See You Soon

Join us at 4 p.m. for the penultimate qualifying session of the Circus Namur French Open. The program includes 9 30-minute levels, followed by 3 40-minute levels...

At 10 p.m., the last chance to qualify for the Turbo 1H version, which includes 9 15-minute levels and 3 20-minute levels... Registration is open until 10.25 p.m. on the 1G and until 1 a.m. on the Turbo... 

At 8pm, a €220 CPS satellite (20,000 chips - 20 min.) will qualify you for the Circus Poker Series Main Event in November, at €2,200 per entry. 

For the moment, we're enjoying the fine weather in Namur!

The outdated warranty

15 minutes of play and the counter reads 142 players in contention for 142 entrants to this unique no-ante level of the Circus Namur French Open Main Event. 

The game is being played on blinds 100 - 200 (200), so there are no outs yet on this penultimate qualifying day. 

Registration is open until the end of level 9 (around 10:25 p.m.), while Turbo 1H starts at 10 p.m., with registration open until 1 a.m. 

The prize pool has now reached €230,000... 

No Busto

The first level ends with no outs. The table shows 160 players in the running for 160 entrants as the blinds increase to 100 - 300 (300)... 

King Kong

After 45 minutes of play, the game now goes to 100 - 300 (300)... with 180 players in the running for 181 entrants. 

The exit took place at Peggy Gambetti's table, a dark tale of Kings versus Aces. Guy Lutz's Open has 1,200 chips, Jorge Brito 3-bets to 3,200 chips and snaps when his opponent pushes all-in. 

Lutz's Kings crash against Jorge's Aces, who reach 100,000 chips one board later. Lutz no longer dances. 



Two minutes later, at the Mystery Bounty winner Rami AwadTwo Kings against two Aces. 

On the button, Peter Volkaerts finds Texas' premium and opens... all to go in the middle preflop against the big blind. Steven Tilborgh finds no help with his kings and drops to 2,500 chips one board later. 

With 102,000 chips, Peter is ahead of the game, probably leading the tournament. 

Say 200! 


The 3rd level of play has begun, with 197 players in the running and 200 entering. Players continue to arrive as blinds now stand at 200 - 400 (400)... 

Provisional attendance at the Circus Namur French Open now stands at 915. There were 141 qualifiers for Day 2 on the first 6 starting days... 

New Level

The fourth level of the day has begun, with 216 players in the field for a table showing 227 entrants. The provisional attendance has passed the 940 mark, and the prizepool has now reached €250,000... 

Unfortunately, Cédric Glineur will have to do it again if he wants to be in the running for Day 2 on Saturday from 2pm. 

Pascal Honai, Saman Ziarati, Johann Compagnon, Romain Becker, Patrick Resseler and Jeff Remmer are in the thick of the battle. 

Jeff is at the table with Bart van Heugten and Martin "xflix" Schneiders. The German has just regained the initiative on a Ten 5 4 Ace table with no flush draw... a check-raise was enough to make him give up. The streamer is now up to 59,000 chips...

Nearly 960 entries in total! 

With just 15 minutes to go before the traditional first half-hour break, the counter continues to climb. 222 players are on the course for 241 entries in this penultimate flight of the Circus Namur French Open...

Shana Oyen, Ludovic Ruperto, Bryan de Riddere, Prash Somash, Xavier Servais or Sébastien Guidez are in the dance... or almost. 

Sébastien has just jumped. After a limp to 500 from the player under the gun, the Frenchman went all-in for 12,100 chips, probably in tilt from a previous loss. 

The small blind pays, so does the limper and the dealer unlocks an Ace 8 9 flop with two clubs. No action and the small blind's 15,000 bet on the turn 3 of clubs is enough to provoke a showdown. The sb reveals Ace-Queen without clubs against 6 and 4 of diamonds at Guidez, who cashes a river changing nothing later... 

Ride With Me

Runner-up of the WaSOP High-Roller for just over €42,000, Bryan de Riddere also drew the €10,000 bounty on last month's Mystery Bounty... the GGpoker player is on track for Day 1G.

I arrive on a Dame Dame 3 flop where he has defended from the small blind following a UTG open from Xavier Servais. Xavier bets 3,000 and gets a check-raise to 8,000.

It's paid to discover a 2 on the turn... which doesn't provoke any action. On river 3, Bryan sends up his stack for 25,000 chips and Xavier quickly throws down. "I was in front of the turn," says Servais... "Are you sure?" replies Bryan, revealing a 2... then a Queen.

"Stay there," laughs Bryan, apostrophizing me. "On the button it's all good," he adds as Jeremy Pinson opens from the Hijack. It's called by Ludovic Ruperto at the cutoff and Bryan at the button. The opener checks the 3 5 8 flop with two clubs... and Uperto bets 3,300 chips.

De Riddere calls and Pinson puts in a check-raise to 10,000 which doesn't scare anyone away. No action on the Jack of clubs turn, and the ace of clubs on the river brings a fourth diamond.

