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$1,000 APC Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2026 African Poker Championship Tanzania
$1,000 APC Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
2026 African Poker Championship Tanzania
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$215,040
Total Entries
256
Places Paid
32
Level
32
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
300,000
Entries
143
Players Left
39
Players Left 1 / 256
Filter
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
After eight levels of play on Day 2, the inaugural African Poker Championship $1,000 Main Event has come to a conclusion at the Le Grande Casino in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. With late registration and re-entry still open for the first half of the day, the overall field size was boosted all the way to 256 entries and that surpassed the guarantee to create a prize pool of $215,040.
Initially, the plan may have very well been to at least reach the money but that was scrapped in the late evening and the action concluded with 39 players remaining. Only the top 32 spots will get paid at least $2,000 and the restart of final day on Sunday, October 4, 2026, was pushed one hour earlier to 10 a.m. local time due to the enormous average of 65 big blinds.
Leading the way with a monstrous stack of 1,957,000 is Panayiotis Giannakopoulos, who already won an event during the festival here in Tanzania. His father Costa Giannakopoulos also made it through with a top ten stack as well after scoring the penultimate knockout of the day to bag up 1,080,000.
The overnight top ten also includes South Africa's youngest WSOP bracelet winner Aidan Jacobs (1,404,000), Tome Dinh (1,269,000) and Day 1b chip leader Banks Solomons (1,070,000) with six of the top ten hailing from the land of the Springboks.
Top 10 Stacks After Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panayiotis Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | 1,957,000 | 196 |
| 2 | Xianbin Li | China | 1,550,000 | 155 |
| 3 | Jonathan Hyman | South Africa | 1,474,000 | 174 |
| 4 | Tutu Russon | South Africa | 1,410,000 | 141 |
| 5 | Aidan Jacobs | South Africa | 1,404,000 | 140 |
| 6 | Tome Dinh | Viet Nam | 1,269,000 | 127 |
| 7 | Steven Radloff | South Africa | 1,163,000 | 116 |
| 8 | Costa Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | 1,080,000 | 108 |
| 9 | Banks Solomons | South Africa | 1,070,000 | 107 |
| 10 | Ryan James | South Africa | 1,015,000 | 102 |
A little bit further down the leaderboard are Marko Nortje (734,000), Cliton Taliwanth (540,000), Jaryd Jardien (507,000), $3,000 High Roller champion Mattia Festa (345,000), Wayne McGregor (299,000) and Patrice Ah-Nien (252,000).
Dan "Jungleman" Cates returned to the felt with his face painted as a lion and spent the early stages on the live stream table where he was eliminated.
Notable casualties without anything to show for included Imran Bhojani, Muaaz Gani, Ivan Govorov, Martin Schamaun, Max Deveson, and Gavin Sardini.
Day 1a chip leader Todd Hellyar was also among the casualties after he experienced a torrid start into the day, among others paying off the flopped quad aces of Brian Rettmann. Jonathan Hyman became one of the first players with a seven-figure stack soon after he won a big flip with pocket jacks against the ace-queen of Raphael Bsiri.
Nortje fell victim to the red-hot running Russon who made sixes full against his trips sevens before re-entering and spinning up a healthy stack. Sardini lost a big flip to Menesh Keshav and the re-entry after the dinner break was not crowned by success.
Perhaps the most spectacular hand of the day was a four-way all-in in which Dinh scored a triple knockout with aces full of kings. Soon after, Jacobs went intro the trenches to win a flip and oust French player Jean Pierre Sgiaravello, dubbed by his South African buddies as "how to win bracelets".
Before the end of the late registration, Panayiotis Giannakopoulos had scored a double knockout and his super aggressive playing style carried on from there, unfazed by being seated with the other big stacks to his left and right. Keshav saw his stack melt from seven figures and he then ran with queens into the kings of Giannakopoulos.
Towards the end of the night, the action slowed down and Pillay was a late casualty when he three-bet jammed pocket fives only to run into the pocket aces of Keegan Naidoo behind.
