Thanos Vogiatzis made it 3,000 to go preflop and Robert Schwartz came along out of the blinds. They headed to the 8♣7♠3♣ flop on which Schwartz led for 2,000 and called a raise to 7,000. The K♥ turn saw Schwartz check-call for 27,000 and he checked the Q♥ river.
Vogiatzis bet 6,000 and was check-raised to 23,000 in order to call. Schwartz revealed 8♥7♥ for flopped two pair and Vogiatzis mucked the Q♣2♣ for a missed flush draw that became one pair.
Four players limped in and Lydia Broodryk in the big blind made it 2,300 to go for Costa Giannakopoulos, Harold Brooks and Alvin Pillay in the small blind to call. On the 10♥9♠7♠ flop, Pillay bet 5,000 and was called by Giannakopoulos only.
The 5♥ turn saw Pillay lead for another 20,000 and Giannakopoulos said "just the two of us" before he called a few seconds later. On the 8♣ river, Pillay bet 16,000 and was called to table the 10♦7♦ for two pair. Giannakopoulos had that beat with the K♦J♣ for the straight.
Across the first two starting days of the inaugural African Poker Championship Tanzania Main Event, the $1,100 buy-in has attracted a total of 98 entries and 39 players have qualified for Day 2 so far at the Le Grande Casino in Dar Es Salaam. It is the debut festival of the new live poker series founded by Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) creator Marc Joseph from South Africa and the crown jewel on the schedule comes with a $200,000 guarantee.
Many of the participants have been hailing from Joseph's native South Africa and the chip leader across the two flights so far is Banks Solomons, who was among the early casualties on Day 1a only to come back with a vengeance and run it up to 645,000 on yesterday's Day 1b. That is nearly six and a half times the starting stack of 100,000 in a flight that was headlined by enormous preflop and post flop clashes.
Top 10 OVerall Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Banks Solomons
South Africa
645,000
258
2
Mattia Festa
Italy
580,500
232
3
Patrice Ah-Nien
Mauritius
570,500
228
4
Imran Bhojani
South Africa
545,000
218
5
Todd Hellyar
Australia
513,000
205
6
Raphael Bsiri
France
479,000
192
7
Ivan Govorov
Russian Federation
357,000
143
8
Shaun Govender
South Africa
345,500
138
9
Xianbin Li
China
332,000
133
10
Biru Asefa
Ethiopia
322,500
129
Whether or not anyone will be able to accumulate even more chips remains to be seen for Day 1c, which is slated to start at 2 p.m. local time here in Tanzania. A total of eight levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled with a break every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after the fourth level. The action will conclude before midnight and re-entries are allowed throughout the entire duration of the flight.
In fact, the late registration will be open for the first five levels of Day 2 on Saturday, October 3, 2026 when the flagship tournament will be racing towards the money bubble and beyond as of noon local time.
For all those wishing to enter the $1,000 buy-in at a bargain, there was already a target satellite as of noon local time and single table flips are also available upon demand - which has been quite popular these last two days. At 7 p.m. local time, a $300 Turbo Side Event will take place and the Rumble with the Jungleman cash game is slated to kick off at midnight on the live stream table featuring none other than Dan Cates.
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.
From railbirds to backers, MyPlayers is the smarter way to stay connected to the game.
The PokerNews live reporting team is right here in Tanzania to report from all of the action until a Main Event champion has been crowned on Sunday, October 4, 2026.
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