Launch of Day 1B of the Main Event

The second of eight opening days of the €330 Circus Namur French Open has just kicked off at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 

With the sun shining brightly over the Walloon capital, 28 players are seated at the tables in the poker room. 

Participants have received 50,000 chips and are playing the only level of the tournament without ante. The battle begins on 100 - 300 with 12 levels on the program this Monday, September 4. 

Registrations/re-entries are open until the final deal on level 9, at which point game levels will increase from 30 to 40 minutes. 

The game starts with two hours of poker followed by a half-hour break. The 75-minute dinner break will take place at the end of level 8, at around 8.30pm... 

Shuffle up & deal ! 

They're here

No outgoing players yet in the 100 - 200 blinds, but players are still arriving, with 40 now in the running on Day 1B.

Pierre Neuville is here, as are Angelo Aliberto and Ali Bilgin. These three regulars have been joined by Robin Cornet and Marceau Dethiere, one of the players in the Sunday Warm-Up 6-way deal.

Eric Goffin and Naim Khirat are also here, as is Canio Pietrapetrosa, who was eliminated at the end of Day 1A on Sunday and is now trying his luck again, as is Rico Chevalot.

Roger Sacre, Fedele Ricotta, Yves Senterre and Yves Seghers have also decided to spend the afternoon playing cards... 

Bye-Bye

Jacques Bailly agreed to go all in on a baby flop with the Jacks... but fell on the Kings at Laurent Druart's house. 

Jacques didn't hit one of his two outs on the turn or the river and joined the rail after fifteen minutes of play. Laurent is off to a great start, with 90,000 in chips at a table featuring Eric Chevalot. 

The latter made a continuation bet on a flop with an Ace against two opponents, before raising papers and an Ace and announcing "three of a kind" with a laugh. 

Aziz Kendel takes the opportunity to sit down at this table as the players continue to arrive. 

A la Poubelle

Not the best start for Robin Cornet, who raises to 6,000 chips in a heads-up pot against Karim Brahim.

There are 6,000 chips in the pot on a 7 4 Ten board with two clubs on the flop and an Ace of Clubs on the turn... Karim bets 2,000 in 6,000 and snaps the opponent's raise.

On the river 7 of hearts, Karim bets 5,200 from the hijack... and thinks again when faced with a 16,000-pair bet a few seconds later. After hesitating for half a minute, Karim pays and Robin sends his hand straight to the muck.

The result is that Cornet is down to 21,000, while Brahim is now up to 89,000...

At the next table, Fedele Ricotta bets 5,300 small blind chips on a 4 7 Ace 2 Jack board. There are 10,000 chips in the middle and Fedele folds two opponents, including Yves Senterre on the button, to climb to 58,000.

A few minutes later, Yves made good on a straight by getting paid a bet of 12,000 river, enough for him too to pass the starting stack and reach 60,000... 

Rico Rich

At the start of the second level, the scoreboard showed 51 players for 52 entries, but the game is now played on 100 - 300 (300).

After almost 50 minutes of play, the scoreboard now shows 57 players for 58 entries... Jacques Bailly is back in the field.

In the final minutes, it was Rico Chevalot who propelled himself into the right wagon.

There are 8,500 chips in the middle on a 6 4 3 6 5 board with two hearts on the flop and Aziz Kendel comes out with 7,500.

Rico takes half a minute before sending out a 22,000-chip salvo. Aziz thinks it over and pays rather quickly before sending his cards to the muck when he discovers 6 and 5 of clubs for Full House from the Poker One player.

Rico Chevalot is up to 80,000 on this move, and Aziz still has depth despite this encounter, announcing that he had "flopped straight"...

Tour des Tables

The 3rd level of Day 1A has begun, with play now taking place on blinds 200 - 400 (400) with 59 players in contention for 60 entrants. 

The average is 51,000 chips, and players such as Benjamin Alalouf, Jérôme Balthazar and Daniel Colacurcio have arrived. Ivo Hermans, Guy Goosens, Antonino Mangano and Giovanni Ventura are also present. 

