JOHANNESBURG, 06 March 2023 – High roller poker fever is set to grip South Africa again as the Sun International SunBet Poker Tour opens at the Time Square Casino in Pretoria from 3 March.
Billed as Africa’s Richest Poker Tour, the SunBet Poker Tour, is in its second year with SunBet as the main sponsor which makes stops at Sun International properties around South Africa. In 2022, the Tour saw buy-ins of almost R80 million and organisers expect the 2023 five-leg edition to be even bigger and more lucrative. The SunBet Poker Tour also includes a Race to Vegas element.
The first leg of the 2023 tour is being held at Times Square Casino, Pretoria, from 3-12 March and features a guaranteed pot of R11.5 million.
According to SunBet’s CEO, Simon Gregory “the immense popularity of the poker tour can be seen in the fact that last year there was a total of R78 million in buy-ins from participating players.
“The SunBet Poker Tour is a tour de force and now places our competition at a global standard level in terms of prestige, buy-ins and prize money.”
The SunBet Poker Tour kicks off with 10 days of competitive play across different experience levels. The Tour will be attended by professional poker players and high rollers along with entry-level novices, all of whom stand a chance of going home with a slice of the prize money and one of the coveted trophies.
Marc Joseph, Director of Monster Jam Poker Tour, said “We are so excited to be returning to Time Square to kick of Season 2 of Africa’s Richest Poker Tour. Year one was an incredible journey, and this year promises to be even bigger and better! I’d like to invite anyone and everyone to come down and witness the spectacle that we will be showcasing.”
The SunBet Poker Tour begins with the first hand cut at Times Square on Friday, 03 March. The rest of the Tour takes place as follows:
- Sibaya Casino, Durban: 05 - 14 May
- Sun City, Rustenberg: 04 - 13 August
- Boardwalk Casino, Gqeberha: 29 September – 08 October
- GrandWest, Cape Town: 24 Nov - 04 December
The Tour is open to anyone with a Sun International MVG card which can be activated on the day of the event. Aspirant players can also qualify through a series of satellite qualifying events.
The Race to Vegas sees players that win at events, earn points on a leaderboard. The top 10 players on the leaderboard win a trip to Las Vegas to take part in The World Series of Poker. The leaderboard will close after the series at Sibaya, 14 May. A series of Vegas Satellite events in May/June will allow players who may have missed out on a winning another chance to qualify.
Gregory said SunBet was thrilled to be part of taking the game of poker to a wider audience and to help elevate the local tour to a global standing. SunBet has agreed to a five-year sponsorship of the tour.
For more information on the SunBet Poker Tour, go to https://monsterjampoker.com/
The current leader board standings can be found at https://monsterjampoker.com/#race-to-vegas-popup
