Winner to be Crowned in the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event
After four starting days and a thrilling Day 2, the final conclusion of the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event awaits at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria, South Africa. Out of a field of 312 entries, nine players remain and eight of them represent the host nation South Africa, all aiming to keep the trophy on home soil in the opening event of the fourth season of the SunBet Poker Tour.
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 today and all of the nine finalists have locked up at least ZAR77,600 ($4,268) for their efforts, while all eyes are set on the top prize of ZAR912,400 ($50,182).
Harold Brooks lifted the SPT Main Event trophy last year at this very same venue when he took down the second edition of 2024. He is the chip leader heading into the final table with 2,290,000 and is best-positioned to repeat his victory in back-to-back years, widely considered as the "people's champion" in the close-knit South African poker community.
Second in chips is the only foreigner in the field, though Max Deveson lives in South Africa with his partner and has racked up several tournament wins on the African continent including a victory in the ZAR50,000 High Roller during this festival. "Devastating Deveson" as labelled by some of the locals returns with 1,765,000 and is swiftly followed by two-time SPT Main Event champion Sean Bloom (1,735,000).
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 |
Stephen Courtney has had several deep runs in this very tournament over the last few years and made it to the final table once again, this time with a stack of 1,470,000. Day 1a chip leader Keenan Pienaar made it through with 1,015,000 in chips and former Main Event finalist KM is also in the mix as well with a stack of 1,185,000. The talented Greg Tucker doesn't play as many tournaments, but is also a force to be reckoned. Last but not least, Taariq Jaftha to tournament poker after a hiatus since the pandemic and has 20 big blinds as the short stack (810,000).
There are 18:20 minutes left in level 23 at blinds of 20,000-40,000 with a big blind ante of 40,000 and the final day is scheduled to recommence at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time. However, all live updates will be published according to the 30-minute delay of the live stream action on the SunBet Poker Tour YouTube channel.
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 |