SPT Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square
SPT Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1b
2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square
Buy-in
15,000 ZAR
Prize Pool
4,000,000 ZAR
Entries
312
Level
27
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Entries
67
Players Left
11
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Two of the four starting days of the 2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Main Event have been completed and another 67 entries on Day 1b have boosted the overall attendance to 147 entries here in Pretoria. With a price tag of ZAR 15,000 ($820), the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event is still some ways off reaching theZAR 4 million ($217,580) guarantee but another two flights remain on Friday, March 7, 2025.
It took almost an identical time as in the opening flight to reach the top 15% of the field today and the action concluded with the most spectacular hand of this stop so far, vaulting Gavin Sardini into the top spot with 579,000 in chips. Sardini flopped quads sevens and denied Huawei Sun from Botswana a berth on Day 2, who rivered the second nuts with pocket tens for tens full of sevens when all the chips went in.
For Sun, it was a rather unfortunate day on the poker tables, as he was also the first casualty in the money in the ZAR 50,000 High Roller. But he has another two chances to make up for it and compete for a slice of the six-figure prize pool.
All 11 Day 1b survivors hail from South Africa and that includes the former SPT Main Event finalists KM (367,000), Jedd Kossew (341,000), Cliton Taliwanth (240,000), Gareth Fourie (175,000) and Jaryd Jardien (165,000).
Final Chip Counts Day 1b
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Blinds Day 1b |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gavin Sardini | South Africa | 579,000 | 145 |
| 2 | KM | South Africa | 367,000 | 92 |
| 3 | JS | South Africa | 343,000 | 86 |
| 4 | Jedd Kossew | South Africa | 341,000 | 85 |
| 5 | Cliton Taliwanth | South Africa | 240,000 | 60 |
| 6 | Gareth Fourie | South Africa | 175,000 | 44 |
| 7 | Kinesh Pather | South Africa | 167,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Jaryd Jardien | South Africa | 165,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Jonathan Hoal | South Africa | 133,000 | 33 |
| 10 | Bradley Moore | South Africa | 103,000 | 26 |
| 11 | Norman Cherry Sr | South Africa | 70,000 | 18 |
Norman Cherry Sr (70,000) followed into the footsteps of his son, who was on the rail after bowing out earlier on Day 1b and had bagged up a short stack in the opening flight. Other familiar faces of the close-knit South African poker community who failed to advance were Jaco Mouton, Nic Ioannoy, Okkie Fourie, Giovanni Zanette, Rajeev Poonhath, Stephen Courtney, and Joe Rahme to name all but a few of today's casualties.
Max Deveson Wins ZAR 50,000 High Roller
As previously mentioned, the ZAR 50,000 High Roller Event concluded today as well and the UK's Max Deveson put on a heads-up master class to overcame a large chip deficit in heads-up play and defeated Ronit Chamani and earn the biggest piece of the ZAR 2,016,000 ($110,880) prize pool in a field of 48 entries for his first SPT trophy.
Ever since entering the South African poker scene, Deveson has been racking up impressive results but had the work cut out for him after entering the final five last in chips with a still very playable sub 50 big blinds. He eventually came out on top of a fierce heads-up encounter of more than two and a half hours to claim the ZAR 800,000 ($44,000) top prize.
ZAR 50,000 High Roller Final Result
| 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 queen-deuce suited, Chamani looked him up with red aces and faded the pair and flush draw sweat. Chamani closed the gap to Marko Nortje and then knocked him out to become the run-away chip leader.
"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 a jack-high turn with king-six suited for second pair and a flush draw. Chamani used three time bank extensions and then called with jack-deuce suited for top and bottom pair on the flop, which held after a brick river.
Taiwan-born local resident Rex Hsu then three-bet jammed at the wrong time out of the small blind with ace-five. Chamani in the big blind isolated with ace-king and Hsu missed his gutshot to see Chamani enter heads-up with Deveson holding a lead of more than three to one.
However, the tides changed slowly but surely as Deveson grinded down Chamani throughout six 30-minute heads-up levels and eventually won a flip with pocket treys versus jack-seven. While Chamani jumped into Day 1b of the Main Event and bowed out rather quickly, Deveson took the rest of the evening off. However, both are certainly be expected in the Main Event field tomorrow.
