We catch up with the Final Table players.
Darren Kramer is looking and sounding really confident, and has a real air of calmness about him. “With a big win already in the bag this week the pressure is really off me,” he says. “This has really allowed me to make the best decisions about how to play a hand rather than let the card always dictate how I play. The confidence I have taken from my win has fueled more confidence in me throughout the tournament, and the fact that I have been here before means that a lot of the pressure is off. As chip leader I can also put pressure on the other players, forcing them into mistakes especially as the small stacks try to make a few moves at the start of final table play.” Kramer says that he biggest rivals tonight are Nic Sissou, Ray Rahme and Conrad Coetzer.
This is Nic Sissou’s second final table, and he hopes he can emulate his win around the same time last year in another live tournament. “I have been confident since Thursday and playing smart poker,” says Nic. “I haven’t had my chips all-in once this tournament, I haven’t bluffed and haven’t folded unless I really needed to. I have playing strong hands well.
In terms of the final table showdown, there will be the early cash shoot as the small stacks look to increase this standing, and with the blind structure in play we should see a lot of all-ins a bit later on as well. I will obviously be weary of Darren, Ray and Conrad, but I predict a heads-up with my good friend and business partner Gilbert.”
Gilbert echoes this sentiment, and says that Darren Kramer and Nic are the main contenders in his eyes. In his third AAPT and first final table Gilbert says he hopes to have a smoother run of play than the last two days, which have been “up and down”.
Miguel Milheiro has been a surprise package in this tournament, in only his second AAPT. Miguel says his road to AAPT started when he watched the tournament on DSTV from his home in Mozambique, which resulted in him and his friends deciding to make it to Swaziland. Two of his friends have run deep, placing within thr top 20. “This is a dream to be on the final table and I hope to go all the way. I am worried about all the players as I feel that I am the underdog, I have seen most of them play on TV so know what I can expect. What ever happens, my goal was to make the final table and I have done that.”
Deon Anthony says that he has been luck so far in the tournament, an hopes to carry some of that luck through to the final table. “But I believe that you make you own luck, so I am going to play to my strategy and put chips into the middle on the best hands.
Mauro De Rose, in his 5th AAPT says he is happy to have broken his final table duck. “I am short stacked, so the guys will be gunning for me. Darren, Ray and Nic are going to go for it, but I still think it is anyone’s game. Having finally proved that I can do it I hope to go all the way.”
Ray Rahme is no stranger to this situation, and his wife says that she has the same feeling she did at the 2007 WSOP. “Darren and Nic are my biggest threat, but the big blinds can knock anyone out too.”
Andre Rheeder, who loves the game of poker and plays with his friends all the time, says he came here with three goals – be the person from Bloem to go the deepest, make it to day 3 and make the final table. “With that done I have a new goal – and that is to go all the way.”
Conrad Coetzer’s first time at the final AAPT table is not his first final table. “While everyone thinks I am strong I find it funny that I have never made and AAPT final table. I am not worried about the big names, as I know what to expect from them, it is the players I don’t know that I will be watching out for.”
