January 31 2012, Chad Holloway

In 2007, the amiable Raymond Rahme was introduced to the poker masses after making the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event, becoming the first person from Africa to do so. Rahme, then 62, the elder statesman at the final table, outplayed some tough competition on his way to a third-place finish and $3,048,025 prize.

Rahme, married with six children, still lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and continues to play poker, a hobby he has enjoyed for more than three decades, though he spent the vast majority of that time playing stud. So how did a 62-year-old retired bed-and-breakfast operator come to play in the WSOP? He actually won a travel package after taking fourth in the 2007 “All Africa Poker Championship”, the largest poker tournament ever held in Africa.

Since his final table appearance, Rahme has racked up some notable tournament cashes. In November 2007, he took first in the All Africa Poker Shootout Tournament for $15,038 and then won another All Africa Poker tournament in May 2008 for $142,371. In addition, he has other cashes from the Aussie Millions, European Poker Tour, WSOP, and WSOP Europe.

PokerNews caught up with Rahme at the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship to find out what he’s been up to since 2007 and how making the final table changed his life.

What have you been up to since your final table appearance at the 2007 World Series of Poker?

I had two and a half good years. I won all the major tournaments in South Africa, cashed in Europe, cashed in London, Italy, and Monte Carlo. Some very good cashes, but no wins, unfortunately, no final tables. Close to it though. I’ve had two Aussie Millions cashes, a 36th and 46th, and Europe also in the thirties, just missing the final tables.

I started to run a bit cold and I also slowed down on the traveling. I have a very big family. A lot of children, grandchildren, a big family, brothers and sisters, so I slowed down on the traveling to spend time with them. I had a bit of a break, about a year and a half. Played a little in between. I played the World Series Main Event, made it down to Day 4 or 5, that’s why I’m having a bit of a bad run. So I just slowed down with it and am starting again this year.

When you made the WSOP final table, did it result in any sort of “boom” in South Africa?

Yes, very much so. It’s still going well there, still big there. Since then there have been a couple of South Africans who’ve had good showings at the World Series like Warren Zackey, who finished took 22nd in 2009, and Konstantinos Mamaliadis, who took 13th in the Main this last year. So we’ve had a couple of good years.

The poker boom was not as big as Australia’s. We’ve only got a certain demographic of the population that plays, but it’s been good.

After your third-place finish, did you make any big purchases?

Just tiny investments. Some were good, some were bad. Properties have been bad, as you know, and I did invest in a bit of property. It’s been rough, but not damaging. That’s about it.

In 2007, they didn’t have the concept of the November Nine, which was introduced in 2008. Is that something you would have liked when you made the final table?

It’s got its pluses and minuses. I think, going into the final nine, I probably would have liked it. The pluses were that you had four months to negotiate deals, whereas I signed a deal when we were down to 37 players. They approached me and I signed then, so the deal I got wasn’t as lucrative as what they’re getting today [with the November Nine]. So that’s the pluses.

The minus is, as a poker player, if went deep and if I got to the November Nine, I may have wanted to play it out. You’re running hot, and you can continue running hot. Yes, it can change, but I thought I could continue running hot and go deeper. [With the November Nine] they have four months to check out the other players and see their style of play . . . To play to win, I think I’d like to play throughout.

What did your family think of your deep run? Were they in Vegas with you?

Only my wife was with me. I had a couple of relations based in Vegas, a lot of South Africans who weren’t family, but they were good to me. Back home, my family never slept. They are nine hours ahead of America, and the kids, my grandchildren, didn’t go to school, because they were watching the updates. My son-in-laws and daughters all sat up. They were very ecstatic.

You spent some time as a Team PokerStars Pro. What was it like being a sponsored pro on the circuit?

I was one for two years. It was very good, they were very good to me. I have no qualms with them. I think they were buckling down a bit, with the perks that they were giving, and maybe I wasn’t happy with it. At the same time, there was just too much traveling. You play ten tournaments abroad, and I was playing tournaments in South Africa, it just became a lot. I opted to go my own way. Also, you go to the same places all the time, and I decided I wanted to go to different places.

