Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2025 SunBet GrandWest
Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
2025 SunBet GrandWest
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
Buy-in
15,000 ZAR
Prize Pool
4,334,400 ZAR
Entries
344
Level
33
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
300,000
Entries
43
Players Left
1
Players Left 1 / 344
Filter
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
The final SunBet Poker Tour stop of the year has come to a conclusion at the GrandWest Casino by Sun International in Cape Town and it turned out to be a very long night until the crown jewel of the festival had crowned a champion. Out of 344 entries in the Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event, French player Alexandre Blanc defeated South African veteran Edgar Antezana in heads-up with both players claiming the largest slices of the ZAR 4,334,400 ($251,395) prize pool for the ZAR 15,000 ($850) buy-in.
The tournament was named in memory of South African live poker pioneer Joe Rahme, who participated in this very event one year ago when Mauritius-based Australian player Saurabh Gulati claimed the trophy. Rahme passed away unexpectedly three weeks ago and a tribute video was played every day during the crown jewel of the series in his memory.
With an average of more than 50 big blinds at the restart, it took more than 16 hours to determine a winner and Blanc sealed the victory with a premium pocket pair, of which he picked up many en route to finish a memorable comeback story. On the final few tables, he was down to only five big blinds but patiently waited for his spot to get the chips in.
That discipline turned into a top prize of ZAR 908,900 ($52,716), while runner-up Antezana had to settle for ZAR 600,000 ($34,800). Antezana had only entered the tournament during the extended late registration on Day 2 after deep runs in the High Roller events during the days prior. Norway's Jon Persent and the United Kingdom's Alexander Rizvi were the only other finalists outside of South Africa to reach the final table.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (ZAR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexandre Blanc | France | 908,900 | $52,716 |
| 2 | Edgar Antezana | South Africa | 600,000 | $34,800 |
| 3 | Jon Persent | Norway | 400,000 | $23,200 |
| 4 | Naven Naicker | South Africa | 260,000 | $15,080 |
| 5 | Mike Cupido | South Africa | 208,000 | $12,064 |
| 6 | Jedd Kossew | South Africa | 170,000 | $9,860 |
| 7 | Alexander Rizvi | United Kingdom | 135,000 | $7,830 |
| 8 | Franco Da Matta | South Africa | 110,000 | $6,380 |
| 9 | Jayson Zulch | South Africa | 92,000 | $5,336 |
Action of the Final Day
After the previous opening flights and lengthy Day 2, the remaining 43 players returned in the money and one could expect frantic action right from the start with many short stacks in contention. However, that wasn't really the case despite the rapid eliminations of Sugen Singh, Caleb October and Gareth Duncan, among others.
On the final four tables, Ariel Mazabow took a crushing blow when he flopped a set of eights and Mike Cupido went runner-runner for a flush. The very same table exploded with action thereafter spearheaded by Cupido, Rayhaan Adam and Marko Nortje. In a non-raised and checked down battle of the blinds, Adam jammed the queen-high river and Nortje reluctantly called with the rivered top pair, only for Adam to show his flopped nut straight.
Nortje had started the day as the chip leader and was suddenly short, but he stuck around for a while and even clawed his way back into contention all the way to the final two tables. By then, Cupido had claimed another high-profile victim when he four-bet jammed king-ten suited to crack the ace-king of Sascha Manns thanks to a turned flush.
Damon Fine lost all but one chip when Jayson Zulch hit his three-outer. The South African vlogger had secured the pay jump already, though, and finished in a respectable 23rd place. Adam's wild ride then ended on the feature table, going from hero to zero throughout several hands. Dean Hutchison was then unable to improve with a dominated ace to send the Scottish WSOP Main Event finalist in 2023 to the payout desk.
Not long after, Nortje found a pair and flush draw to go with, but saw his stack reduced to four of the smallest chip denominations. He doubled up two times in quick succession but couldn't get there with pocket fives against the pocket eights of Jedd Kossew. What followed was a tense affair en route to the final table which culminated in the elimination of the 2024 THMC Cape Town Million champion Muaaz Gani when Cupido rivered a flush with a dominated ace.
Cupido was still leading the way with a staggering 74 big blinds and Persent was not far behind, while Blanc was in the middle of the pack after notching up several double-ups in the lead-up. The torch of aggression was passed on from Cupido, who never really got anything going while especially Persent and Blanc dominated the action at the tables. Likewise, Franco Da Matta had been a big stack for a long time but lost all of his momentum once the final table was reached.
Zulch was the first to go when his ace-ten could not beat Antezana's pocket jacks and Da Matta followed thereafter when he check-called three streets at the wrong time against Blanc. The UK's Alexander Rizvi put on a master class of short stack survival but eventually ran out of chips in seventh place.
