With plenty of chips in the middle already and the flop showing 10♦7♠6♦, Dan Zvonaru bet 19,000 to force out Marko Nortje. Yoav Rottenberg then jammed for 42,000 and Zvonaru quickly called.
Yoav Rottenberg: A♥10♥ 
Dan Zvonaru: J♣J♠
The overpair of Zvonaru held on the 3♣ turn and 6♥ river to send Rottenberg to the rail.
Dan Zvonaru squeezed to 13,500 to get called by both Costa Giannakopoulos and Panayiotis Giannakopoulos as they headed to the Q♦J♣7♣ flop. Costa Giannakopoulos bet 22,000 to get called twice and the 10♠ on the turn was checked. Costa bet again for 66,000 on the 9♥ river and forced two folds to show the A♥.
"Good yeah? Friends," he said and Zvonaru replied "good enough".
One hand later, Giannakopoulos reraised to 15,000 in the small blind and Banks Solomons squeezed to 45,000 thereafter. Giannakopoulos pushed all-in and Solomons called to create a massive pot.
Costa Giannakopoulos: A♠A♥
Banks Solomons: K♠K♣
The K♦6♥2♦10♦2♥ board improved Solomons to kings full of deuces. Both stacks were counted and the 192,000 and change of Giannakopoulos were covered.
Four ways to the A♠Q♣3♠ flop, there was a bet for 8,500 in front of Banks Solomons with Panayiotis Giannakopoulos and Dan Zvonaru already having called. Jasbir Panchi then jammed for 22,300 on the button and Solomons in the small blind announced a reraise to 45,000.
Giannakopoulos used one time bank and folded, Zvonaru then pushed all-in and Solomons called to create the next three-way all-in on the outer tables.
Jasbir Panchi: A♣8♦
Banks Solomons: A♥J♠
Dan Zvonaru: Q♠2♠
"Hold please," Solomons said and the wish was granted with the 6♥ turn and 9♦ river. Panchi busted and Solomons doubled off Zvonaru for 86,900.
Giannakopoulos told him "that was an interesting raise" and Solomons replied there would have been "many polarising turns against you two".
The fireworks keep on coming on the outer table when three players got their chips into the middle on the 7♥4♦2♦ flop. Dan Zvonaru had a squeeze to 25,500 out in front before Harold Brooks pushed all-in. Praful Patwa then jammed and Zvonaru called to be also at risk against Brooks.
Praful Patwa: A♦10♦
Dan Zvonaru: Q♣4♣
Harold Brooks: Q♦9♦
"No flush please," Zvonaru jokingly asked for and his wish was granted on the 3♣ turn and Q♠ river. Patwa was eliminated and Zvonaru doubled off Brooks for 99,900.
Harold Brooks raised and then called a three-bet for 4,000 on top by Panayiotis Giannakopoulos. As they headed to the 8♥6♦4♠ flop, Brooks said "check" even though it was not his turn and Giannakopoulos was about to reply to him when Brooks added "I am speaking for you".
Giannakopoulos didn't check, though, and het 6,500 for Brooks to call. They checked the 2♦ turn and Giannakopoulos' bet of 13,500 on the 5♥ won it uncontested.
One hand later, Brooks and Jasbir Panchi built a massive pot that let to the all-in and call on the 4♣4♥3♥9♣ turn.
Harold Brooks: K♠K♣
Jasbir Panchi: Q♦Q♥
The 5♣ river gave Brooks the double for 56,400.
Panchi was then all-in for his short stack with 10♠10♣ versus 8♦8♠ and made the higher flush on the K♣Q♣5♣Q♠4♣ runout.
What a start to the outer table!
In just over one hour from now at 2 p.m. local time, the inaugural edition African Poker Championship in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, will see the second of three starting flights for the 2026 APC Tanzania $1,000 Main Event kick off in the conference rooms of Le Grande Casino. The flagship tournament of the series comes with a $200,000 guarantee and yesterday's opening flight produced a total of 51 entries including 7 re-entries across eight levels of play.
The very same is planned for today with eight 60-minute levels and there is a extended 60-minute dinner break right in the middle upon completion of level four. All players start with 100,000 in chips and that represents 333 big blinds in the first level of 200-300/300. On Day 1a, only 23 contenders bagged up and Australia's Todd Hellyar set the bar very high for all those wishing to become the new chip leader, as he advanced with 513,000 in chips - more than five starting times.
Expected to join the action after running deep in the $3,000 APC High Roller yesterday or busting out from the opening flight are Jaco Mouton, Rudolf Fourie, Harold Brooks, Alvin Pillay, Gavin Sardini, Banks Solomons, and Patrice Ah-Nien of Mauritius from Mauritius.
The conclusion of the $3,000 APC High Roller lasted until approximately 2 a.m. local time and Italian vlogger Mattia Festa came out on top of an 65-entry strong field to claim the largest slice of the $163,800 prize pool for a top prize of $56,000. With Festa's appearance on the final table, more than 1,000 viewers followed the live action from Tanzania on the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) YouTube channel and they got to witness Festa taking over control after start-of-the-day chip leader Muaaz Gani lost a sizeable pot to him.
Tusar Somaiya was the last player to bow out empty-handed after he was eliminated on the cash and final table bubble by eventual runner-up Obi Zhang with ace-nine versus ace-king while Day 1a of the Main Event was still unfolding. Zhang went on to claim $32,000 for his efforts, while Gani bowed out in 7th place for $7,700. That latest prize money will boost Gani to more than $1 million in recorded live poker cashes on The Hendon Mob.
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mattia Festa | Italy | $56,000 |
| 2 | Obi Zhang | China | $32,000 |
| 3 | Dan Zvonaru | Tanzania | $20,000 |
| 4 | Sami Matar | Lebanon | $14,500 |
| 5 | Dimitri Hadjipaschali | South Africa | $11,500 |
| 6 | Cliton Taliwanth | South Africa | $9,000 |
| 7 | Muaaz Gani | South Africa | $7,700 |
| 8 | Tome Dinh | Viet Nam | $6,800 |
| 9 | Costa Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | $6,300 |
Most if not all of these players are expected to join the remaining two flights of the $1,000 Main Event as well, and the late registration remains open for another five levels on Day 2 this upcoming Saturday, October 3, 2026.
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The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to cover all of the action until a winner has been crowned at Le Grande Casino in Dar Es Salaam this weekend.
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