Hassan Daher and Andreas van Deyck also take part in the game... 

Tout Schuss

Guy Goosens re-entered, losing his first stack to Bayram Guezeli under unknown circumstances. Bayram got off to a great start as he took another victim to clock up 180,000 chips at a table where Stefaan Skippers had just arrived.

As I counted down Bayram's stack, he paid in the big blind after Alex Schust opened with a hijack and Roger Sacre took the button. On flop 4 Ten 9, Bayram regains the initiative for 4,000 chips... before folding following a 12,000 raise from Alex paid by Roger!

The action doesn't slow down on turn 6, which doesn't bring a flush draw. In a second Schust goes all-in and it's snap by Roger, who's in bad shape with his Ace Ten.

Schust reveals the Jacks and the river 8 allows him to suck up the opponent's stack to climb to 95,000 chips. Sacre is on the rail!

Level 3 ends with 65 players in the running for 70 entries...

Play

The 4th level is underway, the game is being played on blinds 200 - 500 (500) with 67 players in the running for 73 entrants. The week gets off to a timid start, as expected, but it's back to work! 

Giovanni Ventura got off to a good start, reaching 64,000 chips after a 3-bet from the big blind following a one-pay open from Rosario Agosta. The continuation bet on 6 9 9 with a flush draw was enough to make the Poker Belgium player fold, the small blind having already given up preflop. 

Dream Spot

Rico Chevalot suffers a blow two minutes before the first break of Day 1B. It all began as if in a dream...

At the start of the first hand Aziz Kendel goes all-in for 12,000 chips or 14 blinds... just to his left Laurent Druart goes all-in over the top for 31,000 chips.

At the end of the hand Rico wakes up with Kings... enough to go all-in too!

Aziz turns over the tens, Laurent Ace Jack to diamonds but the Poker One player is already shaking when the dealer unlocks a Queen 9 3 flop with two diamonds.

A 5 of diamonds on the turn ends the suspense and the 2 river changes absolutely nothing. Laurent climbs to 74,000 chips while Aziz heads for the rail. Rico is down to 9,000 chips with the break just around the corner.

70 players are expected to go on break...

Break

Resumption at 6.35pm on blinds 300 - 600 (600) with currently 70 players in the running and 80 entrants... 

Checkpoint

70 players are on break for 80 entrants... an opportunity to take stock of this second day of the Circus Namur French Open.

Play will resume on 300 - 600 (600)...


Chipcount
Bayram Guezeli 174 000
Pierre Neuville 156 000
Alex Schust 143 000
Yves Senterre 113 000
Dario Sorrenti 109 000
Mart de Bie 97 000
Julien Gillain 92 000
Karim Brahim 84 000
Stefaan Skippers 77 000
Laurent Druart 75 000
Giovanni Ventura 74 000
Angelo ALiberto 73 000
Damien Di Pasquale 65 000
Antonino Mangano 64 000
Yves Seghers 62 000
Guy Goosens 58 000
Rudy Francis 33 000
Robin Cornet 24 000
Rico Chevalot 9 000

Du Calme

A quarter of an hour of play since the resumption and the action isn't supercharged. Pierre Neuville has just tried to snatch at the turn on a 5 3 8 7 board with three diamonds but has been paid off. The Belgian legend checked-back river in heads-up on a Jack then mucked when his opponent revealed 7 and 9 mismatched...

There are currently 70 players in the running for 81 entrants with an average of 58,000 chips... 

666

With 6 minutes left to play in Level 6, 66 players are competing in blinds 400 - 800 (800), with an average of... 66,000 chips. 

With 87 entries on the counter, Rudy Francis and Fedele Ricotta will have to try again if they want to contest Day 2 on Saturday September 9... 

Seum

It's all over for Sem Peeters, the Dutchman rises and joins the rail as the blinds are now 500 - 1000 (1000).

