Famous Players

Raymond Rahme

Sixty-two year-old Raymond Rahme only started playing no-limit hold'em two years ago. This life-long seven card stud player is a semi-retired entrepreneur from South Africa and is part of a television program that has followed him here to Vegas. Rahme has a large contingent of South Africans here with him in Las Vegas and was responsible for breaking the final table bubble by busting the tenth place player after flopping a set of queens.





Mena Suvari

A couple of years ago the beautiful young actress who became famous as the vampish cheerleader in American Beauty (1999) was working on a film with Nicholas Cage in New Orleans. It was there that she started hanging out in casinos, learning first to play Texas Hold'em, then moving on the Seven Card Stud. An avid fan of the game, she uses her petite good looks to her best advantage, probing herself to be extremely knowledgeable and a fierce competitor.





Ted Forrest

Gained renown for his ability to play almost any hand against his competitors, he was part of a consortium that played billionaire Andy Beal in heads up holdem in extremely high stakes; he has won 5 bracelets and 1 WPT title. He used to primarily play cash games but is now a strong tournament player.








Chris Ferguson

By 1999, Chris had spent exactly half his life at UCLA. After five years as an undergrad and another 13 as a graduate student, UCLA awarded him a Ph.D. in Computer Science and told him it was time to leave the nest of academia. He went reluctantly.

He didn't wander very far. A year later and only 300 miles away, it was new school meets old school as Chris defeated TJ Cloutier to win the Main Event in the 2000 World Series of Poker. It marked the beginning of a professional career, with a record unmatched by any player of the last decade.

Long before any of today's popular poker sites existed, Chris started playing over the Internet on an IRC channel, and quickly became its highest ranked tournament player. In 1994, he recognized that his knowledge of game theory was a powerful weapon and began playing in the small tournaments in and around LA. A year later, Chris played in his first World Series of Poker event. Despite playing relatively few tournaments in those first five years, he made seven final tables and had 12 money finishes, peaking at fourth place.