Gregory Zetler lost a flip with pocket tens against the ace-queen of Michael Cupido despite hitting a set, as Cupido hit a four-card straight to the queen.
Another big stack to reduce the field by one was Franco Da Matta, who dispatched Yoni Lipshitz. With the 9♦9♥, Da Matta flopped a set and Lipshitz barreled through his J♦J♣ on a nine-high flop and turn.
Steven Radloff was all-in with a short stack and the 3♦3♣ to flip against Matthew Mulhall, who had the 10♦8♦. The 6♦5♣5♦7♥7♣ board was one of the more cruel exits as his pair was counterfit and ten-high secured the knockout.
Kevin Boyer returned from the dinner break with a short stack and flipped with A♠K♠ versus 9♠9♥. The Q♥3♣3♦J♥9♦ board gave Calvin Ferreira nines full of treys.
During the dinner break, the tournament staff verified all entries and a total of 344 entries generated a prize pool of ZAR 4,334,400 ($251,395) which is set to be shared among the top 43 finishers. The min-cash is worth two times the buy-in and the winner can look forward to a top prize of ZAR 908,900 ($52,716) on 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 |
The screens were also updated with the number of remaining players, which currently stands at 79 hopefuls.
Level: 16
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 6,000
The biggest live poker event of 2024 in South Africa came to an end, with Mauritius based Saurabh Gulati taking down the 504-entry strong 2024 SPT GrandWest Main Event after a three-way deal. He took home the biggest slice of the ZAR 6,350,400 ($351,395) prize pool and denied a home victory for several fierce local competitors at the GrandWest Casino outside of Cape Town on the southern cusp of the African continent.
“Loved it. It was pressure in the start, but after that it got easier with the chip lead and everything. It got so much easier and I had a ball time,” Gulati said in the winner's interview after his victory. He joked that there was no big competitor at the table because he “knew I would take it down,” albeit with a big smirk on the face.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (ZAR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saurabh Gulati | Australia | 975,280* | $53,966* |
| 2 | Diane Walker | South Africa | 800,000* | $44,267* |
| 3 | Ronit Chamani | South Africa | 900,000* | $49,801* |
| 4 | Colin Horgan | Ireland | 388,265 | $21,484 |
| 5 | Nic Ioannoy | South Africa | 298,025 | $16,491 |
| 6 | Gareth Fourie | South Africa | 248,430 | $13,747 |
| 7 | Hennie Appel | South Africa | 206,835 | $11,445 |
| 8 | Giovanni Zanette | South Africa | 165,555 | $9,161 |
| 9 | Divan Le Roux | South Africa | 124,230 | $6,874 |
*Denotes three-way deal
The 342-entry strong field has been cut down to only 86 hopefuls and they are now on a 60-minute dinner break. Another five levels are scheduled for tonight and the prize money information will likely be released once the action is back underway at approximately 7.45 p.m. local time.
Daniel Scott was all-in for 225,000 preflop out of the big blind against Chris Luyt over on the feature table and flipped with A♣K♣ versus Q♠Q♥. The Q♦J♠9♣ flop left Scott in rough shape as he needed a ten or running clubs to survive. The 7♦ turn was a blank, as was the 8♠ on the river to end his run before the dinner break.
Just before they headed out of the tournament area, Ashley Hira ran with sevens into jacks and could not improve either.
Gustav Louw shouted from the top of his lungs "come on, hold" and then burst into celebration when that did happen. By the time the live reporting arrived, two players were gone and a healthy pot was shipped to Louw.
His A♦A♥ was good on the 6♥5♥4♥K♣2♥ runout as he hit the ace-high flush.
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