be here at Christmas. The same four players have been doing battle for an incredible seven and a half hours since the elimination of Britain’s Jon Kalmar. And far from the chip stacks getting stretched over time, they have condensed, meaning the Gold Bracelet is within everyone’s reach.

Raymond Rahme will be the first to admit that it could have been so very different. Just minutes ago he re-re-raised all in with A-Q and found himself dominated by Jerry Yang’s Q-Q. It looked like we would at last be down to three players, and that Yang would have a soar away lead.

But, this being the World Series, not everything is straightforward. If Rahme was to survive, he needed an A. He stood up, and for the first time the wrinkles on his face betrayed his real age. At 62 he is the oldest player to make a final table. He looked at his supporters in an “oh well, it’s been a good run” sort of way, and in return they shouted for the dealer to put out the A. He did not mess around, putting it on the flop of 9-4-A.

Rahme punched the air in delight and turned to his crowd, who burst into song. Yang now had only the case Q to save him, but the turn and river came 3 and 5. Rahme ran over to hug his family, then, like the gentleman he is, went over to shake Yang’s hand, knowing that he had got lucky.

The pot means Yang is pegged back to 45,600,000, while Rahme, the short stack just an hour ago, is now second and within touching distance on 34,875,000. It’s not a two-horse race, though, as Tuan Lam has 27,800,000, and Alex Kravchenko 19,200,000.

Grab yourself a hot drink and a snack, folks, this one is going to run and run.

While we still have the same four players at the table, the dynamics have changed substantially. Granted, Jerry Yang remains in the lead with more than 50 million, but it is the scrap below that has turned on its head.

Alex Kravchenko, the short stack earlier is now in second place, while Tuan Lam, who replaced Alex as the short stack, has himself now doubled through fellow PokerStars Raymond Rahme, leaving the South African bottom of the pile.

Four-handed at the final table

It was a killer hand, with Jerry Yang raising (yet again) to 2.5 million on the button. Lam announced re-raise all in for a total of 11.6 million - and then Rahme, who has been relatively cautious up to now, moved all in himself. Yang stood and looked at the worn photo of his family that he’s held for key decisions. He thought long and hard about making the call with a chance to bust both PokerStars players. When he folded, we saw Rahme had Q-Q, well ahead of Lam’s A-5 hearts, but the flop came 10-A-10 to move Lam ahead. The 2 on the turn kept him there, and the third A on the river made him the full house for good measure. That hand shot him up to 26.0m. Raymond slipped to 17.1m, visibly stung by the bad beat.

How Rahme deals with being the short stack remains to be seen, but already in the few hands since he raised twice in quick succession - something he has not done until now - then soon after moved all in two hands in a row without resistance.

Earlier, he told us he “felt like a lion” - he’ll need a lion’s heart and courage to regroup now.

After an afternoon and early evening that saw Jerry Yang run roughshod over the final table, the post-dinner break play has evened out the stacks. Back to back double-ups for Tuan and Alex have returned this from a one-man show into a poker tournament.

Now nearing the eleven o’clock hour, the crowds have thinned out and a majority of the media are waiting for the next big thing to happen. The convention center air conditioning has returned to its Arctic ways and people without sweatshirts are either buying one or shivering.

Earlier tonight, we mentioned the possibility of an early evening here. It now seems clear that won’t happen. Yang seems chastened by his after-dinner losses and the other players have slowed down in kind. We are now seeing more measured responses to raises. Instead of raises being met with all-ins, now players are more content to see a flop and play carefully from there.

With Alex Kravchenko doubling through Jerry Yang, the match turned into a four-horse race. Yang dropped below 50m for the first time in quite awhile, with Raymond (30.45m), Kravchenko (27.6m), and Tuan (21.7m) back within striking distance. Anyone who doubled through Yang now would take the chip lead. Yang didn’t pull back, though. He fired 2.0m from the button, and Tuan called. The flop came Jd-4d-3d, and Tuan bet 3.0m into the pot. Yang raised another 6.0m, this time without all the study. It was Tuan who had to figure out if he was beat or not, and he ultimately mucked his hand. A couple more hands, and Tuan was back under 14.0m again.

Among the last moments of residual excitement here revolve around the Tuan Lam’s timely double-up. As we mentioned earlier, Lam is a lot happier when he’s able to play hard, play back, and play aggressive. Below you’ll find a couple of pictures of what it looks like when that kind of play works out.

Players have again headed to break. We are still four-handed and looking for a long night ahead.

