Roller Coaster Ride Propels Nic Ioannoy To Overall Lead in 2025 SPT Time Square Main Event
The 2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event has concluded all four starting days and an overall field of 312 entries emerged at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria, South Africa. During the final two flights, 98 entries on Day 1c were joined by another 67 entries in the final turbo heat and all Day 1 survivors will battle for a share of the ZAR 4 Million guarantee ($217,580) in the following two days.
During Day 1c of the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event, there was a minute of silence to the very popular late South African poker pro and his two sons participated in this flight, but neither of them made it through in this ZAR 15,000 ($820) buy-in.
Instead, it was another SPT regular who stole the show today. With multiple titles and final table appearances under his belt, Nic Ioannoy sits in the top 25 of the country's The Hendon Mob country ranking with more than $550k in live cashes. He experienced a roller coaster ride than none other and even recovered from two very late setbacks to not only gain back the losses but burst the bubble with full house over full house to bag 630,000 in chips.
Jonathan Kalil reigned supreme on the live stream table and maintained the top spot ever since the dinner break to ultimately advance with 567,000, followed by Stephen Courtney (490,000). Courtney won two crucial all-ins on the stream table, both times with pocket jacks to knock out Ahmed Karrim and Edgar Antezana.
End-of-Day 1c Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 1c |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nic Ioannoy | South Africa | 630,000 | 105 |
| 2 | Jonathan Kalil | South Africa | 567,000 | 95 |
| 3 | Stephen Courtney | South Africa | 490,000 | 82 |
| 4 | Ronit Chamani | South Africa | 347,000 | 58 |
| 5 | Giovanni Zanette | South Africa | 279,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Rex Hsu | South Africa | 269,000 | 45 |
| 7 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 259,000 | 43 |
| 8 | Hadar Goren | South Africa | 228,000 | 38 |
| 9 | Hennie Appel | South Africa | 169,000 | 28 |
| 10 | Moon Khan | South Africa | 165,000 | 28 |
| 11 | Jarred Solomon | South Africa | 146,000 | 24 |
| 11 | Chris Luyt | South Africa | 146,000 | 24 |
| 13 | Zoran Kljajic | Croatia | 103,000 | 17 |
| 14 | Eben Lottering | South Africa | 86,000 | 14 |
| 15 | Danny Dayani | South Africa | 79,000 | 13 |
Other notables to bag and tag chips on Day 1c include Ronit Chamani (347,000), Giovanni Zanette (279,000), Hennie Appel (169,000), and Jarred Solomon (146,000). Croatia's Zoran Kljajic (103,000), Max Deveson from the UK (259,000) and Taiwan-born Rex Hsu (269,000) were the only foreigners to advance from the penultimate heat. Deveson, Chamani and Hsu already locked horns during the ZAR 50,000 High Roller in which they claimed the top three spots.
Many other notables of the close-knit South African poker community were not as fortunate and came up short of bagging up chips. Several of them jumped into the turbo heat, which closed the registration by the time the bubble of Day 1c burst with the elimination of Gordon Padayachee.
Throughout the first three flights, 38 players advanced and they will be joined by the Day 1d survivors, returning to their seats at noon local time on Saturday, March 8, 2025. Recommencing blinds will then likely either be 2,000-4,000/4,000 or 3,000-5,000/5,000 and the level duration increases to 60 minutes each.
The money bubble will be looming in the opening stages with only the top 12.5% of the overall field set to receive a cash prize. All payout information, the Day 1d chip counts and the Day 2 seat draw will be provided in the morning ahead of the restart.
Stay tuned right here on PokerNews for another two days of exciting live poker action in South Africa.