In 2009 All Africa Poker has crowned four new millionaires, stood their ground against some of the top poker players on the planet at the World Series of Poker, revolutionized the way poker is broadcast in Southern Africa and utilised online media to get their message to more poker fans than ever before. And in true poker fashion, this has been topped off with a sprinkling of glamour.
Johannesburg business man, Gareth Kalil, became one of the youngest members to join the elite All Africa Poker Millionaires Club when he became Tournament Champion in March. It was the first time 'No Fear' Kalil had played in one of these events, and bought his tickets on a whim, just two days before the kick-off.
When Piggs Peak Casino Swaziland hosted the next All Africa Poker Tournament in May 2009, Nicolas Zakhem won the competition, taking home the coveted R1-million prize money.
With a 23 player strong team, including Zakhem, Team All Africa Poker then left for the largest and most prestigious poker tournament, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament held in Las Vegas in July 2009.
Warren Zackey finished in 22
nd place at the WSOP where he pocketed a tidy US$352 832 for his effort. Zackey is the second Southern African poker player to progress this far at WSOP. However, Zackey wasn’t the only member of Team All Africa Poker who flew the South African flag high. Robert Kay took 7
th place in Event 56 and was the first Southern African player participating in this year’s WSOP to make it to the top 10 in a bracelet event. Both Ryan Brauer and Melanie Banfield had a very successful WSOP Main Event when they made it into the money. All Africa Poker’s commentator, Ryan Brauer was the second best finisher in the Main Event from Team All Africa Poker when he exited in 500
th position.
WSOP presented an ideal opportunity for All Africa Poker to launch their dynamic online communication strategy. Various platforms were used to keep the local poker community up to speed with the latest developments at WSOP, including blogs; Facebook; Twitter; Flickr; and YouTube.
Memorably, at the May All Africa Poker Tournament, Piggs Peak Casino launched Southern Africa’s first state of the art poker broadcast studio, which completely revolutionised how Southern African poker is viewed. The new studio boasts in excess of R1-million worth of cutting edge production facilities and records all the poker action which airs on All Africa Poker TV, DSTv’s Channel 112 from 22:30 nightly.
Piggs Peak Casino also launched the online All Africa Poker TV –
www.allafricapoker.tv – where poker fans can watch all the action from global and local poker tournaments, including poker programme’s like 'Ask the Commentators'.
The August All Africa Poker Tournament went down in the Southern African poker archives as a competition of records. Wessel Jacobs from Durban took the R1-million winning pot, in what will be remembered as the longest final table in the history of the Tournament – a gruelling 10 hours. The Tournament also saw two women make it to the final table - an extraordinary achievement considering the small proportion of female poker players in the local market. Sherill Loser was eliminated in eighth place, while Melanie Banfield exited the game in third position.
The fourth and final All Africa Poker Tournament held in November saw Ilija Martinovic take the glory. Fondly known as the White Eagle, Martinovic was one of the most popular players throughout the tournament. He came back from a minuscule chip stack to take a commanding lead from day two and never looked back.
Icons of poker in 2009 are certainly two of our fantastic local celebrities – the gorgeous Lee Ann Liebenberg, and popular singer Danny K - who represented the All Africa Poker brand throughout the year, adding an element of glitz and glamour to any games they played in.