Veteran baccarat supremo Guobin Gao, a patron of Carnival City in eastern Gauteng, beat out his rivals to be installed as 2024 Black Opal champion and bag the R1.5 million grand prize in the finale of Sun International nationwide gaming extravaganza at Sun City on Saturday, 28 July 2024.
With R2.5 million in prize money on offer on the day, the stakes were high from start to finish in what is one of the richest gaming tournaments in the country. The finale was a fitting conclusion to 10 weeks of intense action at Sun International casinos around South Africa as competitors – all members of the company’s legendary Sun MVG loyalty programme – battled to secure their seats at the glittering grand finale.
Hugely popular in the Far East and growing in favour across the world, baccarat is easy to pick up and you can join a game with virtually any sort of bankroll. Apart from simplicity, the Game of Kings is a highly social game with a sense of camaraderie as players urge each other through the cycles of winning and losing.
Baccarat boom
Few casino games can match this community-driven atmosphere – or the low house edge. You need to get as close to a total value of 9 based on two cards drawn to both the player and the dealer – player, banker, or tie being the only options (or just banker or player in tournament action).
Black Opal 2024 Tournament Director and Sun City Assistant Gaming Manager Patrick “Ace” Ngobeni was thrilled with the feedback from the finalists, saying that baccarat had been steadily drawing players of other table games to the fold.
“Our guests have responded well to the VIP treatment – we try to do things differently at Sun City. With a 50-50 chance, the Asian community in particular love the baccarat odds, but we’re finding that other markets are showing interest. We’re even running a learning programme to showcase how easy and entertaining the game can be. You’ve just got to keep focus and don’t allow yourself to be distracted!” he said.
Bring on the heat
The preliminary heats at the ultra-luxurious Privé in the Sun City Hotel casino went off in a parade-like atmosphere as Sun City laid out the red carpet for the finalists. Iconic Sun International MC Vivian “Mamba” Subramoney was on hand to conduct proceedings in his inimitable style, pushing the finalists to frenzied heights as showgirls and an eager audience lit up the room. The popular casino houses 32 tables encompassing poker, roulette, blackjack, and baccarat, and 600 slot machines.
Sun City General Manager Brett Hoppé hailed the opportunity to host the finale as a “great privilege” that made for a showcase of the unique attributes of the legendary resort, with its incredible diversity and capacity.
“These nationwide tournaments allow us to come together as one Sun gaming family, with customers from across our properties interacting in one space. It really is an exciting drawcard. And then there’s the Sunbet involvement – Sun International is able to offer special experiences across our properties that other online operators simply can’t match!” he explained.
Hoppé added that there were exciting developments on the horizon for Sun City, including an extensive refurbishment of the Sun City Hotel and Sun Vacation Club timeshare accommodation, which will provide a fully-fledged Las Vegas-style gaming experience.
A fitting Encore
The grand finale, which saw the top six take to the stage at Sun City’s fabled Encore nightclub – this time dressed up in a Kings and Queens theme – was a tense affair, with guests following every second of the action on screens and being entertained through dance and song.
The finalists pulled out all the stops across the ups and downs of a tense final, sizing each other up across the rounds in a bid to outmanoeuvre the table. In the end, however, it was the canny Guobin who held his nerve and was crowned champion, continuing Carnival City’s hot streak in nationwide competitions and further buffeting Sun International’s reputation as the “home of tournaments”.