Tuan Lam is an aggressive player short-handed, certainly with the most experience short-handed at the table with these four men remaining. And it’s been a painful afternoon for him.

“Ac-Jc is the best hand I’ve had the whole day,” said Tuan as he headed to the dinner break. “I’ve had many, many bad hands today. I’m now in a bad position as I’m getting shorter in chips and the blinds are climbing.”

Tuan tried to get some things going without cards, but Jerry Yang kept getting in the way. “He’s been very aggressive with his stack,” he said. “I’ve had to get away from some hands when Yang has bet into me. When you’re up against a big stack, you have to get some cards.” And they came.

With blinds up to 200k/400k with 50k antes, Tuan and Yang got into it immediately after dinner. Kravchenko limped on the button, Yang completed his small blind, and Tuan checked. The flop came Js-10c-4d, and Yang checked. Tuan bet 1.5m, and Kravchenko folded. Yang raised to 4.5m, and Tuan sat knew what he would do: he moved all-in for his last 10.8m. Yang went through his ritual of studying his opponent, then he quietly announced call. Yang showed As-10h for middle pair and the over, while Tuan showed Ks-Qc. When another four came on the turn, the crowd and spectators grew restless. Tuan needed a nine, ace, king, or queen on the river, and the dealer flipped over Qd.

When the queen hit, Tuan showed the most emotion since he’s been here. He leapt into the stands as his friends and family banged him around like he was in a mosh pit. His chest was still heaving as he stacked the mess of chips in front of him. The drop down to 60.725m didn’t hurt Yang too much, but getting Tuan healthily up to 22.7m may come back to haunt him later.

Since the dinner break, Raymond Rahme seems to be quietly digesting the play at the table around him. As Yang’s stack took a hit, it meant Rahme, a father of six, was within striking distance at last. But he is yet to pounce, instead getting involved in just a couple of the first post-dinner skirmishes, picking up the blinds and antes both times with meaty raises.

The four remaining players are a contrast of behaviors at the table. Alex Kravchenko may have had a facial tic or slight move of his lip, but that was probably seven or eight years ago. He sits erect and upright. When he makes a move, it is a sudden action after a silent wait. He stands behind his cards when he moves all-in, dour faced and sullen.

Jerry Yang has both hands in front of his mouth and studies his opponent intently before acting. That could be thirty seconds or five minutes. He often stands up to make raises, his small stature making it difficult to reach over the oversized poker table.

Raymond Rahme looks like a great character actor in an old British period film. He crunches his face together, leans back, crinkles his forehead. He’s delighted to be here, taking pictures of the cash or heading to his supporters.

Tuan Lam is playing quite deliberately four-handed. His distinctive features are his bushy, spiky hair and his unique sunglasses with their white rims. He pushes up his sunglasses occasionally when faced with a big decision or if he’s out of a pot; otherwise, he stays hidden behind the lenses. He looks ten years younger than his 40+ years, and the hip shades add to the effect.

Kravchenko and Tuan sit together at 16.5m, behind Yang with 65.7m and Raymond with 28.8m. The blinds are 200k/400k with a 50k ante. 800k in the pot is a big target, and Yang has been attacking Tuan to his left relentlessly. Tuan has changed gears from Sunday, playing much tighter with Yang’s big stack at the table. With an M of 20, Tuan still has plenty of time to move in any direction. He just hopes it is into the pot soon, pulling chips into his stack.

Rahme has been far more active, picking up 4 of the last 11 hands before the ninety-minute dinner break, including one big 5 million re-raise from the big blind to Yang’s button raise of 1.5 million. He told us two hours ago he would mean business when it got four-handed, and he is playing it out accordingly.

He has, however, been in a little tit-for-tat skirmish with Alex Kravchenko. On one hand, Rahme in the big blind called Kravchenko’s 1.1 million raise from the under the gun. The flop came A-7-2, Rahme checked but then went all in to Kravchenko’s 1.1 million bet, causing the Russian to fold.

On the very next hand Rahme made it 2.1 million from the small blind, and Kravchenko, as if in retaliation for the previous hand, moved all in for 9.7 million, from the big blind. PokerStars’ Rahme thought for a good few minutes before mucking his cards.

This morning, nearly everyone involved in covering this event had planned to be here until daylight on Wednesday. Now, with more than half the final table gone, some people are already re-booking their flights. At this point, though, it’s impossible to say how late we’ll be here. Dinner break arrives in just a few minutes. That will delay us a bit. After that, the stress of playing for eight million bucks and the kind of deals being a world champion offers may just slow everything down.

