Panayiotis bumped it up to 7,500 preflop and was called three ways before table short stack Brian Rettmann moved all-in for 18,200. Giannakopoulos was the first one to call that, followed by another three players.
"Nice hand Moussa," Sugen Singh joked as table chip leader Moussa Soililti was among the callers alongside Mark Da Matta and Kamlesh Mehta.
On the 9♠7♠4♠ flop, Giannakopoulos pushed for 93,400 and forced out everyone as Soililti folded the 5♠5♥ face-up.
Brian Rettmann: A♦K♠
Panayiotis Giannakopoulos: 8♠7♣
Rettmann was behind and couldn't catch any help on the J♣ turn and Q♣ river.
Moussa Soililti had won another big pot, this time off Brian Rettmann when his K♥Q♠ rivered a full house on the Q♦7♦4♥K♣Q♥ runout.
Shortly after on the same table, Panayiotis Giannakopoulos pushed all-in for 40,000 on the J♠10♠9♠ flop. Kamlesh Mehta called and Sugen Singh folded, flashing the J♣.
Harold Brooks raised to 1,500 and Raphael Bsiri then jammed for 16,900. Jaryd Jardien called in the cutoff and Brooks called, albeit already admitted that he was "gambling".
The flop came A♥9♥2♥ and Brooks pushed all-in for 30,400, then jokingly told Jardien "I don't think you can fold".
"I don't think I can," Jardien replied and tossed in calling chips.
Raphael Bsiri: A♣9♦
Harold Brooks: 8♥7♥
Jaryd Jardien: K♥K♣
The 5♦ turn and Q♠ river were blanks and Bsiri bowed out, while Brooks doubled off Jardien.
With around 20,000 in the pot to the K♠3♥2♦8♥ turn, Menesh Keshav bet 18,000 and Banks Solomons called. Keshav then bet the 10♦ river for 25,000 and Solomons quickly called. Keshav tabled the K♣2♣ for flopped kings and deuces to win the pot.
Jonathan Hyman raised to 800 and Hafiz Juma three-bet to 2,300, which Shemir Kamoula in the small blind and Hyman called.
On the K♣4♥3♥ flop, Kamoula and Hyman check-called for 1,000 and did so again for 5,500 on the 9♠ turn. Kamoula then bet the 10♦ river for 17,000 to pick up two callers. He tabled the 9♦8♦ for a pair of nines only which Hyman had beat with the 10♥9♥.
Juma mucked his A♦K♠ and Hyman won the pot, then asked Juma "would you have bet the river if we check to you?"
"Probably not, as it is a straight completing card," the Tanzanian replied.
The next bigger clash over on table nine saw Shemir Kamoula bet the 10♠9♠2♣9♦ turn for 4,000 and Jaryd Jardien called in the next seat. Kamoula then bet the 4♥ river for 13,000 and Jardien raised it up to 31,000. Kamoula used one time bank and called to get shown 2♠2♥ for deuces full of nines by Jardien.
One of the highlights on the schedule of the inaugural 2026 African Poker Championship in Tanzania is the $3,000 APC High Roller which has already smashed the $100,000 guarantee during yesterday's first tournament day with 56 entries, of which 26 players returned to their seats. The Prize Pool has already reached $141,120 and the action recommenced just after noon local time in the conference rooms on the ninth floor above Le Grande Casino in Dar Es Salaam with an average of 37 big blinds.
None other than Muaaz Gani is leading the way at the beginning and he is widely considered one of the up and coming live poker players in South Africa with $949,653 in recorded cashes according to The Hendon Mob prior to this stop. However, it is very likely he will cross the $1 million barrier as Gani took down the $5,000 Super High Roller in a field of 24 entries two days ago. Out of a prize pool of $100,800, Gani took home the top prize of $50,000 whereas Fedja from Germany finished in second place for $30,000.
Cliton Taliwanth earned a healthy min-cash of $20,800 after outlasting local player Muzamil Gothey on the money bubble. Other finalists included Costa Giannakopoulos, Thanos Vogiatzis, Praful Patwa, and Xu Yue, French player Raphael Bsiri bubbled the nine-handed final table.
Gani continued his dominance on Day 1 of the $3,000 High Roller to finish atop the leaderboard with four players increasing their 300,000 starting stack to seven figures. This also included Panayiotis Giannakopoulos, Sami Matar and Sheel Pattani while Costa Giannakopoulos narrowly missed out on it by a couple of big blinds.
$3,000 High Roller Top Chip Counts for Day 2:
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Muaaz Gani
South Africa
1,476,000
185
2
Panayiotis Giannakopoulos
Tanzania
1,317,000
165
3
Sami Matar
Lebanon
1,132,000
142
4
Sheel Pattani
Tanzania
1,040,000
130
5
Costa Giannakopoulos
Tanzania
964,000
121
6
Jaco Mouton
South Africa
880,000
110
7
Tome Dinh
Viet Nam
873,000
109
8
Dimitri Hadjipaschali
South Africa
717,000
90
9
Cliton Taliwanth
South Africa
661,000
83
10
Dan Zvonaru
Tanzania
630,000
79
The action of the final day for this event can be followed on the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) YouTube channel right here.
At 2 p.m. local time, the first-ever African Poker Championship Main Event kicks off for the new live poker brand in Africa, powered by the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) by it's founder Marc Joseph from South Africa. The inaugural stop in Tanzania has already been running for nearly a week at the Le Grande Casino in Dar es Salaam and features $500,000 in guaranteed prize pools.
Nearly half of that comes in the 2026 APC Tanzania Main Event, which has a guarantee of $200,000 and contains a price tag of $1,000. A quick glance at the early tournament result indicates that this figure will likely be surpassed as players from near and far have already been making the trip to Tanzania these last few days. It is also the first chance to earn the Tanzanian flag for The Hendon Mob, which will gather the interest of flag hunters such as Dominick French and Andrew Leathem, who just attended a Pot Limit Omaha festival in the nearby Nairobi, Kenya.
Even the mighty Dan "Jungleman" Cates will be here at the venue and players can battle with him in cash games the next few days.
The crown jewel on the schedule has three starting days from September 30 until October 1, 2026, and each of them will play eight 60-minute levels with a 60-minute dinner break included to finish around midnight local time. All survivors return for Day 2 on October 2 where another five levels of late registration and re-entry are available and the last minute entry would come with 25 big blinds to boot.
All players start with 100,000 in chips at opening blinds of 200-300 and a big blind ante of 300 to provide a very deep structure in the very first level. However, don't be surprised if there are already a couple of seat open even in the first two levels to kick off the shenanigans. Poker players can take advantage of the Let's Poker app from Romania to check out all of the available tournaments, cash games and join the waitlist for each as well.
Stay closer than ever to the action with MyPlayers. This brand new, free feature on PokerNews puts your favorite poker players front and center. Whether you're keeping tabs on poker's biggest stars or following a friend grinding their way through a Day 2, MyPlayers delivers real-time updates tailored just for you.
No subscriptions, no paywalls, just the hands, chip counts, and bustouts that matter most. It’s simple: log in, search for any player in our live coverage, hit the star, and they’ll be added to your personalized MyPlayers list. You’ll see their progress across all live-reported events, with chip counts and updates pinned right where you need them at the top.
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The action will also be broadcast on the MJPT YouTube channel and today's coverage includes Day 2 of the $3,000 APC High Roller Day, which has already crushed the $100,000 guarantee. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to keep an eye on the High Rollers while the main focus will be on the opening flight of the 2026 APC Tanzania Main Event.
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