The penultimate starting day is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. local time and retains the 50-minute level duration, whereas the turbo heat in the evening has 30-minute levels during the registration period and 15-minute levels thereafter. Both remaining flights will play a maximum of 15 levels or down to the top 15% of the field, whichever comes first.
Stay tuned right here on PokerNews for more of the exciting live poker action from South Africa.
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Day 1b concluded with 25:28 minutes remaining in level 13, which was only seven minutes slower than the opening flight. Gavin Sardini leaped into the top spot on the overall leaderboard by fewer than one full big blind.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
579,000 | |
|
||
|
367,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
343,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
341,000 | |
|
240,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
175,000 | |
|
167,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
165,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
133,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
103,000 | |
|
70,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The action commenced with an open raise by Gavin Sardini and he then called a small three-bet by Huawei Sun in the big blind. On the 7♥7♠4♠ flop, Sun check-called for 15,000 and they checked the 2♣ on the turn.
The river was the 10♠ and the flush arrived on a paired board. Sun grabbed into his stack and bet 70,000, which was just shy of the pot. Sardini glanced over to the other side of the table and let one time bank expire before he cut out a raise to 150,000. Within two seconds, Sun moved all-in and Sardini instantly called.
Sun triumphantly smashed his 10♥10♣ for tens full of sevens on the felt, but he ended up as the final casualty of Day 1b as Sardini had flopped quads with 7♣7♦ to cause uproar on the entire table. Sardini walked over to his opponent and they embraced, Sun even had a smile on his face before leaving the tournament area.
With this spectacular final hand, Sardini jumped to the top of the leaderboard as well. All chip counts for the second starting day are to follow, along with a recap of today's action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
579,000
229,000
|
229,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
341,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
175,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
103,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
Busted | |
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Both tables are six-handed and the top 11 finishers are destined to advance to Day 2 from this flight. Some short stacks exist but they still have plenty of big blinds at their disposal, while several players are gunning for the top spot.
Among them are Gavin Sardini and Jedd Kossew, who are both involved in the action along with Gareth Fourie. They check the A♣5♥3♥ f lop and Kossew bet the 9♥ turn for 12,000. Both opponents folded and Kossew tabled the A♠.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
350,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
330,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
|
185,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Jedd Kossew raised to 10,000 in the hijack and Jaco Mouton was the only caller from the small blind with around 100,000 behind to the 9♥8♠7♣ flop. Mouton checked for Kossew to bet 10,000 and he then instantly called the shove by Mouton.
"Set," Mouton announced and showed the 7♠7♥. However, the table groaned when Kossew flipped over his 9♦9♠ for the superior set.
With the 5♥ turn, Mouton actually gained four outs to somehow escape with a possible split pot. But it wasn't meant to be, as the 4♦ river ended his run two spots away from bagging up chips tonight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
285,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Gavin Sardini called out of the small blind when Norman Cherry Sr raised the button and a seemingly innocent pot then saw Sardini bet the A♦J♠2♥5♦ turn and 2♠ river. Cherry Sr called with the A♥10♠ but got shown 5♥2♦ for bottom pair on the flop that went runner runner full house.
"Five deuce? That is gifted," another player remarked and Sardini replied "five deuce never lose".
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
410,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
80,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
Level 13
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
In a single-raised three-way pot to the A♣Q♣5♣ flop, Huawei Sun bet 33,000 when checked to. Gavin Sardini reluctantly folded and so did Bradley Moore. Sardini showed one of his cards, the Q♠ and Sun exposed the 5♠5♥ for bottom set.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
310,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
218,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
|
|
100,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Level: 13
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Only 13 players remain and they have been sent on a scheduled 10-minute break.
In the final hand before the break, Huawei Sun scored a double off Jaco Mouton when he raised the 9♥7♠6♠ flop and then called all-in on the 7♥ turn when he got jammed on. Sun's A♦A♠ were up against 10♣9♠ and they held on the 2♠ river to double for 68,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
192,000
112,000
|
112,000 |
|
|
117,000
82,000
|
82,000 |
|
|
||