Speaking of different places, the Aussie Millions has become quite popular. How long have you been coming to Melbourne?

I’ve been playing this for maybe six years now, since 2007. The tournaments are unbelievable. You can’t say they’re better than the World Series, which gets 7,000 players . . . but outside of that, the Aussie Millions is one of the best tournaments in the world.

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January 31 2012, PokerNews Staff

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the PartyPoker Weekly where we have details on the ever-popular Card Rush promotion returning, the superb Rake-Free Tournaments coming to an end, a World Poker Tour event on the horizon and how to grab yourself a free $50 bankroll. Keep reading to discover more!

Rake Free Tournaments at PartyPoker – One Day Remaining

The fantastic Rake-Free Tournaments promotion has almost run its course though there is still some time left to take advantage of 100% rake free tournaments. Players have until 23:59 tonight to take advantage of this amazing promotion that has seen prize pools swell and players save hundreds and even thousands of dollars in tournament fees.

It is not only the rake-free tournament promotion that is ending but also the exclusive reload bonus too! Make a deposit of at least $5 using the bonus code “RAKEFREE” and PartyPoker will match your deposit amount up to $100, but you need to reload before 23:59 tonight (Jan. 31) otherwise you will miss out.

If you do reload in time, or make your first deposit, then you will also be granted a seat to the Depositors Freeroll which has a massive prize pool of $50,000! This freeroll will take place at 1100 EST on Feb. 5 and the first prize should be thousands of dollars!

Card Rush Returns!

One of the most popular promotions on PartyPoker in recent times is the superb Card Rush where literally millions of prizes are given away, 1.8 million to be exact. Between Feb. 01 and midnight on Feb. 28 players will receive an instant win card for every 15 PartyPoints they earn though PartyPoker are giving every player thir first card for just 5 PartyPoints!

Prizes range from 10-25,000 PartyPoints, freeroll entries worth between $2,000 and $20,000 and even instant cash prizes of between $1 and a staggering $5,000! That’s right, you could win $5,000 in cash by earning just 15 PartyPoints!

In addition to these amazing prizes players can also be awarded Card Rush Race points that could win a $9,000 cash prize! There is a Card Rush Race points leader board that will pay out the top 200 Card Rush Race points earners between $200 and $9,000! Also, PartyPoker will also be awarding $50 to every 20th spot between 220th place and 2,000th place so everyone stands a chance of some free cash!

This will be the biggest and best Card Rush promotion PartyPoker have run. Will you be a part of it?

Qualify For WPT Vienna

The Vienna leg of the World Poker Tour is sure to be one of the highlights of Season 10 and thanks to PartyPoker you could be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the game by winning yourself an exclusive WPT Vienna package worth $7,000.

From Jan. 23 to Mar. 25 satellites will be running in the PartyPoker lobby that award $7,000 packages to WPT Vienna. Each package consists of:

• The $4,700 WPT Vienna Main Event buy-in
• Hotel accommodation for six nights
• $900 spending money
• PartyPoker’s legendary hospitality

A total of 555 players participated in Season 9 with Dimitry Gromov walking away with the huge “447,840 first place prize. Could it be your name being engraved on the Champions Cup in the Austrian capital?

Get a Free Poker Bankroll

If you had a free $50 bankroll, you could start qualifying for WPT events and could even turn a small investment into millions of dollars at the Winter Million.

Thanks to the special relationship between PokerNews and PartyPoker, you can do just this when you cash in on a free $50 poker bankroll.

All players need to do is sign up for a PartyPoker account through PokerNews, and you will get an immediate free credit of $25 into your account. When 200 PartyPoints are earned, you will receive an additional $25! It really is that easy.

To receive your free bankroll, head to our Free $50 No Deposit Page and use the bonus code “PN50Free” as outlined in the walkthrough guide.

If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.

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