Historical tournament report. This article describes the 2008 All Africa Poker Tournament. Any accompanying casino offers are historical advertisements whose availability has not been reconfirmed.
Believe it or not Ray Rahme only started playing poker at the age of 60, so it proves that you are never too old to learn.
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Who is Ray Rahme?
Ray Rahme is a South African poker player. He started playing poker late in life, at about 60. Even so, he became one of the best known players in Africa.
In 2007, he became the first person from Africa to reach the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. He finished third and won $3,048,025. That was about R21 million at the time.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 |
| 2nd | Tuan Lam | $4,840,981 |
| 3rd | Ray Rahme | $3,048,025 |
| 4th | Alex Kravchenko | $1,852,721 |
The top four at the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event. A field of 6,358 players entered.
How he got to Las Vegas
Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino in Swaziland runs the All Africa Poker Tournament. Swaziland is now called Eswatini. Rahme qualified for the 2007 Main Event through that tournament. Piggs Peak also paid his costs for the trip.
The 2008 All Africa Poker Tournament
The 2008 event ran from 29 to 31 May at Piggs Peak. It had a guaranteed prize pool of R3.5 million. According to the original report, Rahme won on 31 May 2008. He took home R1 million.
The runner-up, Allistair Didloff, was a late entrant. He played with no re-buys and no add-ons. The report says he spent only R77 in total. He won R400,000 and a trip to Las Vegas for the Main Event.
The prize pool also included ten World Series of Poker packages. Each was worth R150,000. The report lists these players as the new Team All Africa Poker: Ray Rahme, Michael Simoes, Greg Ronaldson, Peter Vermaas, Gordon Harris, James Gubb, Ryan Eber, Darren Miller, Nik Rujevic, David Spangenberg, Reynhart van Rooyen and Allistair Didloff. That list has twelve names, so please check the exact numbers if you need them.
What the organisers said
Wendy Graaf was the Group Marketing Manager of Piggs Peak Casino. She said the standard of play showed that Southern African players can hold their own at the World Series of Poker. She also hoped the team would make more poker history in 2008.
Ray Rahme does it again
