Shameegh Suarez was rewarded the champions bracelet for first place in the inaugural Cape Town Poker Open.
After two days of grinding, the tournament ended at 8:30PM on Day 2 thanks to an agreed deal among the Top 4.
Shameegh and Gareth Duncan were notable chip leaders with similar stacks of 5 million apiece.
The deal saw Shameegh claim first place, the sterling silver champions bracelet and R18 000 cash, while Gareth accepted second place and R21 000 in cash.
Shameegh played a solid game on both days – finishing Day 1 with over 1 million in chips. He then enjoyed a steady game to land on final table with close to 3 million in chips, which created a great platform during the latter stages of the tournament.
Gareth started Day 1 with just 440 000 chips, but played Aces well early on during Day 2 to kickstart his trajectory. He also landed the biggest pot on the day when he hit top set with 8s on the flop against Clinton Reddy’s Q7 ♦️ suited, which hit the flush on the Turn, but got buried by a full house on the River.
Cas du Toit and Carol Botes finished in 3rd and 4th respectively, both taking an equal share of R16 000.
Cas grinded well, and got a nice double-up through Gareth on final table. He also scored two eliminations to rise in the rankings.
A special shout-out to Carol, who is a visitor from Durban and played an outstanding game. She travels home tomorrow, but we hope to see you on the Concept tables soon again!
The Top 4 split preceded an early final table deal, which saw R10 000 taken by 6 players, while Gareth (R15 000) and Shameegh (R12 000) took extra for their chip leads.
With most of the players winning their seats via satellites – this deal proved too valuable to turn down as blinds were climbing.
Michael Cupido finished in 5th for his R10 000. He shoved pocket 4s into Cas, who woke up with pocket Jacks. Cas hit trip Jacks on the Turn to lock up the hand before the River.
Vicky Moodley finished in 6th place as he got unlucky on the River. He shoved Jacks over Cas’s raise in early position, and the latter made the big call with A8 ♥️ suited. The Flop brought two ♥️, the Turn a blank before the flush landed on fifth street to end Vicky’s tournament life.
Shane Davids also got rivered as he exited in 7th place. He flopped trips with Jacks on a 10♦️J♥️ Q♦️ board. He was raised all in by Carol, who opened K8 ♦️suited for a world of outs. Carol scored the knockout when hitting an Ace on the River for a straight.
Clint Solomons finished in 8th place when he made a play with the short stack on the button. He raised all in with 86, but unfortunately ran into Shameegh, who woke up with 8s in the big blind. The pocket pair held up.
More good news for the final table – all players earned double Player of the Year rating points for their results.
All in all, the highly-entertaining two-day tournament finished in high spirits.
Special thanks must go to the tournament organisers, the dealers and admin staff, who put in plenty of effort to ensure the stage was set, the players were well fed on both days and that everything ran smoothly from the first blind level.
Considering the event was postponed in December, it took hard work to get things arranged on short notice for the past weekend.
We received so many messages from players who unfortunately missed out on this occasion due to other commitments, but good news – we can confirm another instalment later this year!
The 2022 Cape Town Poker Open will be planned for December this year, with a final date and time to be confirmed soon.
We are considering to increase the buy-in slightly, to give the Cape Town poker fraternity a headline event to look forward to every season – especially for the players who don’t get to travel up to Joburg for the bigger and mainstream events.
If you have any suggestions you might want to add, feel free to chat to Gareth or Vicky.
We now look forward to the satellites for the upcoming Montecasino Poker Series, scheduled for late March/early April.
Results:
1) Shameegh Suarez
R18 000 + champions bracelet
2) Gareth Duncan
R21 000
3) Cas du Toit
R16 000
4) Carol Botes
R16 000
5) Michael Cupido
R10 000
6) Vicky Moodley
R10 000
7) Shane Davids
R10 000
8) Clint Solomons
R10 000
Prize pool: R111 000