Level 7 is underway with 64 players in the field for 90 entrants and an average of 70,000 chips. Stefaan Skippers is a little under the starting stack and biding his time...

He's just made a continuation bet of 4,100 chips on a 9 9 6 flop, and wisely turned over his cards after some thought when the small blind checked-raised all-in for around 30 blinds... 

Dinner is approaching

Level 8 continues on 600 - 1200 (1200), in 20 minutes the survivors will leave for a 75-minute dinner break...

55 players are in the running for 94 entrants, Guy Goosens has just re-entered... for Ugur Cegen it's going a little better.

Limp to the hijack by Julien Gillain, overlimp to the cutoff by Damien di Pasquale and Ugur Cegen puts in a 3000-chip raise that doesn't scare anyone away.

Cegen bets 3,000 chips on the ace-ace-7 flop with a flush draw and only Julien continues before checking-folding to a 6,500-chip second barrel on turn 9. Cegen climbs to 70,000 chips, on target since the average is 86,000.

Dinner Break

8 levels were contested on Day 1B of the €330-entry Circus Namur French Open. 54 survivors took a 75-minute break, with play resuming on blinds 1000 - 15000 (1500) at 9.50pm.

Yucheng Li looks set to take the lead, with 95 entries so far. However, he's having a tough time at his table, where only Maxime Salah is trying to resist him.

Yucheng li has already given up in the face of a check-raise when he opens at the end of the hand. In the small blind, Maxime 3-bets to 6,200 chips... and his neighbor on the left announces call without having seen the raise.

Anyway, it's paid, which also leads to Li. Yucheng sees Maxime send in 5,200 chips on an Ace 9 7 flop and the big blind pays... so he gives up again on this one.

Maxime then sends in 6,200 on a King turn which opens a spade draw, then another 22,000 on a 4 river. The big blind finally gives up and Maxime mischievously reveals a black queen to reach the break with 108,000 in chips.

Still a long way from Yucheng Li and his 204,000 chips, but the clash isn't far off.

It's Alexander Schust who reaches the dinner break with the Yellow Jersey, Alex having multiplied his stack by 5, and now stands at 245,000 chips...

Chips
Alexander Schust 245,000
Yucheng Li 204,000
Pierre Neuville 172,000
Aziz Kendel 170,000
Nicolas Steil 145,000
Julien Gillain 135,000
Bayram Guezeli 135,000
Tommazo Loperfido 135 000
David Lecomte 125 000
Antonino Mangano 119 000
Dario Sorrenti 115 000
Mart de Brie 107 000
Bernnardo Gattuso 100 000
Aymeric Dolignon 94 000
Yves Seghers 37 000

Reprise

It's been 20 minutes since we returned from dinner, so there's still 20 minutes to play in this level 9 of Day 1B of the Circus Namur French Open. Registration/re-entry will then be closed and the table now shows 99 entrants. 

The 100-entry mark is approaching. 

53 players are competing over 1000 - 1500 (1500) and Pierre Neuville is still sailing above average. This time, he's filing under the gun at ease. 

Lulei Yu, a buddy of Yucheng Li, raises to 6,000 just to his left. It's called by the big blind and Pierre. 

On flop 4 9 7 with two diamonds, Lulei makes a 7,000-chip continuation bet that scares nobody away. On turn 8 Pierre Neuville takes the lead for 17,000 chips and only Lulei Lu pays. 

The dealer unwraps an 8 river doubler which doesn't provoke any action, Pierre unveils King 7 pareillé which is enough to make Lulei muck. 

Neuville rises to 140,000 chips, Yu slips to just over 100,000. Still two good stacks for an average of 95,000 (63 blinds). 

3-digit attendance

100 entries on Day 1B of the Circus Namur French Open, with registration closing in 7 minutes.

