Four starting days at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria, South Africa, have seen a field of 312 total entries emerge in the Nahum Lum Memorial Main Event and 58 players qualified for the race to the money bubble and beyond as of noon local time inside of the event centre. The flagship tournament of the 2025 SunBet Poker Tour Time Square Series is gearing up for the conclusion and the penultimate tournament day in the ZAR 15,000 ($820) Main Event will commence not far away from the money.
While the first three flights all stopped when reaching the top 15% of their respective fields, the turbo heat last night saw 20 players out of 67 entries advance. The 58 survivors will aim to make it to the top 40 spots to secure a portion of the ZAR 4 Million ($217,580) guarantee and from there on, it will be a wild ride towards the final table. Whether or not that goal will be reached today remains to be seen and also depends on how long the money bubble lasts.
Leading the way into Day 2 is SPT regular and multiple Main Event champion Nic Ioannoy, who ended a roller coaster Day 1c with 630,000 in chips. Second in chips is Gavin Sardini, who reached the final table of this very tournament one year ago and returns with 579,000. Keenan Pienaar (576,000), Jonathan Kalil (567,000) and Harold Brooks (503,000) are the only other players above half a million in chips so far. Brooks won the second edition at Time Square in 2024 after striking a five-way deal.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nic Ioannoy | South Africa | 630,000 | 126 |
| 2 | Gavin Sardini | South Africa | 579,000 | 116 |
| 3 | Keenan Pienaar | South Africa | 576,000 | 115 |
| 4 | Jonathan Kalil | South Africa | 567,000 | 113 |
| 5 | Harold Brooks | South Africa | 503,000 | 101 |
| 6 | Stephen Courtney | South Africa | 490,000 | 98 |
| 7 | Jaco Mouton | South Africa | 469,000 | 94 |
| 8 | Robin Moir | South Africa | 386,000 | 77 |
| 9 | KM | South Africa | 367,000 | 73 |
| 10 | Nico Wiechers | South Africa | 365,000 | 73 |
ZAR50,000 High Roller runner-up and SPT GrandWest 2024 third-place finisher Ronit Chamani is just outside of the top 10 with 347,000 and other notables in contention include Sean Bloom (312,000), Greg Tucker (290,000), Giovanni Zanette(279,000), Rex Hsu (269,000), ZAR50,000 champion Max Deveson (259,000), and Cliton Taliwanth (240,000).
Only the top 40 finishers will get paid at least ZAR27,600 ($1,518) for their efforts and as of Day 2, the levels last 60 minutes each. A total of ten levels are scheduled for today or down to the last nine players for the final table, whichever of the two comes first.
Returning blinds are 3,000-5,000 with a big blind ante of 5,000 and the money bubble is expected to be reached until the first break of the day. Besides the exclusive PokerNews updates, the action will also be broadcasted on the SunBet Poker YouTube channel with a security delay of 30 minutes. Cards-up coverage and commentary will be available all day long.
