Marko Nortje Leads Final 43 in 2025 Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event
The penultimate starting day for the Joe-Boy Rahme MonsterStaK Main Event in memory of the South African live poker pioneer saw a huge influx of new entries to surpass the ZAR 4 million guarantee in the crown jewel of the 2025 SunBet Poker Tour stop at the GrandWest Casino by Sun International in Cape Town. With a total of 344 entries, the ZAR 15,000 ($850) buy-in generated a prize pool ofZAR 4,334,400 prize pool ($251,395) and all of that will be distributed on the final day.
After more than ten hours of game play, the money bubble burst in frantic fashion and the remaining 43 players bagged up their chips. The largest stack once again belonged to a very familiar face of the close-knit poker community in South Africa as the up-and-coming Marko Nortje topped the leaderboard with 2,450,000. Michael Cupido (2,145,000) and Rayhaan Adam (1,935,000) complete the overnight podium.
Two international players reached the top ten in chips including Sascha Manns (1,930,000) and Jon Persent (1,625,000) with the latter residing in the country for several years already. Also among the big stacks are the likes of Edgar Antezana (1,490,000), Jaco Mouton (1,425,000) and Jedd Kossew (1,100,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marko Nortje | South Africa | 2,450,000 | 163 |
| 2 | Michael Cupido | South Africa | 2,145,000 | 143 |
| 3 | Rayhaan Adam | South Africa | 1,935,000 | 129 |
| 4 | Franco Da Matta | South Africa | 1,930,000 | 129 |
| 5 | Sascha Manns | Germany | 1,930,000 | 129 |
| 6 | Jon Persent | Norway | 1,625,000 | 108 |
| 7 | Edgar Antezana | South Africa | 1,490,000 | 99 |
| 8 | Jaco Mouton | South Africa | 1,425,000 | 95 |
| 9 | Muaaz Gani | South Africa | 1,160,000 | 77 |
| 10 | Jedd Kossew | South Africa | 1,100,000 | 73 |
The UK's Alexander Rizvi (910,000), Dean Hutchison (715,000) and James Rann (370,000) will also aim to take the trophy away from the home favourites. They are joined by notables such as Nico Wiechers (755,000), Gavin Sardini (695,000), Caleb October (615,000), Imran Bhojani (580,000), Ariel Mazabow (440,000), Jehan Richards (385,000) and Sugen Singh (340,000).
There will be 46:35 minutes left in level 20 at blinds of 10,000-15,000 with a big blind ante of 15,000 and the average is a staggering 51 big blinds. That may go up even further with many short stacks going through to potentially wreak havoc in the early stages of the final day, which is set to recommence at 11 a.m. local time.
It was an early rush hour with another four levels of late registration and an incredible 91 entries were added to the total tally during that time. Among those to jump in with a fresh stack were Adam, Manns and Antezana who all parlayed the late buy-in into a cash prize thanks to the deep tournament structure.
The entries and re-entries kept on coming with many of the High Roller regulars jumping into the action. Last year's runner-up Diane Walker started as one of the shortest stacks and earned an early triple-up, however, she wasn't able to repeat her success story from 2024 and bowed out during the opening stages. Cliton Taliwanth, Benjamin "Guppie" Lingenfelder, Wesley Blom, Tanith Rothman, and Harold Brooks followed her to the rail sooner than they had hoped.
After six levels of play, the field was down to 86 hopefuls and half of them were destined to leave without cash prize. Among them was also the chip leader to start the day, Michele Lodi-Fe, along with Jonathan Hoal, Wesley Wessels, Hennie Appel, and Chris Luyt. Darren Kramer flopped top pair and top kicker against Persent but ran it smack dab into a straight.
The money bubble was imminent in the final break of the night and it then took only 13 minutes to lose five players in a hurry. Stephen Courtney saw his hopes of another SunBet Poker Tour victory crushed when Adam cracked his pocket kings with a rivered flush. He was then one of three players hitting the rail in the blink of an eye with Karin Hasseriis and Jamie McCarthy also losing their chips to let the bubble burst without any hand-for-hand play.
Payouts for the Final Day
| Place | Winner | Prize (in ZAR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 908,900 | $52,716 | |
| 2 | 600,000 | $34,800 | |
| 3 | 400,000 | $23,200 | |
| 4 | 260,000 | $15,080 | |
| 5 | 208,000 | $12,064 | |
| 6 | 170,000 | $9,860 | |
| 7 | 135,000 | $7,830 | |
| 8 | 110,000 | $6,380 | |
| 9 | 92,000 | $5,336 | |
| 10-12 | 78,000 | $4,524 | |
| 13-15 | 64,000 | $3,712 | |
| 16-18 | 53,000 | $3,074 | |
| 19-21 | 45,000 | $2,610 | |
| 22-24 | 40,000 | $2,320 | |
| 25-27 | 36,000 | $2,088 | |
| 28-36 | 32,500 | $1,885 | |
| 37-43 | 30,000 | $1,740 |
All remaining survivors bagged up their chips and will return to their seats at 11 a.m. local time when a winner is set to be crowned here in Cape Town. The cards-up coverage and commentary via live stream will be available once more on the SunBet Poker Tour YouTube channel. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to try and catch as many of the key hands as possible towards the thrilling conclusion.