The luckiest player among the nine at the final table of the just-completed World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, was not the player who ended up in first place and won the tournament.

It was the player who ended up in seventh place!

That’s because the seventh-place finisher, David “Chino” Rheem of Los Angeles, California, USA, has an outstanding arrest warrant out for him from a Hollywood, Florida, USA, court. Rheem didn’t know whether Hollywood cops would be in Vegas to bust him when he showed up there earlier this week for the completion of the WSOP Main Event.

Rheem showed up.

The cops didn’t.

Lucky for “Chino.”

Hollywood police have not offered any explanation why they weren’t on hand to take Rheem back to Florida.

They knew he would be in Vegas for the resumption of the WSOP Main Event, as a Florida newspaper had informed them about it months ago.

Most likely, the Hollywood Police Department didn’t want to spend the money to go to Nevada and pick him up, as the warrant was not for a felony, but for a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

Police departments generally don’t spend the money to send officers all over the country to round up people wanted on misdemeanors, which can only bring up to a year in jail for a conviction, unlike the more serious felonies.

Nevertheless, Rheem is still an ex-convict, and it would have been highly embarassing for the WSOP had he won the Main Event.

The Sun-Sentinel, a newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, reported after Rheem made the WSOP Main Event final table four months ago that he was convicted eight years ago in Broward County, Florida, on criminal charges of burglary, dealing in stolen property, larceny and marijuana possession.

The burglary and stolen property charges were felonies and the larceny and marijuana possession charges were misdemeanors, the newspaper reported.

For the offenses, Rheem was sentenced to a total of four months in prison, followed by 30 months of probation, the newspaper reported.

Then, in 2003, Rheem failed to appear in court on a misdemeanor trespassing charge in Hollywood, Florida, the newspaper reported.

For that charge, a court order was issued for his arrest, and that arrest warrant remains active, the newspaper reported.

Hollywood cops may not have thought it was worth it to fly to Vegas to nab Rheem, who now lives in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Should Rheem come to Florida to play in a poker tournament, however, the cops might think differently.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)