Max Deveson Seals Heads-Up Comeback to Win ZAR 50,000 High Roller
The ZAR 50,000 High Roller Event at the 2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square series in Pretoria has crowned a winner. After entering the final day fifth in chips, the UK's Max Deveson overcame a large chip deficit in heads-up play to defeat Ronit Chamani and claim the lion's share of the ZAR 2,016,000 ($110,880) prize pool in a field of 48 entries.
Ever since entering the South African poker scene, Deveson has been racking up impressive results and more or less became part of the close-knit community on the Southern tip of the African continent already. He has his work cut out, but Deveson was undeterred from being behind in chips from the get-go and ultimately came out on top to claim the top prize of ZAR 800,000 ($44,000).
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in ZAR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 800,000 | 44,000 |
| 2 | Ronit Chamani | South Africa | 554,000 | 30,470 |
| 3 | Rex Hsu | South Africa | 360,400 | 19,822 |
| 4 | Marko Nortje | South Africa | 201,600 | 11,088 |
| 5 | Huawei Sun | Botswana | 100,000 | 5,500 |
The first seat open of the final day was Huawei Sun from Botswana, who got short and then jammed at the wrong time with Q♣2♣, as Chamani looked him up with the A♦A♥. There was a sweat on the 7♣4♥2♥3♣K♠ board but the aces held up. This pot propelled Chamani near the top of the leaderboard and it would get much sweeter soon after because start-of-the-day chip leader Marko Nortje bowed out next.
"It was a punt, you will be so disappointed in me when you see the stream. First against second in chips," Nortje told Cliton Taliwanth during level three of the Main Event Day 1b. Nortje had started the final five with the lead and jammed the J♥6♣2♠4♥ turn with K♥6♥ for second pair and a flush draw. Chamani used three time bank extensions and then called with J♦2♦ for two pair, which held thanks to the 3♣ on the river.
The next casualty thereafter was Taiwan-born Rex Hsu, who three-bet jammed out of the small blind with A♠5♥. Chamani in the big blind four-bet jammed A♦K♣ to force out button raiser Deveson and a king appeared in the window. Hsu had a gutshot but missed to become the third place finisher on a board of K♠4♥3♣8♦6♥, leaving Chamani with a large advantage for the heads-up battle with Deveson.
While still being the same short stack he had been for most of the previous one and a half days, Deveson entered heads-up with nearly 40 big blinds. What followed was a battle of more than two and a half hours across six levels at a now reduced duration of 30 minutes each and ultimately, Deveson grinded Chamani down to fumes.
The last few chips went in with J♣7♥ and Deveson looked up Chamani with 3♠3♥. No jack or seven came on the 10♥5♦4♥2♣K♥ board and the Brit claimed his first SunBet Poker Tour trophy.
Chamani only took a short break before jumping into the Main Event action but busted prior to the dinner break, then promised to be back the following day. She may very well end up at the same table as Deveson again, because he will take the remainder of the day off.