Welcome to the 2024 SunBet Poker Tour GrandWest Main Event
The fifth and final stop of the 2024 SunBet Poker Tour gears up for the Main Event, which officially kicks off today at the GrandWest Casino in Cape Town. Africa's Richest Poker Tour has seen a growth by thirty percent or more throughout all of the events during the series so far and that may very well be the case for the crown jewel on the schedule as well.
Four SunBet Poker Tour Main Event champions have been crowned in the current year so far and PokerNews reported on two of the stops at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria. Sugen Singh and Harold Brooks struck deals en route to victory while Sean Bloom came out on top at The Palace of the Lost City. Last but not least, Imran Bhojani was the last champion to date at the The Boardwalk Casino and Hotel in Port Elizabeth.
Singh came close to victory just yesterday in the 2024 THMC Cape Town Million, but opted to settle for second place after a heads-up deal with Muaaz Gani.
With a price tag of ZAR 15,000 (~$828), the flagship tournament bears a ZAR 4 Million guarantee. One year ago, that was also the case and the event attracted a field of ZAR 5,405,400 ($289,916) thanks to a total of 429 entries. None other than Ahmed Karrim ended up as the winner after a heads-up deal with Mario Fata and both have already competed during other tournaments earlier on with Fata taking down a Single Day High-Roller and Karrim finishing third.
Whether or not they will jump into the action right away on Day 1a remains to be seen, as they are currently competing in the ZAR 50,000 High Roller, which has attracted more than 50 already with the late registration still open. Many notables have joined the second most expensive tournament on the schedule but they have four different flights to pick from for the Main Event.
Day 1a kicks off at noon local time and will feature a total of 15 levels of 50 minutes each. That's the maximum for today, but chips may be bagged and tagged up prior to that if the top 15% of the field has been reached. There will be a 60-minute dinner break after level seven on the first three starting days and the late registration with unlimited re-entries is available for the first ten levels.
All players start their journey with 40,000 in chips and hope to turn them into many more. The opening level features blinds of 100-200 with a big blind ante of 200, giving all participants 200 big blinds worth for the opening stages. The first three starting flights in as many days feature 50-minute levels while the last turbo heat has 30-minute levels during the registration period and 15 minutes thereafter.
The series and Main Event will conclude on December 1, 2024, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor throughout the entire duration to provide as much of the action from the close-knit South African poker community as possible.