Pienaar and Brooks Lead Final 12 Survivors on Day 1a; High Roller Reaches the Money
The first of four starting days for the 2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event has wrapped up with 12 players advancing out of a field of 80 entries at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria, South Africa. Held in cooperation between Sun International - the country's largest Hotel, Gaming and Entertainment Group - and the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT), the partnership has propelled the project to become the richest live poker tour in South Africa.
With a buy-in of ZAR 15,000 ($820), the crown jewel on the schedule carries a ZAR 4 Million guarantee ($217,580) and is dubbed the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event in memory of the late South African poker player who recently passed away. In 2024, the very same tournament took place two times last year at Time Square Pretoria and one of the two champions finished Day 1a strong, as Harold Brooks bagged up the second-.biggest stack of 503,000.
Only Keenan Pienaar advanced with even more chips after leading the way in the late stages en route to claiming 576,000 to his name. Brooks and third-placed Robin Moir were responsible for the final two eliminations of the night with one dozen hopefuls bagging up chips right after.
Final Chip Counts Day 1a
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 1a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keenan Pienaar | South Africa | 576,000 | 144 |
| 2 | Harold Brooks | South Africa | 503,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Robin Moir | South Africa | 386,000 | 97 |
| 4 | Braam Van Huyssteen | South Africa | 326,000 | 82 |
| 5 | Greg Tucker | South Africa | 290,000 | 73 |
| 6 | Stefan Van Huyssteen | South Africa | 273,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Benjamin Lingenfelder Jr | South Africa | 245,000 | 61 |
| 8 | Yogesh Jeebaun | Mauritius | 191,000 | 48 |
| 9 | Gilbert Tin Fook | Mauritius | 161,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Rudolf Fourie | South Africa | 154,000 | 39 |
| 11 | Craig Hartland | South Africa | 96,000 | 24 |
| 12 | Norman Cherry | South Africa | 35,000 | 9 |
While the vast majority of the participants are part of the close-knit South African poker community, some poker enthusiasts from nearby countries usually also make their way to many of the annual stops and that includes the island of Mauritius. Two of their compatriots bagged up chips today in Yogesh Jeebaun (191,000) and Gilbert Tin Fook (161,000), while fellow countryman and former Main Event runner-up Patrice Ah-Nien was among the Day 1a casualties.
Teren Ramnundlall hit a royal flush during today's play but ultimately didn't bag up chips. Pienaar got value out of a straight flush towards the end of the night and held the lead for the last several levels.
Among the other notable casualties on Day 1a were Roy Bitton, Giovanni Zanette, Ahmed Karrim, Nic Ioannoy, Cliton Taliwanth, Banks Solomons, and Jaryd jardien. The final two players to exit were Divan Van Wyk and Bradley Moore, the former four-bet jamming pocket eights into the pocket tens of Brooks while Moore's king-queen were bested by the ace-ten of Moir.
All players who failed to make it through have another three chances to try and do better on March 6 and 7, 2025.
While the opening flight of the Main Event was unfolding, the ZAR 50,000 ($2,750) High Roller was also taking place and saw 21 players out of 30 entries return to their seats and the late registration was still open. As a result, the field was boosted to 48 entries and that generated a prize pool of ZAR 2,016,000 ($110,880) of which the top five spots were paid.
Ronit Chamani held the top spot when the action resumed and was responsible for the money bubble to burst on the live stream feature table. She flipped with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Kinesh Pather and hit an ace on the flop to leave Pather empty-handed. Chamani finished the night second in chips behind Marko Nortje.
High Roller Final Day Counts
| *Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Ronit Chamani | South Africa | 3,110,000 | 78 |
| 2 | Marko Nortje | South Africa | 4,065,000 | 102 |
| 3 | Huawei Sun | Botswana | 2,665,000 | 67 |
| 4 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 2,100,000 | 53 |
| 5 | Rex Hsu | South Africa | 2,615,000 | 65 |
Huawei Sun turned his bigger stack to a chance for more, while Max Deveson was among the shorter stacks and made it through. Taiwan-born and local resident Rex Hsu was the only Day 2 entry to advance as well. The top five will be competing for the following cash prizes as of 11 a.m. local time on March 6, 2025.
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in ZAR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 800,000 | 44,000 | ||
| 2 | 554,000 | 30,470 | ||
| 3 | 360,400 | 19,822 | ||
| 4 | 201,600 | 11,088 | ||
| 5 | 100,000 | 5,500 |
Stay tuned for more live poker action from right here in South Africa, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all of the elusive action until a Main Event champion has been crowned.