The average is 95,000 chips, and Abdel Lamrani has just passed that mark thanks to a fine defense in the big blind. Open to the hijack of Mathieu Raibaud who pays 5,000 on the flop then 10,000 on the turn before rolling his eyes in spite, half-amused, half-pissed and mucking, when Abdel shows him 2 and 5 of hearts on Ace 2 6 5 Jack.

The turn opened a flush draw that didn't go in, Abdel climbed to 100,000 while Mathieu fell to 125,000... things got serious. 

Top 50

Laurent Druart has just retired from the 1000 - 2000 (2000) level. Registration closed with 101 entrants, and only 49 remain in the running after this elimination. 

Laurent opens to Hijack and is 3-bet by Xiao Chen, who is playing the same stack as him or close to it on the button. Laurent sends in 59,000 and goes all-in with Ace-King, he's paid by Xiao who plays 62,000 and turns over the queens. 

The flip goes in favor of the pair at the end of a 2 3 5 3 8 table... Xiao Chen takes advantage of the situation to move up to 125,000 chips, above the 50-blind average. 

Customer

Just 20 minutes left to play on level 10 of Day 1B, and Antonino Mangano has gone all in.

The Belgian went all-in twice on the next hand. On the first move I arrive in a 5-way on an Ace Ten 9 flop... everyone has checked until Antonino who sends 55,000 and goes all-in from the button.

The small blind pays, Aziz Kendel also on the hijack and this duo goes on to check turn 2 which opens a flush draw and then river 6.

"The Ace" announces Antonino, "that's enough" replies Aziz flashing Dame Jack... as the player in the small blind returns Ace 3. With Ace 4 Antonino thinks he's got it, but splits to give himself some breathing space.

On the next hand, Aziz limps in Jowjack, Guy Goosens joins the party on his left and Antonino sends the Cutoff couscous. "A customer?" he asks when the big blind hesitates.

Then Aziz quickly goes folder as does Guy, the former showing King Queen, the latter Ace Jack... prompting Antonino to show a pair of 7s.

Mangano climbs to 95,000 chips for an average of 103,000 chips over 1000 - 2000 (2000). 

A duo at the front

Just under ten minutes to go before the final blinds go up to 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500), with just under an hour and a half of poker remaining before the chips are packed in.

There are 48 players in the running, as Serge Coppens has joined the rail and won't be taking part in the final round. Alexander Shust is still looking ahead.

The German has the biggest stack in the room with 250,000 chips. Yves Senterre is in touch with 243,000 and a dozen players are in the duo's wake with 200,000. Yucheng Li also seems to be just above this 100-blind block...

Souvenir photo

The 11th level has just begun, with 45 players competing in blinds 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500), with an average of 112,000 chips. 

Alain Goffin and Yves Seghers have left us. Yves was stubborn against his neighbor on the left, the latter having dropped a "diamond" when the dealer unpacked an Ace 6 4 flop all to diamonds. 

Yves was now all-in in the big blind for a 20 blind pot with 5 5 and a diamond... against his neighbor on the right who had a King Jack with a diamond as well. 

The dealer brought out a Queen of Clubs and then a Jack of Diamonds to end Yves' Day 1B. He can console himself with a photo of Damiano aka The Rounders, present in Namur for a few shots all week. 

Last Hour

41 players are in the running on Day 1B after the eliminations of Jacques Bailly, Aziz Kendel (with a pair of queens against an all-in ten preflop) and Tony K. Tony had the right read but his opponent hit. 

Covered and short, Tony paid with Ace 7 for his survival when Yves Senterre pushed him all-in on 9 7 2. Yves turned over Ten and 8 and hit a Jack on the turn to eliminate his opponent and get back to 200,000 chips. 

Many players are in this zone, like Yucheng Li. We take stock with a full hour to go on this flight and the game being played on 1000 - 2500 (2500).



Alexander Schust 310,000
Leroy De Bruijn 245,000
Julien Gillain 220,000
Alessio Curia 210,000
Max Max 210,000
Yves Senterre 200,000
Yucheng Li 200,000
Pierre Neuville 170,000
Pierre Baronville 163,000
Guy Goosens 150,000
Jean-Michel Average 124,000
Dario Sorrenti 120,000

Tête au Carré

The final level has begun, with 36 players competing on blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000). The start of this level was marked by Jonathan Jolimont's heads-up play.

