button in Safari
Aidan Jacobs Continues Years of Triumph With a Victory in the 2026 APC Tanzania Main Event for $48,000
The conclusion of the first ever African Poker Championship (APC) Main Event at Le Grande Casino in Dar Es Salaam became a challenge of endurance on the final day, which lasted more than 17 hours to whittle down a field of 256 entries to the eventual champion. Only the top 32 spots were paid a share of the $215,040 prize pool in the inaugural APC Tanzania $1,000 Main Event and all of it was up for grabs on Sunday, October 4, 2026.
In the early Monday morning hours, South Africa's newest rising star Adriaan Jacobs jumped out of his chair with a vivid "get in" after defeating the UK's Anuj Sareen heads-up to claim the top prize of $48,000. Known to most in the close-knit South African poker community as Aidan, he became the country's youngest WSOP bracelet winner this past summer when he won the $600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold'em event only a few weeks after turning 21 years old.
Sareen show-cased his poker talents in Tanzania after making the trip to show none other than Dan "Jungleman" Cates around and eventually finished as the runner-up for $32,000, while Jacobs recorded his second trademark victory of the year in the brand new live poker tour on the African continent, which has been founded by the creator of the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) Marc Joseph.
Among the finalists were also Cliton Taliwanth, Steven Radloff, as well as Le Grande Casino owner Costa Giannakopoulos and his son Panayiotis Giannakopoulos, the latter of which became the first two casualties of the final table.
Main Event Final Table Result
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aidan Jacobs | South Africa | $48,000 |
| 2 | Anuj Sareen | United Kingdom | $32,000 |
| 3 | Tome Dinh | Viet Nam | $22,240 |
| 4 | Steven Radloff | South Africa | $16,000 |
| 5 | Cliton Taliwanth | South Africa | $12,000 |
| 6 | Reagan Naidoo | South Africa | $9,100 |
| 7 | Dimitri Hadjipaschali | South Africa | $7,100 |
| 8 | Costa Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | $5,800 |
| 9 | Panayiotis Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | $4,700 |
Considering that the average was incredibly high, it came as somewhat of a surprise to see how quick the eliminations kept piling up. Within the first two levels, the money bubble burst and among those to leave empty-handed was long-time big stack Banks Solomons, who lost two big pots to Benjamin “Guppie” Lingenfelder Jr.
Steven Radloff then knocked out Shazin Rehmtullah and Mr KING, finding suited cards in both hands to score the final blow. Hand-for-hand mode on the stone cold money bubble was supposed to come next but never kicked in, as Franco Da Matta saw his ace-high flush on a paired board get smacked by the flopped quads tens of Dimitri Hadjipaschali. Just like that, everyone had locked up a min-cash of $2,000 and a flurry of eliminations followed.
Manuel Cardoso was the first casualty in the money after losing a flip to Panayiotis Giannakopoulos, which left his wife Maria Cardoso still in contention. The tournament of Marko Nortje came to an end when his straight and flush draw came up short to the pocket pair of Alfred Magani. He was soon followed to the payout desk by fellow South African Jaryd Jardien, who suffered three setbacks in a matter of minutes.
In just over six levels and a quarter, the nine-handed final table was set also thanks to the rush hour of Cliton Taliwanth who sent several opponents to the rail en route to go from middle of the pack to chip leader after a double knockout with eleven players remaining. The speed of how things unfolded came as a surprise because the average was always between 60 and 70 big blinds during that period, yet it didn't stop the field from being whittled down quickly. Little did everyone know that the final table itself would last nearly two times as long as getting from 39 hopefuls to the final nine.
The Giannakopoulos father and son duo made the final table but unfortunately, they were also the first two casualties. Aidan Jacobs earned a full double through the son with aces full against trips kings and finished the job he had started soon after. Having been a wrecking ball of sorts during the entire Main Event with his super aggressive play, it was a rather disappointing ninth place finish for him. His father and owner of the Le Grande Casino then became short in a series of hands and then missed an open-ended straight draw to bust against Dinh's kings for an overpair.
Bubble burster Hadjipaschali became the next casualty when his then short stack went into the middle with ace-five suited. Taliwanth was involved with pocket tens and got away from it whereas Jacobs prevailed with pocket kings.
From there on, however, the entertaining Tome Dinh from Vietnam slowly but surely ascended to the top of the leaderboard and continued to pull away. Reagan Naidoo lost a flip to Jacobs with pocket fours to ace-king because an ace appeared on the river. The lead changed soon after with Jacobs taking control and Dinh not far behind.
Taliwanth's roller coaster ride on his third final table appearance of the festival in Tanzania ultimately ended in fifth place at almost midnight local time. He three-bet jammed a shorter stack with ace-nine suited and Sareen woke up behind him with pocket jacks to flop quads, sealing the knockout in an instant.
The very talkative and somewhat tipsy Radloff bowed out in fourth place when his jack-four suited flopped two pair only for Dinh to hit a set of fours. During three-handed play, Sareen was the chip leader all of a sudden while Jacobs was the shortest stack. He doubled through Dinh two times and the second clash left the player from Vietnam on fumes. Jacobs sent Dinh packing soon thereafter and entered heads-up play with a small lead.
The battle back and forth culminated in a big preflop all-in with Jacobs hitting the superior two pair and Sareen was left on a handful of big blinds only. However, three double ups later the heads-up duel was seemingly wide open again. There was, however, no comeback this time as the Brit's ace-deuce hit trips aces on the river only to jam into the turned flush of Jacobs to end the tournament at 3.15 a.m. local time.
This wraps up the PokerNews live coverage of the first-ever African Poker Championship here in Tanzania and further stops of the brand new live poker tour in Africa are expected to be announced in the near future.