2007 World Series of Poker

Last 9 Hands: 161-169

Jerry Yang busted two players inside of three hands. In case you were counting, three-handed play lasted two hands. Jerry Yang won both and busted Raymond Rahme in third place. Yang has won 67 out of 169 total hands. Yang also happens to hold 81% of the total chips in play. One last Yang stat... he has busted six out of the seven players who have been eliminated.

20-Minute Break

Now that Raymond Rahme has finished his ESPN interview, the players take a 20-minute break. This will give ESPN time to prep the table for heads-up play.

PokerNews Video: Alex Kravchenko - 4th Place Finisher

PokerNews grabbed 4th place finisher Alex Kravchenko, who has already won a bracelet at this year’s WSOP, just after busting from the final table of the Main Event.

Click here to see the interview with Alex, along with all the other videos from the Main Event.

A Farewell Song for Raymond Rahme

"I have a lot of respect for you," said Jerry Yang as he emphatically shook Raymond Rahme's hand moments after Rahme's elimination.

Even in the face of an elimination, the South African railbirds chanted a farewell song for Rahme as he slowly walked over to them to be consoled. The entire crowd rose to its feet and gave him a standing ovation, the loudest by far out of the other seven eliminations.

Before he left the stage to be interviewed by ESPN, one of Rahme's friends tied a South African flag around his neck. Rahme held his head high as he headed towards the spot where they taped his exit interview.

Hand #169 - Raymond Rahme Eliminated in 3rd Place ($3,048,025)

Hand #169 - Jerry Yang has the button in seat 4, he raises to 2.6 million, Raymond Rahme reraises from the big blind to 8.6 million, and Yang calls. There is already 17.725 million in the pot.

The flop comes , Rahme checks, Yang bets 10 million, and Rahme moves all in for 27.35 million. Yang clearly isn't pleased, but he waits for a count of Rahme's stack. It's another 17.35 million for Yang to call.

Yang goes into the tank for several minutes, and the crowd is silent, with just whispers heard as people guess what the hands might be.

After about four minutes, Jerry Yang quietly says, "Alright, I call." The crowd applauds, and then it gets silent again as they wait to see the cards. When Rahme flips over his cards, Yang throws his hands in the air and yells, "Yes! Yes!"

Rahme has , but Yang shows for a pair of aces. Rahme is behind, and he'll need a king or something runner-runner to stay alive.

The turn card is the , and Rahme needs a king to survive.

The river card is the , and Yang jumps for joy off the stage and into the crowd to celebrate with his friends and family. Tuan Lam walks over to Raymond Rahme to shake hands and offer congratulations. Yang leaves his fans on the rail to give Rahme a hug, and then the crowd breaks into applause for Raymond Rahme.

Raymond Rahme is eliminated in third place, earning $3,048,025.

There will be a short break before heads-up play begins.

Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela!

Raymond Rahme paid a quick visit to Jack Effel at the end of the break in front of the media table and asked, "Do you know what today is?"

Jack replied, "No I don't, what is it?"

"Do you know who Nelson Mandela is?" Ray asked.

"Yes I do," Jack said.

"This is going to be broadcast on ESPN, yeah?"

Jack nodded his head.

"Well you send him a message and let him know that I'm going to bring the bracelet home to Africa!" Raymond said with confidence and a smile.

When play resumed, Jack granted Ray's wish and lead the crowd in wishing Mandela a happy 89th birthday.

The 25,000 Chips Disappear and Reappear During the Break

During the last break, there was a race off of the peach (25,000) chips. There was just one problem -- there was still an hour left with antes of 75,000.

Who discovered the error? PokerNews. With Garry Gates tracking each and every bet, and BJ Nemeth (me) and Jen Creason double-checking the physical chips during the breaks, we realized the counts were off after the color up. That's when Gates pointed out that they still need the 25,000s for another hour.

We quickly contacted Jack Effel, and he immediately corrected the error. By the time the players were back and ready to play, a few stacks of 25,000s were back on the table, and we re-counted all of the stacks to make sure everything was right.

After another hour, the peach (25,000) chips will completely disappear, as the antes will increase to 100,000.

The Terminator Is Back?

Jerry Yang has busted five players at the final table. Here's a rundown on the eliminations so far:

Philip Hilm - eliminated on Hand #15 by Jerry Yang.

Lee Watkinson - eliminated on Hand #21 by Jerry Yang

Lee Childs - eliminated om Hand #28 by Jerry Yang

Hevad 'Rain' Khan - eliminated on Hand #56 by Jerry Yang

John Kalmar - eliminated on Hand #60 by Raymond Rahme

Alex Kravchenko - eliminated on Hand #167 by Jerry Yang

107

In case you were not counting, there were 107 hands of four-way play. Action is down to three. Yang is back to holding more than half the chips in play.