World Series of Poker main event down to final four

His failed gambit to double his dwindling cache of chips boosted Rahme, a 62-year-old former bed and breakfast inn owner from Johannesburg, to a distant second behind Jerry Yang, a who used aggressive play to eliminate three other players in the first five hours of the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.

Only minutes earlier, Hevad Khan, 22, from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., became the fourth player eliminated when his ace and queen of spades couldn't top a pair of jacks belonging to a surging Yang. Khan didn't seem disappointed with sixth place and his $956,243 payday as he celebrated with friends in the audience.

When play resumed, Jack Effel, tournament director, offered congratulations to the remaining five players.

"You are all millionaires," he said before guards brought in metal cases and unloaded the winner's $8.25 million share on a table.

Kalmar bet all his chips on an ace of spades and king of hearts, but lost to Rahme's pocket jacks when the common cards provided neither player any help.

The pot was 10.4 million chips. Yang, a Hmong psychologist from Temecula, Calif., who says he uses his ability to read players as a weapon, piled up a 71.3 million in chips by Kalmar's ouster. He faced an eclectic group of poker unknowns including Rahme, a grandfather from South Africa who vowed not to be bullied, and Tuan Lam, a Vietnamese Canadian who once couldn't get hired as a dishwasher but read through a bluff by former champ Scotty Nguyen on his way to the final table.

Rahme had 30.1 million in chips, followed by Lam, a 40-year-old online player from Mississauga, Ontario, with 17.5 million. Alex Kravchenko, a 36-year-old businessman from Moscow, had 8.7 million.

The elimination of Kalmar and Khan followed exits by poker pro Lee Watkinson and computer engineer Lee Childs, who both lost head-to-head, all-in bets against Yang. Yang, 39, started the day eighth in chips before quickly building his pile.

"I was playing for the bracelet," Watkinson, a 40-year-old animal rights activist from Cheney, Wash., who finished eighth and took home $585,699. "I wasn't going for third, fourth or even second. I wanted to make a play and be a contender."

Childs a 35-year-old from Reston, Va., who quit his job a month ago to play poker for a living won $705,229 for his seventh-place finish.

"My goal when I came in to the tournament was to trust my instincts, make the right decision and hopefully not get unlucky," Childs said. "I was that close to doubling up."

First to fall was Philip Hilm, a 31-year-old Dane who lives in England. He won $525,934 for his ninth-place finish after busting out on the day's 15th hand. Watkinson's exit left Kravchenko as the only one at the table with a World Series bracelet.

Watkinson won a pot-limit Omaha event last year, while Kravchenko, a 36-year-old businessman from Moscow, became the first Russian to win a bracelet with the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low event this year. Play began shortly after noon and was expected to continue into the night.

The finalists ranged in age from 22 to 62, and hailed from five nations: the U.S., Canada, Russia, England and South Africa. By birthplace, players also were from Laos, Vietnam and Denmark.

"The final table says a lot about the globality of poker and the globality of our fans," said Jeffrey Pollack, World Series of Poker commissioner for event owner Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

The nine players who began the day were all that remained from a field of 6,358 players that began to play down in stages July 6. Everyone paid or won $10,000 to enter the main event, the biggest poker tournament of the year.

Each finalist brought a different set of tools to the table.

Yang said he used his professional training to pick up tells at the felt. He won the day's first two pots, and five of the first nine.

"I spend a lot of time studying my opponents very carefully," he said. "I try to create a mental image of my opponents and use that as a weapon. If I have to fire big bets, I'll do it."

Rahme demonstrated his ability to make crucial calls against big-bet bluffs late Sunday.

"I won't let them intimidate me," Rahme said.

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Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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