Poker Player - Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan
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Hevad Khan, known affectionately as Rain, worked very hard to make it to the Final Event. He attended school at State University New York Albany. Rain is amazingly focused and has been known to play up tow 45 online games at a time on his home computer. Talk about multitasking. Some days he has trouble with patience but not at this time not for this tournament. He focused and patient but he made the mistake of pushing all-in against the dominant player, Jerry Yang.
The action took place at the 38th annual World Series of Poker event. This is a tournament that draws players all over the world not for just the money, though that is very tempting. No, it’s more than that. People flock to the casino in Las Vegas that sponsors the event to pit their skills against one another, to be among the best and try their hand at winning.
Can just anyone participate? Not quite but almost. You can qualify by paying $10,000 in advance or if that is to rich for your blood, you can go to one of the satellite events and earn a spot in the Final Event. Several of the top eight winners did just exactly that. This really does make poker one of the most democratic games in the world.
After you work your was through the lesser tables and have proved you are Last Event Worthy, that’s when the real fun begins.
A young man like Khan is popular as much for his personality as for his skill. He insists that he has developed focus and patience, and tells us that when the blind gets too heavy you just have to play with what you’ve got and play to win.
Rain had a wonderful run until he made a bad choice and began pushing against Jerry Wang. Khan made a $3 million bet from behind the small blind and Yang called. Rain went all-in and began pushing his chips over before he could see the flop. Very dramatic and so very typical of Rain.
The Flop came King of Clubs/2 of diamonds/4 of spades and Yang called to show pocket Jacks. Khan turned over the Ace of Spades and the Queen of diamonds. With a 4 of clubs on the Turn and a 3 of spades on the River, Rain Khan bit the dust and was eliminated form WSOP, cashing in for $956,243.
It’s hard to imagine the confidence of a 22-year-old professional poker player. He has moved around the country a good del and lives in both the San Francisco Bay area, and Las Vegas. His ability to multi task borders on idiot savant material. He wan his entry into the WSOP events was based on his performance in a satellite event sponsored by the WSOP. Although he has no bracelets to his credit at this time, there is little doubt that if Rain wants to return to Vegas he will be welcomed with open arms. His plans are to relax and regroup with his friends and then begin using poker tournaments as a reason to travel around the world With a win of close to a million dollars, he should be able to do that quite nicely. Not only will he season himself as a human being but his poker playing abilities will hone along with the rest of his attributes.
In 2006 Khan created a mild sensation throughout the Internet. His screen name RaiNKhaN was playing at up to 28 different tournaments at a time. Some people thought he simply couldn’t be keeping up with that many games and suspected he may have been using a “bot” or a software program that plays hands with a predetermined strategy. Since bots are illegal eventually one of the online poker rooms launched an investigation. He was cleared of all allegations but the legend will go on in his name.
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