Let's Go!

Day 1D of the €350 Carnival Main Event has already attracted 535 entries. At the end of the 12 levels on each opening day, 113 players have already qualified for Day 2, which kicks off on Saturday at 2pm with blinds 2000 - 5000 (5000). So it's off to the fourth session!

Some 40 players are in the running from the outset on level 100 - 200, the only ante-free level of the competition...

Fifty

The 50 mark has been reached after a quarter of an hour's play, enough to beat the 173 entries for Day 1c?

Benoit Tombeur, Jorden Verbraeken, Daniel Dodet, Michel Fajga, Calin Nelu-Pop, Ben Jeuris, Raphael Lemaire and Patrick Neyman are already seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur...

Chicken Run

Just a few seconds remain before the antes come in and the blinds switch to 100 - 300 (300) with now 65 players in the running for 67 entrants. 

The first outgoing player was recorded after 19 minutes of play, Xavier Dupuy couldn't resist playing his tournament with trips, he's already back in the field. 

Dupuy came up against Ludovic Poullet. After a 600-chip open, Xavier placed a 2,000-chip MP raise with Ace 9 suiter and Ludovic called on the button, imitated by the opener. 

The dealer unlocks a 9 6 4 flop on which Ludovic takes the initiative for 4,500 chips. Xavier pays before checking-calling another 11,000 on turn 2. Magic river (or not) with another 9... and Xavier is about to check-call for his 28,000 when Ludovic pushes him all-in. 

Dupuy pays to discover a pair of 6s and a Full House, Poullet climbs to 94,000 chips, the first boss of Day 1d of the Carnival...

They arrive

There are 10 minutes left to play on the 3rd level of Day 1D, with a half-hour break at the end of the 4th level... 

There are currently 83 players on track for 88 entries, with an average of 53,000 chips or 177 blinds after a good hour's play... 

Pascal Vos, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, Antonius Roberts, Ekin Kandemir and Moise Alloun are just some of the players who are often in action in Namur... 

New Players

Valentin Bury, Olivier Carosella, Parkas SOmer, Luc Ta, Leonardo Armino (below) are in the game, which is now played over 200 - 400 (400).

86 players are in the running for 92 entrants, Daniel Dodu dropped his first dumpling when he fell into the trap of Dutchman Antonius Roberts...

Resuming

End of the first break of the day after a half-hour break. 100 players return to the track for 110 entries, while the blinds are now 300 - 600 (600). With an average of 55,000 chips and already two hours of play behind us, it's time to see the average drop below 100 blinds for the first time...

Chips
Cornelis Verheij 121,000
Antonius Roberts 116,000
Rachid Oufaska 104,000
Wilhelmina van Vegchel 92,000
Roel Kohlen 84,000
Raphael Lemaire 81,000
Kristof Everaerts 77,000
Johannes Maas 71,000
Mohamed Daher 67,000
Michel Fajga 66,000
Parker Somas 56,000
Olivier Carosella 54,000
Mathias Moutaoukil $50,000
Mohamed Razab Sekh 37,000
Armino Leonardo 10,000

Top 100

There are exactly 100 players seated at the Circus Casino Resort tables on Day 1B... for 130 registrants as play proceeds on blinds 400 - 800 (800). 

In 8 minutes, level 6 will start, the last one before the 75-minute dinner break. The catering break starts at 8:30 p.m. 

Resumed at 9:45 p.m., we're heading for the end of late registration at the start of level 10, around midnight 10. Join the likes of Lukas Trzcinski, Ducardo Ueberfeldt, Gaetano Morecci and Heni Mokni, who recently arrived...

Gaetano is at Mathias Moutaoukil's table, and things are going rather well for the duo. Mathias has 133,000 chips just over an hour into his tournament, while Gaetano has 80,000 chips, above the average of 68,000 chips (85 blinds).

Namur Classic's (March 28-April 7 - €500,000 GTD)

The Namur Classic's festival, which returns at the end of March, is one of the highlights of the poker calendar in Belgium.

Last year, Adrien Di Grande won the €330 Main Event in front of 1,537 opponents to cash a big ticket after a 3-way deal. The €150,000 guarantee was exploded with a prizepool of €427,564... for the 2024 edition, the entry fee is €350, with the guarantee raised to €250,000! 

Players will receive 50,000 chips and will compete over several days in levels of 40 and 50 minutes, leading up to the televised final table with streaming cards up! 

