The R3,000,000 All Africa Poker Tournament, which took place this past weekend, 29-31 July 2010, at Piggs Peak Hotel and Casino has a new champion - MJ Pieters. 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’ A K 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 R1,000,000.

Robert Sham exited in third position while Matt Train took forth 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 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. SA’s number one player Ryan Dreyer got knocked out in 16th.