Two starting days have been completed in the SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event here in Pretoria and the field has been bumped up to 152 entries thus far with another two flights to follow. The ZAR15,000 buy-in ($790) at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria is nearly half-way there to reach the ZAR4,000,000 guarantee and a busy Friday session can be expected on a long weekend with public holiday on Friday, August 9, 2024 in South Africa.
Day 1b surpassed the attendance of the first flight and attracted a field of 87 entries, of which the top 14 finishers were secured a spot on Day 2. Ultimately, the action concluded in the penultimate level of the night as the desired top 15% were reached. Responsible for the final elimination was Imran Bhojani, who also took over the top spot with 666,000 in chips. He surpassed long-time chip leader Jedd Kossew (550,000) and both are already far ahead of Lukman A in third place with 351,000.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imran Bhojani | South Africa | 666,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Jedd Kossew | South Africa | 550,000 | 110 |
| 3 | Lukman A | Tanzania | 351,000 | 70 |
| 4 | Nic Ioannoy | South Africa | 289,000 | 58 |
| 5 | Janno Cazemier | Netherlands | 285,000 | 57 |
| 6 | NT | South Africa | 216,000 | 43 |
| 7 | Darren Kramer | South Africa | 212,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Joe Rahme | South Africa | 183,000 | 37 |
| 9 | Johan De Graaff | South Africa | 180,000 | 36 |
| 10 | Sugen Singh | South Africa | 151,000 | 30 |
| 11 | Anders Hellstrom | Sweden | 147,000 | 29 |
| 12 | Huawei Sun | Botswana | 145,000 | 29 |
| 13 | Jehan Richards | South Africa | 143,000 | 29 |
| 14 | Edgar Antezana | South Africa | 56,000 | 11 |
Notables to advance include Nic Ioannoy (289,000), Janno Cazemier (285,000), Darren Kramer (212,000), the March Main Event winner Sugen Singh (151,000), Huawei Sun (145,000), as well as Jehan Richards (143,000). Edgar Antezana, who had finished 11th in this very event in the Spring Edition here in Pretoria, advanced albeit with the bottom stack of 56,000.
Last player to fall at the end of the night was another local who ran deep in the previous stop. Stephen Courtney saw his hopes vanish when he ran into the trips of active big stack Bhojani, but he has another two chances to try and advance to Day 2 for a possible repeat performance of his 13th place finish.
Among the other notables to bow out throughout the day were the likes of Hennie Appel, the previous runner-up SM, Jamie Vilela, Rayhaan Adam, Marko Nortje, Rudolf Fourie, and David Ng from Mauritius. For Ng, it was a sad day at the poker tables as he became the bubble boy in the ZAR50,000 High Roller after returning as the shortest stack.
The most expensive tournament on the schedule attracted a field of 51 entries to generate a prize pool of prize pool of ZAR2,142,000 ($116,210), which was distributed among the top six finishers after the elimination of Ng. Nico Wiechers was the first casualty in the money followed by Ahmed Karrim. The UK's Max Deveson continued his hot run in live poker tournaments in South Africa with another cash but bowed out in fourth place.
Gavin Sardini had finished in 9th place in the Sunbet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event in March for ZAR107,285 and topped that result with a runner-up finish for ZAR542,000. Greek businessman Costa Giannakopoulos, who owns several casinos in the nearby Tanzania, came into the final day as the chip leader and rode the top stack all the way to victory. His son Panayiotis Giannakopoulos was the penultimate casualty on Day 1b of the Main Event tonight.
Final Result ZAR50,000 High Roller
| Rank | Winner | Country | Prize (in ZAR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | 850,000 | $45,900 |
| 2 | Gavin Sardini | South Africa | 542,000 | $29,268 |
| 3 | Ben | South Africa | 325,000 | $17,550 |
| 4 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 200,000 | $10,800 |
| 5 | Ahmed Karrim | South Africa | 125,000 | $6,750 |
| 6 | Nico Wiechers | South Africa | 100,000 | $5,400 |
Another two starting days in the ZAR15,000 Main Event await on Friday, August 9 with Day 1d kicking off at 11 a.m. local time, featuring a level duration of 50 minutes all the way. Last but not least, the turbo heat 1d is scheduled for 8 p.m. with ten levels of 30 minutes each followed by five 15-minute levels after the end of the late registration.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to bring you all the exciting live poker action in South Africa as we crown another winner in the days to come.