One of the local fan favourites was the next to fall in sixth and that happened to be the aforementioned Kossew. He got short after a topsy-turvy day and ultimately saw his pocket kings cracked by the ace-ten of Persent, who rivered an ace. Cupido also fell victim to the hot run of the Norwegian when he jammed king-trey into ace-trey and Naven Naicker made it three casualties in a row for the South African players.
Three-handed play vaulted Blanc into a commanding lead before the two short stacks traded double-ups. Persent had nearly closed the gap to the Frenchman when he "made one mistake" in the early morning hours and five-bet jammed ace-seven into the ace-king of Blanc. With a very healthy lead at his disposal, Blanc sealed the victory in a short-lived heads-up duel because Antezana "just couldn't catch him" to end the tournament more than sixteen hours after the cards went back in the air.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of South Africa's richest live poker tour in 2025, but many other exciting festivals are just around the corner in one of the busiest months for the global poker community.
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Edgar Antezana limped in and Alexandre Blanc raised to 1,200,000. Antezana limp-shoved for 9,300,000 and was snapped off by the Frenchman.
Edgar Antezana: Q♣9♣ 
Alexandre Blanc: K♣K♥
The last local hope to keep the trophy on home soil had a mountain to climb but picked up straight outs to the A♠J♠7♣10♠ turn. However, the 6♥ river was a blank and that sealed the fate of Antezana as the runner-up for ZAR 600,000.
Blanc, who was down to a mere five big blinds earlier today, went all the way after more than 16 hours of poker action and secured the trop prize of ZAR 908,900.
Stay tuned for a recap of today's action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
34,400,000
9,400,000
|
9,400,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Alexandre Blanc raised to 600,000 wirth 9♣4♦ and Edgar Antezana defended A♣7♦ out of the big blind. Both checked the Q♦9♠6♣ flop to the 8♠ turn. Antezana led for 600,000 and Blanc called.
Antezana bet again the 6♦ river for 2,000,000 and was instantly called for the French player to restore his previous lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
25,000,000
3,000,000
|
3,000,000 |
|
|
9,300,000
3,700,000
|
3,700,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
In a rather unusual limped pot, the [JcTc33c] flop was checked to the 5♥ turn. Alexandre Blanc checked with the A♠5♦ and Edgar Antezana bet 1,000,000 with his K♦9♣ for Blanc to call.
The K♠ came on the river and Blanc check-called for 2,000,000 to get shown the rivered pair of kings.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,000,000
5,000,000
|
5,000,000 |
|
|
13,000,000
5,100,000
|
5,100,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Alexandre Blanc made it 600,000 to go with J♣9♦ for Edgar Antezana to defend the 8♣4♣. The A♦J♥7♠ flop was all Blanc and Antezana check-folded to a bet of 400,000.
Antezana raised to 800,000 with A♦Q♥ next and Blanc called with K♣7♣. They checked the 10♠8♠6♥ flop, Blanc bet the 4♦ turn for 1,200,000 and that won the pot when a pained Antezana folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
27,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
7,900,000
1,200,000
|
1,200,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Edgar Antezana opened the button to 750,000 with Q♠7♣ and Alexandre Blanc called holding the 9♦8♦. The A♥10♥7♥ flop saw Blanc with the open-ender and he check-called a bet of 800,000.
The turn paired the A♠ and Blanc check-folded when Antezana bet 600,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
26,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
9,100,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Alexandre Blanc raised to 600,000 with the A♣Q♥ and Edgar Antezana called with his 9♠8♣ in the big blind. They checked to the 10♦9♥6♥8♠6♠ river on which Antezana's bet of 1,000,000 forced out Blanc.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
25,000,000
1,800,000
|
1,800,000 |
|
|
9,200,000
1,400,000
|
1,400,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Alexandre Blanc opened on the button to 600,000 and Jon Persent three-bet small to 1,300,000 out of the big blind. When it was back on the French player, Blanc four-bet small to 2,800,000, Persent checked his cards again and then pushed all-in to get snap-called.
Jon Persent: A♣7♦
Alexandre Blanc: A♠K♣
The kicker played on the Q♥9♦4♣2♣3♥ board and both stacks were counted. Blanc covered by only 400,000 nearly sixteen hours after the day started, the field was reduced to the final two players. Persent finished in third place for ZAR 400,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
26,800,000
13,800,000
|
13,800,000 |
|
|
7,800,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 33
: Blinds 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Alexandre Blanc this time opted to limp the K♣10♣ in the small blind and Edgar Antezana checked the 7♠3♠ in the big blind.
They checked the 4♥4♦2♣ flop and Blanc check-called the 3♣ turn for 600,000. Both opted to check down the Q♥ river and that awarded the pot to Antezana.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
13,000,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
13,000,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|
|
8,000,000
800,000
|
800,000 |
