WPT South Africa Gets Under Way

WPT South Africa Gets Under Way

Friday, 8 November 2013

The World Poker Tour's second stop in South Africa and The Palace of Dreams in Johannesburg got under way yesterday and by the time the dust had settled just 54 of the original 85 starters had survived the session.

Dubbed the Emperors Palace Poker Classic, the WPT's Main Event saw the likes of Barny Boatman, Faraz Jaka, Melanie Weisner and Dominik Nitsche take to the felt in search of glory. Of the starting pack it was Nitsche who had the most reason to focus as he was looking to defend the title he won last year.

Adding to his growing list of achievements, Nitsche was able to overcome the UK's Jerome Bradpiece in 2012 to claim his first WPT title and $206,153. With momentum on his side the German pro managed to make it through the session safely and by the time the lights were dimmed he'd managed to rake in 42,000 chips.

While Nitsche's haul was enough to put him ahead of such luminaries as Faraz Jaka (23,350), a cohort of pros was comfortably perched above him on the leaderboard at the close of play. Indeed, among those looking towards Day 2 was Barny Boatman (42,125), Melanie Weisner (68,550), Gaelle Baumann (85,300) and the overall chip leader, Nahum Lum.

A surge of positive variance throughout the day allowed Lum to collect 123,725 and put himself in a strong position to challenge for the title when Day 2 kicks off on Saturday.

Today's session is expected to attract a greater number of players than Day 1A as many of yesterday's fallen players look to re-enter and try their luck for a second time.

End-of-Day Top Five Chip Counts:


1 Nahum Lum 123,725
2 Rob Fenner 112,050
3 Mauro De Rose 105,575
4 Leon Govindsamy 100,500
5 Marc Joseph 94,000



Tags: WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic, South Africa, Dominik Nitsche, Barny Boatman, Faraz Jaka