After three limps, he decided to raise King 6 from the button to 10,000 chips, and there were still four of them to discover a 6 6 6 flop. Nice timing!

No action on the flop and the dealer unlocks a 9 on the turn. Jonathan bets 15,000 and gets a single call, from his right-hand neighbor Maxime Salah on the cutoff.

On the river Ten, Jonathan pushes his opponent all-in, who pays and flashes a 9 before mucking his other card when he discovers the opponent's monster.

Maxime heads for the rail, while Jonathan is up to 190,000 with half an hour to go at poker. 

Skimming

31 players in the running as the clock ticks down to 30 minutes of play on 1500 - 3000 (3000) before the end of Day 1B. The average is 157,000 chips, so there's still plenty to play for.

Giovanni Ventura, Claudio Guadagnino, Hervé Decker, Oliviera Marzella and Fabrizio Abbracciavento will have to try their luck again.

Change of boss

As the floor stops the clock and announces the last three hands, the flies have changed asses. Alexander Schust is no longer chipleader.

The German put everything into a pot limped in with three of a kind... on an all-heart monocolor flop where there were three other players.

Nicolas Steils, who had limped in under the gun with ace-3 of hearts and check in the dark, rushed to pay for over 150,000 chips and 50 blinds!

Nicolas passed between the bullets to enter the final table with almost 400,000 counters!

At the same table, Adriano Abbracciavento opened with 7,500 Lowjack chips and dragged Nicolas Steils to his left. Pierre Neuville just to his left sends in 22,000 from the cutoff... and everyone calls.

The dealer unlocks a flop with three queens and it's checked to Pierre Neuville, who bets 25,000. Adriano is the only one to pay and there's no more action on a King and then an 8.

Adriano reveals a pair of Jacks and mucks Pierre, who falls to 140,000 chips while his opponent climbs to 205,000.

Play ends on the last four tables, and we'll be back very soon for the conclusion of Day 1B... 

Nicolas Steils dominates the 1B Sprint

It was in the last ten minutes of play that Nicolas Steils set his sights on the second of eight starting days at the Circus Namur French Open. The Belgian flopped a flush and heard chipleader Alexander Schuts go all-in straight away with three of a kind. 

No doubling up behind and Nicolas ends up with 385,000 pawns - almost 8 times the starting stack. A nice stack as Day 2 resumes on Saturday at 2pm on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000). 

Nicolas Steils and 28 other players bagged chips at the end of the 12 levels on Day 1B, joining the 39 qualifiers from the first session to create a provisional field of 68 players on Day 2. 



Day 1B was moderately well attended, but the score remained respectable for the start of the new school year, with With 256 entrants and many more Flights, the tournament is well on track to clear its €200,000 guarantee.. 

Monday's qualifiers include Pierre Neuville, Pierre Baronville, Adriano Abbracciavento, Guy Goosens, Yves Senterre and Abdel Lamrani.

Join us on Tuesday at 4pm for the third session of the Circus Namur French Open, with a Big Tuesday and a satellite also on the program...

Partial Chipcount Day 1B
Nicolas Steils 385,000
Guy Goosens 292,000
Tommazo Leperfido 290,000
Aymeric Dolignon 290,000
Alessio Curia 262,000
Adriano Abbracciavento 260,000
Kevin Mad Max 232,000
Jonathan Masson 222,000
Mathieu Raibaud 206,000
Angelo Aliberto 200,000
jonathan Jolimont $168,000
Pierre Baronville 163,000
Yves Senterre 158,000
Pierre Neuville 140,000
Abdel Lamrani 116,000
Xiao Chen 110,000
Jérôme Balthazar 77,000



As soon as possible the complete chipcount in the document below