Gareth Kalil had finally taken a seat with 20 big blinds and was spotted in action on the 9♣6♣4♥4♠ turn when he bet 9,000 out of the small blind. KM called in the cutoff and checked behind the 9♠ river. Kalil exposed the 6♥6♠ for sixes full of nines and won the pot.
On a completed board of J♠6♠4♦7♦7♥, KM checked and Hennie Appel bet 16,500. KM then check-raised, making it another 25,000 on top to go. That was enough to win the pot uncontested as Appel elected to fold.
In the meanwhile, there was an all-in and call over on table seven. Kevin van Villing found a premium hand in Q♦Q♠, yet it was not enough against the A♦A♣ of Harold Brooks. There was no escape on the 4♦3♦2♥9♣K♠ board to send van Villing to the rail.
The ninth level has been completed and 20 players out of 62 entries have been sent on their next scheduled 15-minute break. Gareth Kalil is waiting to jump into the action once the action resumes as he was the last player to sign up so far.
One more level of late registration remains on Day 1a.
Three ways to the 9♣7♣6♦ flop, Derrick Steenkamp bet 16,000 out of the blinds into a pot of around 30,000 and forced folds from Cliton Taliwanth as well as Kevin van Villing.
One table over, the flop showed K♣Q♥10♣ and Quintin Heather-Clark checked out of the small blind. Patrice Ah-Nien bet 4,000 and Mariette Language called on the button as did Heather-Clark. All three players checked the A♦ turn and the 8♥ fell on the river. Heather-Clark checked, Ah-Nien bet 14,000 and earned a call from Heather-Clark only.
Ah-Nien rolled over the J♠4♥ and that won the pot.
In a three-way three-bet pot to the J♣10♦6♣ flop, Kevin van Villing checked and Banks Solomons bet 22,000. Derrick Steenkamp went into a brief tank and folded, van Villing came to the same conclusion to award the pot to Solomons.
Joe Rahme had vanished from table eight while Quintin Heather-Clark boosted his stack well above the average.
Shortly after, Vygandas Simuntis defended the big blind and flopped two pair with K♠8♣ when he got it in after the K♣8♥4♥ flop against Wesley Wiegand. The latter had A♥J♥ for the nut flush draw and picked up more outs on the 4♦ turn. No ace came, but the 9♥ river provided the required flush to send Simuntis packing.
Okkie Fourie and Dhinesh Soopramanien were eliminated on neighbouring tables at almost the same time and there was another all-in and call right after. Vygandas Simuntis three-bet jammed for just 19,400 and table big stack Sheldon Grove called.
Vygandas Simuntis: K♦10♦
Sheldon Grove: J♥10♥
Both hit their kicker on the 10♠7♠5♣6♠4♠ runout for Simuntis to double.
Table six had lost Anders Hellstrom only a few minutes ago and another big pot was brewing soon after. Hafiz Juma and Wesley Wiegand flipped for a large pot worth around six starting stacks in the following showdown.
Hafiz Juma: Q♦Q♥
Wesley Wiegand: A♥K♦
No ace or king came on the J♠9♦2♠3♥10♥ runout and Juma doubled for 121,400. Wiegand dropped back to the starting stack while Rex Hsu was then eliminated by KM on the same table.
Harold Brooks checked the Q♠J♣3♣A♦10♠ river and Derrick Steenkamp then bet 6,000. After he saw Brooks with a motion, Steenkamp already rolled over his K♠9♣ for broadway and Cliton Taliwanth then pointed out "he hasn't done anything" as Brooks had not called by any means.