When level 17 concluded, only five tables remained and the players were informed that the restart was moved one hour earlier to 10 a.m. local time with a potentially very long day ahead to crown a champion. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide as many key hands as possible en route to determining the first ever African Poker Championship Main Event winner here in Tanzania.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Costa Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | 1,080,000 | 108 |
| 1 | 2 | Thanh Dat Pham | Vietnam | 399,000 | 40 |
| 1 | 3 | Rajeev Poonhath | South Africa | 122,000 | 12 |
| 1 | 4 | Maria Cardoso | Portugal | 544,000 | 54 |
| 1 | 5 | Shemir Kamoula | France | 975,000 | 98 |
| 1 | 6 | Tusar Somaiya | Tanzania | 290,000 | 29 |
| 1 | 7 | Aidan Jacobs | South Africa | 1,404,000 | 140 |
| 1 | 8 | Moussa Soililti | Comoros | 337,000 | 34 |
| 2 | 1 | Mark Tao | China | 359,000 | 36 |
| 2 | 2 | Steven Radloff | South Africa | 1,163,000 | 116 |
| 2 | 3 | Panayiotis Giannakopoulos | Tanzania | 1,957,000 | 196 |
| 2 | 4 | Arnas Grygalis | Lithuania | 700,000 | 70 |
| 2 | 5 | Shazin Rehmtullah | Canada | 317,000 | 32 |
| 2 | 6 | Mr KING | China | 444,000 | 44 |
| 2 | 7 | Dusan Pavlovic | Serbia | 181,000 | 18 |
| 2 | 8 | Alfred Magani | Albania | 278,000 | 28 |
| 3 | 1 | Anuj Sareen | United Kingdom | 351,000 | 35 |
| 3 | 2 | Benjamin Lingenfelder Jr | South Africa | 625,000 | 63 |
| 3 | 3 | Banks Solomons | South Africa | 1,070,000 | 107 |
| 3 | 4 | Wayne McGregor | United States | 299,000 | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | Tutu Russon | South Africa | 1,410,000 | 141 |
| 3 | 6 | Keegan Naidoo | South Africa | 868,000 | 87 |
| 3 | 8 | Luqman A | Tanzania | 285,000 | 29 |
| 4 | 1 | Tome Dinh | Vietnam | 1,269,000 | 127 |
| 4 | 2 | Jay Kamli | India | 295,000 | 30 |
| 4 | 3 | Xianbin Li | China | 1,550,000 | 155 |
| 4 | 4 | Hongbin Du | China | 200,000 | 20 |
| 4 | 5 | Mattia Festa | Italy | 345,000 | 35 |
| 4 | 6 | Cliton Taliwanth | South Africa | 540,000 | 54 |
| 4 | 7 | Marko Nortje | South Africa | 734,000 | 73 |
| 4 | 8 | Anjan Mulji | Tanzania | 360,000 | 36 |
| 5 | 1 | Jaryd Jardien | South Africa | 507,000 | 51 |
| 5 | 2 | Manuel Cardoso | Portugal | 407,000 | 41 |
| 5 | 3 | Ryan James | South Africa | 1,015,000 | 102 |
| 5 | 4 | Dimitri Hadjipaschali | South Africa | 810,000 | 81 |
| 5 | 5 | Jonathan Hyman | South Africa | 1,474,000 | 147 |
| 5 | 6 | Patrice Ah-Nien | Mauritius | 252,000 | 25 |
| 5 | 7 | Franco Da Matta | South Africa | 321,000 | 32 |
| 5 | 8 | Divan Van Wyk | South Africa | 190,000 | 19 |
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Upon completion of level 17, only 39 players bagged up chips and were all told that the final day restarts at 10 a.m. local time. The average one table away from the money will be at a staggering 65 big blinds and a very long day awaits to crown a winner.
Stay tuned for the full chip counts and a recap of today's action.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Robert Schwartz had been eliminated and one more player busted to bring the field down to the final five tables right when the clock was stopped.
Thomas Ye had jammed out of the blinds and was called by Reagan Naidoo and Costa Giannakopoulos. The two active players checked down the entire board of K♠K♣9♥Q♦3♣ and Naidoo showed the A♠10♠ first.
Ye exposed 7♦6♦ only and Giannakopoulos won the pot with the 5♠5♦.
The number of hands was then drawn with another four hands for tonight.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Mark Tao raised to 21,000 in the hijack and Franco Da Matta in the cutoff three-bet to 55,000. Mr KING called on the button and Steven Radloff in the big blind pondered about his move before he flatted, Tao called too as they headed to the K♣K♥6♠ flop. They all checked to the A♣ turn on which it checked to Da Matta, who bet 25,000. Mr KING called and Radloff check-raised to 75,000 in order to force everyone else out.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Shazin Rehmtullah wanted to raise to 30,000 out of the small blind but had his headphones in as Benjamin Lingenfelder Jr then raised on the button. The floor was called and since the action changed, Lingenfelder Jr made it 65,000 to go on the button. Rehmtullah called in the small blind and Jaryd Jardien folded from the big blind. On the Q♠J♣6♣ flop, Rehmtullah pushed all-in and Lingenfelder Jr folded to get shown pocket jacks.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
On the former live stream table, Shemir Kamoula has joined the club of chip millionaires alongside Ryan James.
Mattia Festa is among the shorter stacks and opened to 16,000 from under the gun. Kamoula called and so did Alfred Magani in the big blind. The 9♠6♥3♣ flop was checked to the 6♦ turn on which Kamoula made it 30,000 to go. Magani and Festa both folded.
Level 17
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
On the tail end of a 10♦8♠6♦A♦J♥ board, Maria Cardoso checked out of the big blind. Hongbin Du bet 79,000 from under the gun and Cardoso slid forward her two remaining time banks. She didn't really need a lot more time to think about it and called thereafter for Du to roll over K♠9♠ for a bluff.
Cardoso had that beat with the A♠7♠ to win the pot.
