button in Safari
$1,000 APC Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2026 African Poker Championship Tanzania
$1,000 APC Main Event
Day: 1a
Players Left 50 / 82
Filter
Top
Chip Counts
Chip Counts
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
The inaugural Main Event of the newly founded African Poker Championship has kicked off today at Le Grande Casino in Dar es Salaam with the first of three flights attracting a field of 51 entries. With a buy-in of $1,000, the crown jewel of the 2026 APC Tanzania series features a $200,000 guarantee, and plenty of poker enthusiasts from near and far are expected to join the action within the next three days.
After eight 60-minute levels, the field was cut by more than half, and 23 players bagged chips. Leading the way is Australia's Todd Hellyar, who has only a single live poker result from Tanzania to his name, according to The Hendon Mob. Hellyar bagged up 513,000 in chips and had even more chips at his disposal when he cracked aces in a three-way all-in.
A trio of players behind him is separated by ten big blinds, including Shaun Govender (345,500), Xianbin Li (332,000) and Biru Asefa (322,500). South Africa's Mark Da Matta was on his way out for an early exit but spun up a severe short stack all the way to 300,000 for an overnight top-five stack.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1a
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Hellyar | Australia | 513,000 | 205 |
| 2 | Shaun Govender | South Africa | 345,500 | 138 |
| 3 | Xianbin Li | China | 332,000 | 133 |
| 4 | Biru Asefa | Ethiopia | 322,500 | 129 |
| 5 | Mark Da Matta | South Africa | 300,000 | 120 |
| 6 | Jaryd Jardien | South Africa | 293,000 | 117 |
| 7 | Sugen Singh | South Africa | 274,500 | 110 |
| 8 | Menesh Keshav | South Africa | 260,500 | 104 |
| 9 | Keegan Naidoo | South Africa | 259,500 | 104 |
| 10 | Moussa Soililti | Comoros | 242,000 | 97 |
The series is powered by the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) and founded by Marc Joseph, so it comes as no surprise that many players from South Africa made the short trip to Tanzania. Three of the country's most experienced players all advanced in the top ten for Day 1a, including Jaryd Jardien (293,000), Sugen Singh (274,500) and Menesh Keshav (260,500). Further down on the leaderboard are newcomers such as Jonathan Hyman (217,000) and Daniel Scott (153,500).
Among the last players to bust during the final hands of the night was Harold Brooks, who already has several live poker titles under his belt in South Africa. The sole participant from the island nation of Mauritius Patrice Ah-Nien, also failed to turn his first attempt into a bag, as did Gavin Sardini and Banks Solomons.
They all have another two starting days to enter the crown jewel of the festival on October 1 and 2, 2026. That will likely include many of the finalists of today's $3,000 High Roller, which drew a field of 65 entries to create a prize pool of $163,800. More than 1,000 viewers watched the conclusion of the final table on the MJPT YouTube channel, with the action heads-up between Mattia Festa and Obi Zhang at the time of writing.
Stay tuned for the exclusive PokerNews live updates from Tanzania for the remainder of the Main Event with Day 1b set to kick off tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
French player Raphael Bsiri was nursing a severe short stack for a while and eventually lost the last of it before bagging and tagging to end Day 1a with 23 survivors. The full chip counts will be published shortly, a recap of today's action is to follow thereafter.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Just before the last five hands of the night were announced, Harold Brooks flipped against Hongbin Du in the following showdown.
Hongbin Du: 7♣7♦ 
Harold Brooks: K♣J♦
The 10♦7♥4♦9♥9♦ runout gave Du sevens full of nines and Brooks was down to around 15,000, which he lost shortly after.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Five ways to the K♠6♦3♠ flop, Shaun Govender bet 10,000 from under the gun and received three callers. The 3♦ came on the turn and Govender checked as did Zeus A. Todd Hellyar on the button bet 10,000 and was called by Govender and Zeus A. They then checked the 8♠ river and Hellyar said "show us the three" but instead, Govender rolled over the A♣A♦.
Hellyar mucked the K♣ and Zeus A said he also had a king as well.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
There are fewer than half an hour left to be played on Day 1a and the 51-entry strong field has been cut into more than half already. Only 25 players are still in contention and among them is also Hongbin Du. He three-bet to 12,000 and Daniel Scott then four-bet to 32,000. It folded back to Du, who gave it some thought before he folded.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Three ways to the K♦6♥6♣ flop, Sugen Singh and Raphael Bsiri checked before calling a bet of 5,000 by Senlin Liu. The 10♠ turn was checked to Liu again and he bet 11,500, Singh called and Bsiri folded with a lot of frustration while uttering words in French.
Once Singh checked the 9♣ river, Liu bet another 30,000. Singh used one time bank to call and was shown the A♦7♥ for a bluff, which Singh had beat with the K♠2♠ - Bsiri's eyes were essentially rolling on the floor.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Raphael Bsiri raised to 4,000 and then called a click back to 8,000 by Senlin Liu in the big blind. They checked the A♣9♠7♣ flop to the J♥ turn on which Liu's bet of 12,000 forced a quick fold.
Level 8
: Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante
Three ways to the J♦J♣8♣ flop, Abbas Murji bet 6,000 and was check-called by Xianbin Li in the small blind. Both checked the 6♦ turn to the K♣ river on which Li made it 15,000 to go.
Murji burned through one time bank before he folded.