The festival will feature a €800 High Roller (50,000 chips - 30/40 minutes), a €1,100 Mystery Bounty (100,000 chips - 45/60 minutes) with three starting days, a €250 Warm-Up with two opening days (30,000 chips - 30 minutes) and a further 10 side tournaments. 

A great week poker and the ambition to leave with a nice ticket! 

Namur Classic's full program (Online registration)

3

Just before dinner, Gaetano Morecci and Mathias Moutaoukil warm up at their table. Open to the hijack, 25,000 from the small blind, Giovanni Dancker all in with 46,000 chips and the 7s... but the opener doesn't let up and calls with ace-queen from the heart.

The short stack has the Jacks, but Giovanni takes it all to climb to 130,000 chips one 8 8 7 6 5 board later! 

Just In Time

A few minutes before the dinner break currently in progress, Heni Mokni and Mathias Moutaoukil had the right spot. Mokni found the Aces in the big blind to take off on the chipcount, while Moutaoukil squared up and we tried to bluff him.

Opn cutoff from Antonius Roberts, call from the button and call from the small blind, Heni Mokni makes it 7,000 in the big blind and nobody cracks. His continuation bet of 3,500 chips on 8 8 8 is paid only by the Dutchman. On turn 7, Heni Mokni bets 7,000 and is raised, all to go in the middle to form a 200,000-chip pot... Roberts flips queens and falls back to the starting stack on a river brick. 

Meanwhile, Mathias Moutaoukil sees a player open and entrâiner the whole table, he follows suit with 4 and 5 of spades in the small blind.... to find a 4 4 4 flop. The original raiser bets 4,000 UTG chips and gets raised to 8,000, Mathias simply pays and the GOLD returns his cards. No action on turn 7 and Mathias bets 17,500 chips again on a river brick. His opponent is not a believer and shoves 50,000 chips to reach the rail with Ace Ten! 

This duo started the break with 200,000 chips for an average of 81,000 chips. 88 players went on break for Day 1d, which has so far welcomed 143 participants...

Resume at 9:45 p.m. with a chipcount, bon appétit! 

Dinner break

Play is halted until 9.45pm, with the action resuming at blinds 500 - 1500 (1500) and an average of 81,000 chips.

With registration open until midnight 10, the table shows 88 players on track for 143 entrants in this 4th of 8 starting sessions. Rachid Oufaska seems to have escaped in the lead with almost 6 times the starting stack after 4 of the 8 effective hours of poker on Day 1D.

Resuming coverage just after 10pm...

Chips
Rachid Oufaska 271,000
Moise Alloun 249,000
Heni Mokni 210,000
Mathias Moutaoukil 200,000
hendrikus van der Heijden 180,000
Justin Herboldt 165,000
David Osumba 162,000
Giovanni Danker 160,000
Michel Fajga 155,000
Nur Mohamed Franklin 147,000 000
Christophe Lecocq 145 000
Sigfried Bund 141 000
Rolf Weighaupt 132 000
Kristof Everaerts 123 000
Pascal Vos 119 000
Olivier Carosella 108 000
Wilhelmina van Vegchel 106 000
Luc Ta 91 000
Gaetano Morecci 85 000
Bryan de Riddere 72 000
Antonius Roberts 46 000

They'll be back (or not)

The blinds have just climbed, with 84 players competing in blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500) with an average of 88,000 chips, or nearly 45 blinds left.

Mohamed Daher, Lukas Trzcinski, Steven Rothheut or Parkas Somer have jumped and may return until midnight 10...

While late registration is not yet complete for this fourth of eight starting days, the €200,000 guarantee has been exceeded... there's €202,000 in the pot.  

Up & Down

Level 8 comes to an end, with blinds climbing to 1,000 - 2,000 (2,000). 75 players are on track for 157 entries and just over an hour of late registration.

The average is 105,000 chips and, still on level 8, Raphael Lemaire has just made the call he needs to get going. In a 3-bet pot with 100,000 river chips, Raphael duels with his neighbor on the left of the button, Jelle Jonckheere.

On the 2 Jack 7 9 3 board with a possible heart flush arises runner-runner, Raphael has checked with 35,000 chips in front of him and his opponent then claims his stack. Lemaire takes his time and finally calls for his survival, happily discovering one of the hands he'd mentioned aloud during his long reflection.

Jelle returns Ace of Diamonds King of Hearts for a total bluff, but it's not enough against Lemaire's tens, which climb to 170,000 chips. Enough for a few hearty "wooos". 