“I’m feeling like a lion,” said Raymond Rahme, quite fittingly for a man from South Africa. “It is going exactly as I planned: I’m up about one million from my starting stack today.”

You might think the “it’s going to plan” line is just a throw-away comment, but for Rahme, he means it - and he proved it, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was the payout structure sheet.

“I got this on the day I arrived, and ever since then I have written on it where exactly I want to be at each stage. I update it, of course, as we go along, but right now you can see I am about right.” He pointed to the spot on the sheet where, among the hastily scribbled notes, he was indeed where he wants to be.”

On the sheet, a number of crosses had been put next to the fourth place. What does that mean? “My strategy will be to move when the next person busts, leaving four players. Then I am guaranteed $1.8 million and I shall go after the win.”

Is he not a little concerned by Jerry Yang’s huge stack? “No, I’m not worried at all about him - he should be worried about me!”

Rahme confided that on the hand that Alex Kravchenko doubled through Khan, he would have made the best hand. “When Alex moved in, I had Q-9 and was willing to call, but Khan moved all in with his 3-3. It was a typical internet move, really, and I had to let it go. Of course, a Q and a 9 came on the flop and I would have made two pair!”

Finally, as Rahme headed back into the room after a 20-minute break, we couldn’t resist telling him there were those in the media room who reckon he is a dead ringer for Crocodile Dundee.

“Hardly,” he said, “I’m scared of crocodiles!”

Just minutes after they sat back down, Rahme won a huge pot - knocking out Britain’s Jon Kalmar in fifth place. He raised with J-J, only for Kalmar to move all in over the top with A-K. Rahme said he was feeling like a lion, and called. The board came 9-6-10-3-3, giving Rahme all of Kalmar’s 15 million or so chips. As a result, he soars past the 30 million mark and is now in prime position to battle with Jerry Yang.

Kalmar takes home $1,255,069, and what a difference a week makes. He won his seat for the Main Event in the last satellite at The Rio - and that was after blowing most of his bankroll in the events leading up to it. In fact, he was so disheartened he nearly flew back to Britain early, but the cost of changing his flight was too much!

Across the table, Tuan Lam has been one cool customer through the fireworks around him. In the first fifty-five hands, Tuan raised pre-flop six times, taking the blinds and antes five of those times. Raymond Rahme took down the sixth pot when he bet 2.0m on the flop. Tuan also called one raise and took down the pot on the flop. All of that is good for 19.915m, now in third behind Raymond but quite a distance from Jerry Yang’s 73.0m.

Harrah’s officials and security brought in the $8.25m first prize into the room, and Tuan couldn’t take his eyes off of the monster pile. Dollar bills have been in the middle of the cash bricks, but I doubt anyone will be able to find that out until he is holding them. Tuan and Raymond have moved up from $525,934 to at least $1,852,721.

RaiNKhaN has danced his last step at the 2007 World Series.

Jerry Yang, as we’ve reported here already, has been as active as anybody at the final table. He’d busted every player so far. One time, he’d made a move with J8, only to have it suck out on Lee Child’s KJ. RaiNKhaN no doubt held this in mind as he put together an unorthodox play from the small blind.

It could best be described as a combination isolation stop-and-go. After facing a raise to 1.5 million from Yang, RaiNKhaN made it six million to play from the small blind. This left RaiNKhaN only about three million in his stack. Yang, instead of re-raising all-in, simply called. Before the flop came out, RaiNKhaN moved all-in in the dark. The flop fell K42. Yang didn’t think for long before calling.

Yang ended up turning over JJ against RaiNKhaN’s AQ.

By the river, RaiNKhaN had not caught up and was eliminated in sixth place.

It’s been rare in the past week to see RaiNKhaN get in with the worst of it. He finally decided it was time to start pushing the edges.

“I played as good as I can in this tournament,” he said. “I lost two races in a row. I don’t blame [Yang] for the call. He’s been playing great. I guess it’s just his day. I wish him the best of luck.”

When it was over, RaiNKhaN walked out into a different world. Hordes of media were lines up for interviews. Spectators were waiting with Sharpie markers in hand and requesting autographs.

For the past year or so, RaiNKhaN has been famous as the not-bot in PokerStars SNG lore. Now, he moves on to a different kind of fame…and a different kind of fortune. For his sixth place finish, he earns $956,243.