By : Victoria Webb

2^nd August 2010

The R3,000,000 All Africa Poker Tournament took place from 29^th to 31^st July 2010 at Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino, Swaziland.

MJ Pieters is the new All Africa Poker Tournament Champion.  Pieters became the chip leader early on in the game and carried his consistent play through to the final table. After hours on the felt, it was Pieters’ AK of which paired the board and knocked out previous AAPT champion Ryan Eber securing him the July 2010 AAPT title and the winning pot of R1 million.

Robert Sham exited in third position, while Matt Train took fourth and Bennie Lingerfelder fifth.

When asked about his tactics for the game, Pieters commented that he played every pot as if he were at the final table, focusing on his cards rather than the other players.

Pieters is still relatively new to the poker scene.  It was Daniel Craig’s swift poker moves as James Bond in Casino Royale that prompted this Witbank business man to take to the felt.  Having played in five previous All Africa Poker Tournaments, this is the first time Pieters has made it to the final table, and gone on to ultimately win the tournament. However this is not the first time Pieters has walked away with the glory. He won a previous Emperors Palace 500 Invitational.

Referring to himself as a ‘student of poker’, Pieters attributes his success to an ongoing hunger to learn more about the game from poker greats, like Dan Harrington as well as references such as ‘The Poker Player’s Bible’.

Previous All Africa Poker Champion Darren Kramer exited the tournament in 13th place, while Betting World’s Neil Andrews made it to his first final table and was eliminated in 7th position. BLUFF SA’s number one player and BLUFF SA Poker Editor, Ryan Dreyer got knocked out in 16th.

Poker fans who missed out on the action can catch up on the All Africa Poker blog http://www.allafricapoker.com and can view tournament interviews with presenter Caitlin Fox on All Africa Poker TV as well as updates on Facebook. Full viewing of the Tournament’s final table will be available on the All Africa Poker slot of DStv’s Chanel 112 by November 2010.

By : Victoria Webb

2^nd August 2010

The R3,000,000 All Africa Poker Tournament took place from 29^th to 31^st July 2010 at Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino, Swaziland.

MJ Pieters is the new All Africa Poker Tournament Champion.  Pieters became the chip leader early on in the game and carried his consistent play through to the final table. After hours on the felt, it was Pieters’ AK of which paired the board and knocked out previous AAPT champion Ryan Eber securing him the July 2010 AAPT title and the winning pot of R1 million.

Robert Sham exited in third position, while Matt Train took fourth and Bennie Lingerfelder fifth.

When asked about his tactics for the game, Pieters commented that he played every pot as if he were at the final table, focusing on his cards rather than the other players.

Pieters is still relatively new to the poker scene.  It was Daniel Craig’s swift poker moves as James Bond in Casino Royale that prompted this Witbank business man to take to the felt.  Having played in five previous All Africa Poker Tournaments, this is the first time Pieters has made it to the final table, and gone on to ultimately win the tournament. However this is not the first time Pieters has walked away with the glory. He won a previous Emperors Palace 500 Invitational.

Referring to himself as a ‘student of poker’, Pieters attributes his success to an ongoing hunger to learn more about the game from poker greats, like Dan Harrington as well as references such as ‘The Poker Player’s Bible’.

Previous All Africa Poker Champion Darren Kramer exited the tournament in 13th place, while Betting World’s Neil Andrews made it to his first final table and was eliminated in 7th position. BLUFF SA’s number one player and BLUFF SA Poker Editor, Ryan Dreyer got knocked out in 16th.

Poker fans who missed out on the action can catch up on the All Africa Poker blog http://www.allafricapoker.com and can view tournament interviews with presenter Caitlin Fox on All Africa Poker TV as well as updates on Facebook. Full viewing of the Tournament’s final table will be available on the All Africa Poker slot of DStv’s Chanel 112 by November 2010.

By : Wendy Graaf
2^nd August 2010

There have been some significant moves in the BLUFF SA Poker Player Rankings in this past week.  Big prize money tournaments such as the All Africa Poker Tournament, held this past weekend, generate large point totals for players, as the total number of players and the size of the tournament buy-in are factors in the ranking formula.

In addition to the addition of new tournament results, there have been two tournaments which results have expired, being the Emperors Challenge held on 25^th July 2008 and the Silver Star Tournament held on 1^st August 2008.

♠      Highest position climber was Bennie Lingenfelder who moved 8 places to position 3^rd.

♠      Robbie Sham moved up the most positions, 17 places from 35^th to 18^th.

♠      Jay Sookoo moved up into 2^nd position with Dermot Sweeney having lost his points from the Silver Star 2008 tournie, and moving down to 14^th position.

♠      Ryan Dreyer retains his 1^st place ranking, however he has 480 points expiring on 6^th September from the 2008 Sun City Million Dollar Tournament.  He will need to have some significant results in the next few months to retain a position in the top 30 placed players.

♠      Rudolf Fourie dropped 14 places to 28^th position, as his Emperors points expired.

♠      Michael Gossyn dropped 4 places to 12^th position.

♠      3 players moved up two positions : Conrad Coetzer, Warren Zackey, Nahum Lum

♠      11 players moved up one position : Jay Sookoo, David Rosenthal, Gareth Kalil, Daniel Lamberti, Robert Kay, Melanie Banfield, Neil Singh, Nick Sissou, Dave Spangenberg, Kyri Patsalos, Ilija Martinovic

♠      11 players maintained their positions : Ryan Dreyer, Ray Rahme, Darren Kramer, Nicholas Zakhem, Ryan Brauer, Edgar Antonio Antezana, Clinton Nourse, Eugene Du Plessis, Joe Rahme, Mauro De Rose, Kenny Morgan

♠      Newcomers to the rankings following final table finishes at the All Africa Poker tournament this weekend are : MJ Pieters - R1 Million Winner (39^th), Matt Train (101^st), Neil Andrews (130^th), Thomas Toich (141^st) and Anthony Gordon (152^nd).

♠      8 players have dropped off the rankings due to their tournament points having expired, i.e. they have not cashed in any tournaments in the past 2 years.

(Should you pick up any discrepancies or variances in these rankings, please do not hesitate to let us know.  Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the details and your contact information.)