Fabio d'Annolfo has just fallen back into this zone, at 160,000 pawns, after calling Joaqim Braz de Olivira on a full board with a single-headed King on the doorcard. Fabio calls 25,000 chips to be shown the Aces, and flashes a King for good measure... At this table, Mathias Moutaoukil has 205,000 chips. 

A few hands later, on the gong of level 8, Fabio d'Annolfo opens to 3,000 chips under the gun and pays the 3-bet to 9,000 chips of Mathias Moutaoukil. The duo meet on an Ace-Ten-King all-heart flop... and Fabio donks 10,000 to be raised to 31,500 chips. 

Fabio calls before checking-calling 35,000 chips on a 3 of hearts on the turn. Check again for Fabio on a river black king... and Mathias pulls the trigger with a bet of 76,000 (leaving himself 15,000 behind). Fabio thinks long and hard before the time is activated during the move to level 9. 

He returns his Jack 9 of hearts after the 30-second countdown, and Mathias reveals King-Queen-of-hearts for a big bluff, taking him up to 255,000 chips. Fabio drops to 140,000 chips, still above average despite two complicated moves in a row...

Action Table

We're heading for table 29, where we find Antonius Roberts still in grind mode, and his Dutch compatriot Johannes Maas. The latter has just doubled up after a button open from Heni Mokni (250,000) and a small blind raise from Christophe Cambier.

Maas puts the starting stack in the big blind after finding the Aces and if Mokni gets out of the way, Cambier will pay with the Tens. Despite the Ten of Spades and 3 Spades on the turn, Maas will hold to return to the middle. 

Michel Fajga has just taken out a player by paying him 9 and 8 on a 2 3 9 flop with two hearts... Vilain returned 9 and 7 to take the door! On the next hand, Michel 3-bet in position after an open of Rolf Weighaupt and the German called before checking-raise on 8 9 Jack... taking Michel to 25,000 and 250,000 chips. Weighaupt is in his wake at a table with chips and movement. 

There's still a quarter of an hour to go before the final break of the day, with 69 players in the running for 160 entries. The average is 116,000 chips, and we'll be back to check attendance at the end of the late registration period...

Before that, we meet during the break for a chipcount of the forces at work. 

Final Break

Play resumes at blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500) with registration closed. The number is not yet official, but it looks like there are still 63 players in the running for 163 entries and an average of 127,000 chips.

Just before the break, Michel Fajga lost a few feathers to Heni Mokni, who came on strong at 372,000 at the break. Gaetano Morecci also went second just before the break with a strike on Rachid Oufaska and Muhamed Mehinbasic, bringing the total to 285,000.

There are 3 levels of 40 minutes left, i.e. two hours of poker.

Chips
Heni Mokni 372,000
Leonardo Armino 315,000
Mathias Moutaoukil 290,000
Gaetano Morecci 285,000
Moise Alloun 270,000
Ralf Weighaupt 240,000
Julien Gillain 160,000
Fabio d'Annolfo 135,000
Raphael Lemaire 125,000
Daniel Rosario Ramirez 122,000
Michel Fajga 90,000
Jorden Verbraeken 73,000
bryan de Riddere 55,000

163 players on 1d, guarantee exceeded

The fourth of eight starting days for the €350 Carnival Main Event has raised the 206,000€ prize pool or exceed the 200K guarantee. 


Namur's Circus Casino Resort collected 163 additional admissions for close to 700 admissions before Thursday and Fridaywhere the last 4 flights usually fill up. 

With only 56 players left in the 1000 - 2500 blinds (2500), Patrick Neyman and Jorden Verbraeken will have to try their luck again in another starting session. Identical verdict for Ibrahim Aslan and Bryan de Riddere...

La Vie est Jelle

Everything's going well for Jelle Jonckheere, the Belgian is up to 485,000 chips after eliminating Gaetano Morecci.

Jelle opens in EP and Gaetano defends his big blind before checking-call to find himself on a Queen 2 Jack 9 board. There are 23,000 chips in the middle and Jelle sends out a second barrel with 16,000 chips.

Then things speed up with a 45,000 check-raise from Gaetano followed by a 90,000-chip click from the opener. No time for Morecci, who sends in his stack for 255,000 chips... only to be snapped by Jonckheere (for 236,000), who turns over King Ten for the straight. With Queen 9, Gaetano doesn't hit Full House river and drops to 10,000 chips.

he loses on the next hand, while Jonckheere is up to 490,000 chips at the very top of the leaderboard.

There are 51 players and 25 minutes left to play on 1500 - 3000 (3000), the penultimate level of the evening. 

