South African Poker Open Main Event Day 2 | 2008 PokerNews Cup - South African Poker Open

Level: 12

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

Ante: 200

02-09-2008 15:51 UTC+3

Team PokerNews Players Still In

Three of our Team PokerNews players are still in this event. Kenneth DeBlock, who qualified on Duplicate Poker, is hanging on with 17,000. Mike Byrd, who won his seat on Titan Poker, is doing fine with 100,600. Last, but not least, Andrew Lindsay is sitting on a slightly below average stack of 40,000 chips.

02-09-2008 15:46 UTC+3

Player Profiles

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Here are profiles of the notable players among the final 66 remaining.

Joe Rahme goes by "Soprano" and is related to Raymond Rahme.

Hugh Todd has made six WSOP final tables, the only South African player to do so. He won one bracelet in $5,000 Seven Card Stud, in 1990.

Marco Ferrell is a local business owner.

Ryan Price is a stock director who has played in the UK Millions.

Rumen Nanov, who was just eliminated, owns casinos in Angola.

Colin Moss was mentioned yesterday evening. He's the South African equivalent of Ryan Seacrest.

Darren Kramer is a professional online player who has turned $40 into hundreds of thousands. He has traveled to the States to play poker and has played in the weekly Bellagio tournaments.

Peter Vermads was also just eliminated. He's considered the #1 ranked player in South Africa.

Chris Connery is retired from the securities business and plays on PokerStars.

Ryan Eber is half of a formidable father-son poker team. His father Neville is a world-class backgammon player.

Dennis Huntry has the distinction of knocking out Tony G early in Day 1 action.

Norman Keyser also has a WSOP bracelet, in 1989 for $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

Tom VanDermeere made the final table of this event a year ago before the eventual winner runner-runnered him out of the event.

Jared Solomon is another local online professional.

Alex Marchenko and his girlfriend Natalia Orlora are both still in the event.

Danny K is a local singing sensation. He's at the featured table where Raymond Rahme has been all day yesterday and today.

02-09-2008 15:33 UTC+3

Chip Counts Updated

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We've got several players we're tracking now in the chip counts, thanks to the able assistance of the tournament staff. Profiles of these players are coming up.

Level: 11

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200

Level: 10

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 100

02-09-2008 13:36 UTC+3

Shuffle Up and Deal!

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02-09-2008 13:25 UTC+3

Day 2 of the South African Poker Open

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We're set to begin the South African Poker Open, day 2. About 77 players are left in the event, and the staff intend to play all the way down to a final table. There's a strong local poker scene here, and massive television support for poker. Hence, much of this event is covered for television. There are logos all over the place for PokerNews (representing the freeroll winners) as well as poker sites.

Stay tuned today for all the action!