Pinson bets 3,000 this time, a bet paid only by Ruperto who mucke when opener reveals two queens with a club for second nuts.

Bryan drops to 38,000 chips just before the first break... 

Bonus

One last one for the road. With all the other tables empty, Benoit El Amarani and Rens Buijs faced off.

After an open from Rens, Benoit paid on the button and trained the blinds. On the Jack 7 5 flop, Rens sent in a continuation bet... and Benoit raised to 4,500 chips to cause a head's up.

On turn 6, Rens check-calls 7,000 chips. The dealer then unwraps an Ace river... Rens slows down, tapping the table.

Benoit takes his time and bets 14,600 chips. In a matter of seconds, Rens advances a stack of 5,000 chips which pushes his opponent all-in, Benoit accepting the invitation instantly.

Rens turns over 5s for three of a kind, but Benoit raises on the flop with a belly flop which he hits. 8s and 9s for a daddy straight, heading for a stack of 79,000 jeotns at the break. Rens leaves with just 16,000 chips... 

Break

The game resumed on 300 - 600 (600) with 224 players in the running for 253 entries... the 1,000-entrant mark is not far off!

Romain Becker started well, but not as well as others!

Chips
Frederik Sermeus 145 000
Pascal Groshens 144 000
Jacques Bailly 121 000
Fabio Percio 120 000
Serge Coppens 115 000
Bogdan Maciuca 109 000
Joost Kuijpers 108 000
Rudolf Wigchert 101 000
Sandro Gangi 97 000
Pascal Honai 93 000
Romain Becker 92 500
Seb Russo 88 000
Rami Awad 81 000
Benoit Al Amrani 79 000
Peggy Gambetti 55 000
Rens Buijs 16 000

Il Y a du Monde

Big turnout on Day 1G of the Circus Namur French Open. The leaderboard now shows 275 entries, bringing the tournament's provisional attendance to 986. The 1,000 mark will be broken once again in Namur! 

The prize pool now stands at over €265,000, and the 238 players currently in the running are hoping to join the 141 qualifiers from previous sessions on Day 2... 

1000 Entrants at the Circus Namur French Open

There are 25 minutes left to play on the 400 - 800 blinds (800) and the board has just increased to 285 entrants... With 715 entries from the previous 6 sessions, the 1K mark has been reached. There are also now 270,000€ in the kitty to be shared between players in the money. 

Ca Rentre Encore

The 300-entry mark has been passed for this Day 1G. With the blinds set to rise to 500 - 1000 (1000) in 60 seconds' time, the leaderboard now shows 304 entries for this 7th and final Flight of the €330 Circus Namur French Open. 

243 players are still on track on Day 1G, with the dinner break scheduled to take place at the end of level 8, in just over an hour's time. 

The dinner-break will last 75 minutes. There will still be 30 minutes to register or re-enter, when the action resumes at 9.45pm... 

Approach dinner

Level 8 has just begun, with 240 players competing in blinds 600 - 1200 (1200), averaging 68,000 chips. 

The entry counter now reads 330 on this 7th of 8 starting days of the €330 Circus Namur French Open. 

Dealers have no time to fool around this Friday! 

BPC Winners

A quarter of an hour before the dinner break and chance brought together Arne Coulier (double BPC winner in a row) and Samy Barka (BPC winner in 2022). 

Samy did the job for Arne. I arrive on a 5 3 9 Queen board with a heart draw on the flop and a spade draw on the turn and Samy is heads-up against the cutoff with direct position. 

His opponent bets 5,500 chips and hesitates for a long time before giving up his cards when confronted with the 44,000-chip shove. Barka climbs to 77,000 chips at the end of this move...

I pass by again 3 minutes later and Barka's opponent opens again. Arne Coulier 3-bets and snaps when his opponent puts in 35,000 and goes all-in. Coulier reveals the queens and stays in front of the ace-2 suiter one board later. Direction 140,000 chips for Arne. Time for an aperitif! 

Size Patron

We found the chipleader and he worked hard. Mateuzs Kubik multiplied his starting stack by 7 to reach 350,000 chips with 5 minutes to go before the first break.

With 229 players in the field and 335 entrants, this Francophone is most likely in the lead.

At the tables next to this player are several duos. Florent Wanlin (175,000) in direct position over Manu Poznanski (100,000), who has also got off to a good start.

Fabrice Somers (70,000) is just opposite Abdel Chenoufi (130,000) at table 17, the final table for the side tournaments. Bryan de Riddere (120,000) has taken the lead over Xavier Servais (18,000)...

Dinner break

The dinner-break began a few minutes ago, resuming at 9.45pm on blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500). 

The table shows 221 players on break for 337 entrants... there'll be 30 minutes left to register or re-enter when it resumes! 

