Harold Brooks Eyes Repeat Victory in the SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event
The final table is set for the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria, South Africa. Out of a field of 312 entries, only nine players remain and eight of them will aim to keep the SunBet Poker Tour Main Event trophy on home soil. Technically, this also applies for Max Deveson as his partner is hailing from South Africa and he has become a regular in the close-knit South African poker community.
With a buy-in of ZAR15,000 ($820), the flagship tournament of the series held in cooperation with Sun International and the Monster Jam Poker Tour (MJPT) will be paying out the biggest slice of the ZAR 4 Million ($217,580) prize pool on the final day of the series. All nine finalists have locked up at least ZAR77,600 ($4,268) for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the top prize of ZAR912,400 ($50,182).
Harold Brooks knows very well how it feels like to pose for the winner shots with the SPT Main Event trophy, after all he took down this very tournament at the same venue in the second edition of 2024. He will be the chip leader for tomorrow's live-streamed conclusion with 2,290,000 and is best-positioned to repeat his victory in back-to-back years.
Second in chips is aforementioned Deveson (1,765,000), who won the ZAR50,000 High Roller during this series only a few days ago. Fewer than one big blind behind is Sean Bloom (1,735,000) and there is already a small gap to Stephen Courtney (1,470,000) thereafter.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Courtney | South Africa | 1,470,000 | 37 |
| 2 | Max Deveson | United Kingdom | 1,765,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Harold Brooks | South Africa | 2,290,000 | 57 |
| 4 | Keenan Pienaar | South Africa | 1,015,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Greg Tucker | South Africa | 910,000 | 23 |
| 6 | KM | South Africa | 1,185,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Jonathan Kalil | South Africa | 1,320,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Sean Bloom | South Africa | 1,735,000 | 43 |
| 9 | Taariq Jaftha | South Africa | 810,000 | 20 |
Day 1a chip leader Keenan Pienaar also made it through the mine fields of the bubble day and bagged up 1,015,000 in chips, former Main Event finalist KM is just ahead of that with 1,185,000. There are 18:20 minutes left in level 23 at blinds of 20,000-40,000 with a big blind ante of 40,000. The final day is scheduled to recommence at 11:30 a.m. local time and all updates will be published on a 30-minute delay according to the live stream action.
Remaining Payouts
| Rank | Winner | Country | Prize (in ZAR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZAR912,400 | $50,182 | ||
| 2 | ZAR564,000 | $31,020 | ||
| 3 | ZAR402,000 | $22,110 | ||
| 4 | ZAR291,600 | $16,038 | ||
| 5 | ZAR215,200 | $11,836 | ||
| 6 | ZAR162,000 | $8,910 | ||
| 7 | ZAR124,400 | $6,842 | ||
| 8 | ZAR97,200 | $5,346 | ||
| 9 | ZAR77,600 | $4,268 |
Action of the Day
The penultimate tournament day saw 58 survivors of the four starting days return to their seats and 40 of them were secured a cash prize for their efforts. Among those to bow out before the money were Jarred Solomon, Moon Khan, last year's runner-up Patrice Ah-Nien, and Ahmed Karrim.
Two spots away from the money, Benjamin Lingenfelder Jr jammed at the wrong time with a dominated ace and Gavin Sardini brought the field to the bubble. It only lasted a few days until the money was reached when a short-stacked Cliton Taliwanth got it in with pocket fives but ended up second-best to the pocket jacks of Eben Lottering.
Ronit Chamani was among the first to fall in the money, running with pocket queens into pocket aces. Braam Van Huyssteen crashed out in a big pot to Brooks when the latter flopped a set of treys and remained near the top of the leaderboard for the remainder of the day. Sardini's fate was sealed in cruel fashion when KM cracked his pocket kings with seven-six suited, chasing a flush draw but instead hitting runner-runner two pair.
Former SPT Main Event champion Giovanni Zanette has had his run-good and run-bad periods throughout the entire day and ultimately bowed out on the final two tables after several tussles with Brooks. The action slowed down towards the end of the night and Day 2 wrapped up in the last scheduled level when three quick eliminations brought the field down to the final nine contenders.
SPT regular Rudolf Fourie went from shortest stack to the leaders in a matter of half an hour around the dinner break, only to then fall completely card dead when it mattered the most. Ultimately, he got it in with queen-jack suited against the ace-king of Jonathan Kalil and only took the lead on the flop to wrap up another long day of live poker here in South Africa.
Stay tuned for the exclusive PokerNews live updates on Sunday, March 9, 2025 when the latest stop of Africa's richest poker tour is determining the Main Event champion.