Record Field En Route to the Final Table at GrandWest Casino Cape Town
The 2024 SunBet Poker Tour GrandWest Main Event in Cape Town has set a new record field of 504 entries for the ZAR 15,000 ($828) buy-in and caps off a very successful year for Africa's Richest Poker Tour, which is hosted by Sun International and the Monster Jam Poker Tour.
Across the four starting flights, a prize pool of ZAR 6,350,400 ($351,395) has been generated and 81 players return to their seats today with the money bubble in sight. Only the top 63 spots will get paid and that can make for a tense opening period.
Leading the way atop the leaderboard is the Day 1a duo of Clive Berman (677,000) and Gareth Fourie (676,000), separated by a single chip only. Colin Horgan from Ireland is in third place a mere three big blinds behind with 662,000 while American poker pro Joey Weissman (587,000) aims to cap off a very successful series so far with a deep run in the marquee Main Event.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 2
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clive Berman | South Africa | 677,000 | 135 |
| 2 | Gareth Fourie | South Africa | 676,000 | 135 |
| 3 | Colin Horgan | Ireland | 662,000 | 132 |
| 4 | Joey Weissman | United States | 587,000 | 117 |
| 5 | Jaron Kavnat | South Africa | 550,000 | 110 |
| 6 | Diane Walker | South Africa | 529,000 | 106 |
| 7 | Matthew Whitelaw | South Africa | 509,000 | 102 |
| 8 | Matthew Mulhall | South Africa | 501,000 | 100 |
| 9 | Huawei Sun | Botswana | 480,000 | 96 |
| 10 | Christopher Dean | South Africa | 445,000 | 89 |
A whole slate of notables survived their respective starting days such as Imran Bhojani (415,000), Edgar Antezana (362,000), Ronit Chamani (350,000), and Giovanni Zanette (294,000) to name all but a few. Defending champion Ahmed Karrim is also still in contention and brings in 179,000 in chips, good enough for 36 big blinds and plenty of wiggle room.
As of Day 2, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each and the action will recommence with 30 minutes of level 14 at blinds of 3,000-5,000 and a big blind ante of 5,000, which represents an average of the finish times across all starting days. The money bubble is expected to burst leading up to the first break after some two and a half hours of play.
It is expected that ten full levels will be played today or down to the final table, whichever comes first. Due to the record field size, though, the latter scenario seems rather unlikely. There will be a break every two full levels and a 75-minute dinner break after the end of the sixth full level.
Stay tuned on PokerNews for what shapes up to be an exciting day for live poker in South Africa. You can follow the live updates right here or on the Monster Jam Poker YouTube channel, which will host cards-up coverage and commentary on a 30-minute delay.