The most important reside poker occasion of the yr in South Africa and within the historical past of the SunBet Poker Tour (SPT) has come to an finish. Mauritius primarily based Saurabh Gulati has taken down the 504-entry robust 2024 SPT GrandWest Most important Occasion after a three-way deal. He took residence the largest slice of the ZAR 6,350,400 ($351,395) prize pool and denied a house victory for a number of fierce native rivals on the GrandWest On line casino exterior of Cape City on the southern cusp of the African continent.
“Liked it. It was stress within the begin, however after that it bought simpler with the chip lead and every thing. It bought a lot simpler and I had a ball time,” Gulati stated within the winner interview after his victory. He joked that there was no huge competitor on the desk as a result of he “knew I’d take it down,” albeit with a giant smirk on the face.
For the primary time in historical past, two girls reached the ultimate desk within the largest reside poker match of the yr in South Africa and so they made additional historical past. Whereas narrowly lacking out on the victory, Ronit Chamani in addition to Diane Walker went the furthest any feminine participant on the tour had gone earlier than. They ended up in three-handed play with Gulati, the place a deal was lower to proceed play for the trophy.
Walker had joked previous to the beginning of Day 2 that there was no article written about her after she had topped the late turbo warmth 1d with the most important tally. She was filled with confidence heading into the ultimate day and exclaimed “I’ll attain the ultimate desk and you’ll write about me”, and he or she actually showcased her abilities on the felt these previous few days.
Having been left brief early into the ultimate desk after a conflict with Nic Ioannoy, Walker got here again to hang-out Ioannoy and made all of it the way in which to heads-up play. Chamani took residence ZAR 900,000 for third place whereas Walker earned ZAR 800,000. Nevertheless, it was Gulati who claimed the winner’s trophy after an intense and swingy heads-up duel together with the highest prize of ZAR 975,280.
The eventual champion was born in Australia and moved to Mauritius about one and a half years in the past, the place he jumped again into poker after beginning his journey in Sydney greater than eight years in the past. As has been the case throughout different SPT stops in 2024, a small crew of Mauritius gamers made the a method journey from the island and Gulati joined them. Often, money video games at the moment are his prowess, however the triumph within the largest SunBet Poker Tour Most important Occasion in historical past up to now may need an affect on his desire.
It was a really becoming finish to the yr for Africa’s Richest Poker Tour with great numbers. All ensures throughout the board have been smashed throughout the pageant and the attendance figures all through all occasions elevated by greater than thirty p.c. The ZAR 15,000 Most important Occasion was no completely different, beating the 429 entries of final yr by a large margin to showcase the expansion of the favored reside poker tour, which is held in conjunction between the main South African gaming and hospitality firm Solar Worldwide and the Monster Jam Poker Tour.
2024 SPT GrandWest Most important Occasion Last Desk End result
*displays deal settlement between the ultimate three gamers
Among the many finalists have been additionally Colin Horgan from Eire, three-time champion Nic Ioannoy, Giovanni Zanette and Edgar Antezana. Horgan had received his journey to Cape City after his runner-up end in The Hendon Mob Championship throughout the 2024 Irish Poker Open and stayed longer to take full benefit of the pageant. Antezana got here recent off a giant rating within the 2024 APT Manila Most important Occasion for PHP 13,850,000 ($ 237,864) one month in the past.
It has been a stellar yr for Zanette, who made a deep run within the WSOP Most important Occasion in Las Vegas and completed in thirtieth place for $300,000. “It is the place I normally end,” Zanette had stated after he had bowed out within the ZRA 75,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler in third place, and he then additionally cashed within the ZAR 50,000 Excessive Curler earlier than leaping into the Most important Occasion and making it by means of in a single bullet.
Zanette bought the ball rolling within the very first hand on the outer desk when he left Antezana brief, who would bust quickly after. The subsequent casualty was Rohan Conradie on the function desk earlier than Horgan jumped again into the highest spot by knocking out Wessel Conradie on the outer desk with ace-four versus ace-ten.
As soon as the ultimate desk was finally reached after practically three full ranges, Gulati earned a lucky double straight away. Divan Le Roux then bought brief and jammed a suited jack into the pocket tens of Diane Walker to change into the primary casualty. The second all-in showdown resulted in a chop earlier than Gareth Fourie doubled with an ace-rag towards a child pair.
Zanette bought it in forward with ace-queen versus king-ten however Gulati hit the ten and king to ship Zanette to the rail in eighth place. Hennie Appel bought brief and busted quickly after, whereas Diane Walker was on the verge of struggling the identical destiny when she misplaced a giant all-in showdown with queens towards the ace-five of Nic Ioannoy. Nevertheless, Walker doubled two instances in fast succession a lot to the delight of the native rail.
Fourie’s try at spinning up his brief stack ended with jack-ten suited towards the ace-jack of Horgan and he completed sixth in his first ever reside poker match. Whereas on trip, he performed a satellite tv for pc and turned that right into a remaining desk run. The ultimate hand earlier than the second break of the day introduced a conflict between Gulati and Ioannoy, with the previous taking up the lead.
Again from the break, Walker scored her fourth double-up and got here from behind with queen-jack towards the king-queen of Ioannoy. The conflict left the three-time SunBet Poker Tour Most important Occasion winner with a chip and a chair, he doubled as soon as earlier than heading to the payout desk.
4-handed play noticed two native feminine contenders up towards Horgan from Eire and Gulati from Australia. The best end for a feminine contender in a SPT Most important Occasion till now had been fifth place, which Chamani and Walker each surpassed and so they even embraced throughout four-handed play whereas the boys have been busy in a hand. Mentioned tense second noticed Gulati hero-call with ace-high on the river and he caught Horgan bluffing, after which each fist-bumped.
It appeared inevitable that each would conflict once more and it occurred quickly after with one other flip. The pocket sixes of Gulati flopped a set versus ace-ten and Horgan was drawing lifeless on the flip to scale back the sphere to the ultimate three.
Chamani had fastidiously picked her spots on the ultimate desk to keep up her stack after which doubled by means of Gulati with kings versus ace-king. With the stacks extra even, first deal discussions got here up, however a second spherical was wanted to return to an settlement. Chamani was the primary to bust thereafter when her high pair was cracked by Gulati’s flush draw.
The heads-up duel for the trophy was a topsy-turvy affair. Walker doubled right into a commanding lead however Gulati struck again to finally deny a house city victory for the Capetonian, who recorded her second-largest rating on the reside poker circuit in South Africa.
