Two Starting Days Remain in the Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event
Poker enthusiasts from near and far will be heading to the GrandWest Casino by Sun International on the outskirts of Cape Town and many local poker enthusiasts from the close-knit South African live poker community are expected to showcase their talents throughout the next three days. Yesterday's opening flight of the Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event drew a total of 126 entries for the ZAR 15,000 (USD 850) buy-in and that has put the end on track to surpass the ZAR 4 million guarantee.
The crown jewel of the schedule has been named after local veteran Joe Rahme who unexpectedly passed away three weeks, having been attenting the SunBet Poker Tour stops for many years as one of the pioneers for the local poker scene. During the first break of today's second flight, a tribute video will be shown once again
With the opening flight coming to a conclusion last night and nearly half of the field gone, Nico Wiechers set the bar pretty high with more than five starting stacks as he bagged up 524,500. Other big stacks belong to Yoni Lipshitz (455,500) and Kiran Moodley (413,500) and it remains to be seen whether or not anyone will be able to break into the overall top three podium spots on the leaderboard.
Day 1b is set to kick off at 11 a.m. local time and a total of nine levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled for today, with a 90-minute dinner break after the sixth level. All players receive 100,000 in chips and that represents more than 330 big blinds in the opening level at blinds of 200-300/300. The turbo heat 1c will follow at 7 p.m. local time with a level duration of 40 minutes each and conclude beyond 1 a.m. local time.
For both remaining flights, the principle remains the same. The registration and re-entry period is open all day long and will be extended for another four levels into Day 2 on Saturday, November 29, 2025. Players can also play multiple flights and will carry over the larger stack into the penultimate tournament day.
It isn't the only event to run today as the ZAR 50,000 High Roller is set to crown a champion. Out of a 72-entry strong field, nine players remain and will take their seats on the live stream table at 11 a.m. local time, too. You can follow the cards-up coverage and commentary on the SunBet Poker Tour YouTube channel on a security delay of 30 minutes.
The PokerNews live updates for today will focus on Day 1b of the Main Event with the final chip counts for Day 1c and the Day 2 seat draw to be published the following morning.