Raymond Rahme

Poker player biography of Raymond Rahme

Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, Raymond Rahme is one poker player who has his name marked down in history as the very first African to appear at a World Series of Poker Main Event final table. This momentous event happened in 2007, when Rahme also finished third and became the first African to make it to the top five places in the said event. Aside from being African, Rahme also set a record by being the only senior (he was 62 then) at the 2007 championship final table.

Raymond Rahme as the first African player to reach the WSOP final table

Raymond Rahme is actually not that well known on the North American live tournament circuit, although he has been sweeping money from opponents in the various poker tournaments he joins in South Africa. Rahme has placed first and second in two major poker events in his homeland, in addition to his fourth-place finish at the All African Poker Championship -- by far the largest tournament ever held in South Africa.

Raymond Rahme has been playing poker for most of his life, with Seven Card Stud as his favorite game. Even when Hold' em became widely popular and started taking the world by storm, Rahme still stuck with Stud – a poker variant that he's been playing for over 30 years and that many believe is even harder to master than Hold' em. In 2005, Raymond Rahme finally gave in and started playing Hold' em. He soon discovered that Hold' em satisfied his thirst for challenge and competition, and that he had the knack and aggressive playing attitude that was necessary to succeed in the game.

Rahme then began playing in live Hold' em tournaments, as well as in online games at Poker Stars. His fourth-place finish at the All African Poker Championship gave him the chance to go to Las Vegas and participate in the World Series of Poker. It was during the WSOP's main event that Rahme was able to finish third, out of the 6,357 players, and took home $3,048,025. As mentioned, that third-place win also marked the first time that an African player made it to the final table of one of poker's biggest tournaments. Now having over $3 million in his bank account, Raymond Rahme still didn't stop competing, and even cashed at the Aussie Millions in January 2008. There he was able to finish 46th and take home $21,976.

A mere three months after, Raymond Rahme once again raked in a significant amount of money, $67,124 to be exact, by making it to the top 30 at PokerStars' European Poker Tour Season 4 Grand Final. In June 2008, he returned to compete in the All African Poker Championship and won $125,000. Despite having made a total of more than $3 million in his poker-playing, Raymond Rahme claims that the game is still nothing more than a hobby to him -- a million-dollar-generating hobby, that is. When not competing in poker tournaments, Raymond Rahme can be found spending time with his wife Teresa and their six children.

Raymond Rahme is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and still plays online using the screen name "RayRahme."