South African Warren Zackey Day 5 chip leader at WSOP Main Event
Team All Africa Poker and Piggs Peak Casino sponsored player, Warren Zackey is flying the Southern African flag high at the 2009 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Finishing as chip leader for Day 5 with a chip stack of 4,872,000, the quiet and unassuming plumbing supply businessman from Honeydew, Johannesburg is really enjoying his WSOP tournament debut.
Supported here at the Harrah’s Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Hotel by his wife Debbie, and back home by his children Tahren, Lagen and Dalten, Zackey is surprised by the overwhelming attention he is receiving being the chip leader during Level 20 of the $10,000 Main Event # 57 tournament. The ESPN cameras have swarmed his table and there were many microphones in his face as he left the table at the end of play today. He is currently guaranteed of winning US$32,626.
At 42 years old, Zackey has only been playing Texas Hold-em poker for the past three and a half years after following the action on the All Africa Poker Channel on DSTV, and playing online tournaments. He won his seat to the WSOP Main Event through the All Africa Poker Tournament, when he placed 2nd in the May 2009 tournament held at Piggs Peak Casino in Swaziland.
185 players remain in this world renown tournament and it is no small achievement for Zackey to be holding almost 5 times the average chip stack. Among those who remain in the running are poker icons Phil Ivey, Ludovic Lacay, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Tom Schneider, James Akenhead and Joe Hachem.
Unlike Day 1, which was split into four days and Day 2 which was split into two days, Day 3 to 8 will be played over a single day, concluding on July 15th with Day 8. The final table will then resume play again on November 7th for the title of WSOP Champion.
For a blow by blow account of how Team All Africa is progressing you can follow the blog updates and video footage on the All Africa Poker website follow All Africa Poker on Twitter and become an All Africa Poker fan on Facebook. You can also follow the tournament on www.worldseriesofpoker.com.
