# Raymond Rahme > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Raymond_Rahme > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Raymond_Rahme.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Rahme > Source revision: 1331599969 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Raymond Rahme** (born 1945) is a South African professional [poker](/source/Poker) player. He was the first [African](/source/Ethnic_groups_of_Africa) to reach a final table at a [World Series of Poker](/source/World_Series_of_Poker) Main Event, finishing third and earning [$](/source/United_States_dollar)3,048,025,[1] equating to some [R](/source/South_African_rand)21,000,000 in his own country.[2] He took his seat at the 2007 Main Event by finishing third at the All Africa Poker Championship, the largest poker tournament ever played on the African continent.[3] Because of this windfall, Rahme has made more money than any other African tournament poker player.[4] ## Early days Rahme left school at the age of fifteen — "I have no formal education behind me [... but] I guess you could say I've been streetwise since an early age"[2] — and bought his first [automobile](/source/Automobile) with money garnered from [illegal gambling dens](/source/Gambling_in_South_Africa) in [Hillbrow, Gauteng](/source/Hillbrow,_Gauteng), where he made ends meet. As an [adult](/source/Adult), however, he became a successful [businessman](/source/Businessperson), involved in such a variety of concerns as [construction](/source/Construction), [car dealerships](/source/Car_dealership), [nightclubs](/source/Nightclub), [bookmaking](/source/Bookmaker), [restaurants](/source/Restaurant) and "you name it".[2] ## Today Rahme and his late wife Bernadette have six children. He plays [online poker](/source/Online_poker) as a member of "Team [PokerStars](/source/PokerStars)" (which sponsored his trip to the WSOP) under the screen name "Ray Rahme",[5] but it is less a passion than a duty now. "I don't really enjoy internet poker," he told *[SA Sports Illustrated](/source/SA_Sports_Illustrated)* recently, "but my contract says I have to play online for sixty hours a month. Internet poker is impersonal. You have no control over the game or your opponents."[2] In 2006, he came into the online game only as a retirement hobby after being introduced to it by a friend:[citation needed] Initially I took part in cash competitions with online players, but I got frustrated because I kept losing money. I was about to give up when my friend suggested I try online gambling, and that's where it all began. I paid R77 to take part in a [satellite tournament](/source/Satellite_tournaments) and made it through to a mini-tournament, where I had to pay R385 to sign up. I won that and was invited to the All Africa Poker Championship in [Swaziland](/source/Swaziland), not online but around the table, and, when I finished in the top four there, I got a travel package of R150,000 to the main WSOP tournament in [Las Vegas](/source/Las_Vegas,_Nevada).[2] He was strongly supported there by a vociferous throng of his countrymen, especially after he eliminated [Alexander Kravchenko](/source/Alexander_Kravchenko_(poker_player)), at which point it burst into a jubilant rendition of "[Shosholoza](/source/Shosholoza)".[2] It was only after the WSOP, however, that he decided to make a [career](/source/Career) of his [hobby](/source/Hobby): "I didn't want to be known as a [one-hit wonder](/source/One-hit_wonder#Other_uses)."[2] Since then, he has picked up victories at [Gold Reef City](/source/Gold_Reef_City) and Emperor's Palace locally, and [Sanremo](/source/Sanremo), Swaziland and the [Aussie Millions](/source/Crown_Australian_Poker_Championship) in [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne), among others.[2] As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,500,000.[6] His 5 cashes at the WSOP account for $3,098,287 of those winnings.[7] ## References 1. [Justgambleforfree.com: WSOP 2007 Main Event Final Table](http://www.justgambleforfree.com/MainEventFinalTable.htm) Accessed 26 November 2007 1. Redelinghuys, Pieter. "Poker Face." *[SA Sports Illustrated](/source/SA_Sports_Illustrated)*, October 2008: 67-68 1. [PokerPages.com profile](http://www.pokerpages.com/players/profiles/97949/raymond-rahme.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005446/http://www.pokerpages.com/players/profiles/97949/raymond-rahme.htm) 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 1. ["Hendon Mob all-time money list"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080517024456/http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/ranking/1). Archived from [the original](http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/ranking/1) on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2007. 1. [pokerstars.com: Team PokerStars - Raymond Rahme](http://www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/raymond-rahme/) 1. ["Raymond Rahme's profile on The Hendon Mob"](https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=88369). *[The Hendon Mob Poker Database](/source/The_Hendon_Mob_Poker_Database)*. Retrieved 25 November 2023. 1. ["Raymond Rahme"](https://www.wsop.com/players/profile/?playerid=34525). *[WSOP.com](/source/World_Series_of_Poker)*. Retrieved 1 April 2024. ## External links - [Card Player profile](https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-players/70034-raymond-rahme) - [Hendon Mob profile](https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=88369) - [WSOP profile](https://www.wsop.com/players/profile/?playerid=34525) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Raymond Rahme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Rahme) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Rahme?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.