Licence to kill

Mathias Moutaoukil is one victim after another. "You hit everything," confirmed Moise Alloun, who had found a good hand against the Frenchman when the latter hit three of a kind. This move allowed Mathias to continue upwards, while Moise fell below the average of 185,000 chips. 

A few minutes later, the tricolor sees a player open to 6,500 chips and Fabio d'Annolfo put in his 48,000 chip stack from the cutoff. Mathias is going all-in in the small blind to make the opener fold and bet Ace-King. 

D'Annolfo reveals the 6s and joins the rail at the end of a King-Queen 2 3 7 board. Mathias Moutaoukil now stands at 510,000 chips, probably in command of a Day 1d ending in just under 50 minutes. 

The move to blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000) is imminent, with only 44 left in the running after the eliminations of Michel Fajga, Ludovic Poullet, Abdel Zoufri and David gaillard...

To The Moon

It's not just Bitcoin that's taking off... Jelle Jonckheere just raised to 720,000 chips when his Aces held against Dimitri Arabatzis' Kings. Dimitri 3-bet in position and called the 4-bet shove with 240,000 chips, he joined the rail one board later.

Half an hour of play remains in this Day 1d with 43 players now in contention. The average is 186,000 chips. 

Jelle Jonckheere dominates Day 1d, 37 more qualifiers

The Carnival 2024 Main Event has passed its guarantee after 4 of the 8 opening days. The 163 entrants on Day 1d bring the field close to 700 entries and the prizepool to over €206,000. There's a big ticket up for grabs on Sunday, live on streaming with the cards revealed.

With 45 players having completed the 12 40-minute levels and 8 hours of poker on Wednesday's schedule, there are already 150 tickets for Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 2, which will start on 2000 - 5000 (5000). 

With 697,000 in chips, Jelle Jonckheere multiplied his starting stack by 14 to take the lead of this flight. He finished ahead of Mathias Moutaoukil, who will return with almost 100 blinds on Day 2. 

The same goes for Leonardo Armino, Raphael Lemaire, Mehidi Sahli, Heni Mokni, Rachid Oufaska, Luc Ta, Kristof Everaerts, Mohamed Razab Sekh and Olivier Carosella... 

Complete Chipcount
1 JONCKHEERE JELLE 697.000 Belgium
2 MOUTAOUKIL MATHIAS 485.000 France
3 WEIGHAUPT ROLF 459.000 Germany
4 SAHLI MEHIDI 441,500 Belgium
5 MOKNI HENI 439.000 France
6 TRIANTAPHYLLOU CHRISTOS 426.000 Belgium
7 ARMINO LEONARDO 385,000 Netherlands
8 LACOMBLEZ STEVE 378.500 France
9 LEMAIRE RAPHAEL 300.000 France
10 EL YACHOU SOFIAN 288,000 Belgium

11 DE MEEUS ALEXIS 280.500 Belgium
12 OUFASKA RACHID 271.500 Netherlands
13 VAN WOERKUM WILJAN 230.500 Netherlands
14 TA LUC 205.000 Germany
15 GILLAIN JULIEN 204.500 Belgium
16 VAN VEGCHEL WILHELMINA 199.500 Netherlands
17 GUADAGNINO CLAUDIO 172.000 Belgium
18 HERBOLDT JUSTIN 166.500 Netherlands
19 RUTS GLENN 162.000 Belgium
20 ROSERO RAMIREZ DANIEL 160,000 Belgium

21 EVERAERTS KRISTOF 153.500 Belgium
22 NERSISYAN VARDAN 151,000 Belgium
23 ROBERTS ANTONIUS 150,000 Netherlands
24 MAAS JOHANNES 136,000 Netherlands
25 RAZAB SEKH MOHAMED 131,000 Netherlands
26 JODION LOGAN 129,000 France
27 ISHAK MOHAMED 117,000 Netherlands
28 CAROSELLA OLIVIER 112.000 Belgium
29 GAILLET NICOLA 108.000 Belgium
30 UEBERFELDT DUCARDO 106.000 Netherlands

31 VAN DER HEIJDEN HENDRIKUS 101.000 Netherlands
32 THYS GUNTHER 92.000 Belgium
33 TRZCINSKI LUKAS 85.500 Germany
34 TRUYERS IAN 70.000 Belgium
35 BURY VALENTIN 67.000 Belgium
36 BRAZ DE OLIVEIRA JOAQUIM 66.000 Belgium
37 DERPIN LUCAS 51.000 Belgium