Mateusz Kubik told us about his run before heading off for a bite to eat. He hit three of a kind in a multiway where a player went all-in on the turn with Top Pair. The shove was paid by another player who had a flush draw and chips behind... The flush entered river with a double up giving Mateusz Full House, so he sucked in two players on this hand! 

A little later, Mateusz simply defended Ace Valet and check-call a 3-barrel all-in on 3 3 Ace 6 7 with three runner-runner clubs. Vilain showed Ten and 8 of spades for a 100,000-chip bluff. Enough to propel Kubik to the top. All that's left is to bag up the chips! 

Chips
Mateusz Kubik 352,000
Moritz Pape 195,000
Arne Coulier 191,000
Ahmed Jirgees 181,000
Dominik Suthe 181,000
Jean Yip 150,000
Bryan de Riddere 110,000
Florent Wanlin 110,000
Romain Becker 105,000
Sammy Barka 104,000
Abdel Chenoufi 101,000
Rami Awad 95,000
Bogdan Maciuca 81,000
Dominique Potenza $70,000
Sandro Gangi 60,000
Peggy Belingheri $50,000
Shana Oyen 42,000
Jeff Remmer 36,000
Fabrice Somers 36,000
Farukh Tach 25,000
Xavier Servais 16,000

Reprise

The game starts again at blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500), the last level to enter or re-enter. The average is 77,000 chips, and the counter shows 224 players on track for 347 entrants! 

The prizepool is €289,000...

Crash

A quarter of an hour of play since the resumption and it's getting complicated for Prash Somash who bet-fold river. In a pot of 35,000, the Parisian bets 10,000 on an 8 8 5 King Jack board, and goes tank-fold on Sami Agel's 27,000 raise.

Agel climbs to 85,000 chips, the average, while his opponent slips to 35,000... the inflection point for the duo? 

Quinte Papa

A 5 6 7 rainbow flop and a check-raise... interesting.

So the player under the gun was expected. His 4500-chip continuation bet was greeted by a 25,000-chip raise from the player in the big blind. 

Fold from opener in front of requested amount. "Stop raising all the time," drops the bb, turning over 8 9 for the nuts. Why would you want to take more, especially when you've got stack and so does your opponent? 

352 entries on Day 1G. Road To €300,000

Registration is now closed, and 352 entries have been counted for the Circus Namur French Open's biggest flight. Provisional attendance is now approaching 1,100 players, with the Turbo 1H also underway. 

27 players at three tables on this last-chance Flight, boosting the prize pool to €295,000. 

206 players remain on Day 1G, while level 10 has begun. Levels are now 40 minutes as players compete over 1000 - 2000 (2000). 

Split

20 minutes of play on level 10, the table now shows 190 players in the running! Dominique Potenza, Xavier Servais, Pascal Groshens, Heinz Peters, Carole Hubert, Julien Mariotto and Jonas Witdoek have no choice but to go through the last-chance Turbo to reach Day 2...

Mateusz Kubik has lost ground, but with 250,000 pawns he's still ahead. The pack has closed in, Arne Coulier has 180,000 chips in front of him. Rabi Bouthere is at 200 while Joost Kuijpers is at 220,000.

Prash is still there with half the average of 45 blinds... the player against whom he had bet-fold river has disappeared. Sébastien Guidez did well to make his second pellet, sailing away with 120,000 chips.

A classic move to finish, UTG opens to 4500 chips and gets a call from the cutoff. Tap from the button for 10 blinds, Tap over from the opener and the third ruffer gets out of the way.

Ace Jack for the raiser, Ace Ten for the button and a Jack 2 Ten King Queen board that wakes everyone up. All's to be done again. Finally, Benoit El Amrani, who left behind, will have to make do...

New Sheriff

With three minutes remaining before the switch to blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500), the attendance figure has been corrected to 351 entrants. There are still 168 players in the running on Day 1G...

Simon Ebhomeya has taken command of the tournament. While Mateusz Kubik was joined by Noah Allem at 260,000, this duo is now behind the one who just eliminated Gaetano Morecci in a pot of 300,000 chips.

Gaetano opened 5,000, a bet paid twice before Simon raised to 25,000 with Aces from the blinds. Gaetano and another player pay, Gaetano puts it all in on the flop with the queens and joins the rail... perhaps heading for the Turbo where there are now around fifty players.

Arne Coulier (225,000), Shana Oyen (210,000), Bryan de Riddere (167,000), Rami Awad (170,000) are in good shape, while Sammy Barka (104,000) is right at the average. Things are also going well for Moh Boudazdit (225,000) and Moritz Pape (240,000)... 

The Last Hour

20 minutes of play left in level 11, then it's on to the final level of Day 1G. The counter shows 147 survivors, so it's finito for Francesco Pillitteri, Melvin Maas, Abdel Chenoufi, Emile van Irsen and Bogdan Maciuca, who can make their way through to Day 2 with the Turbo...

The average is 119,000 and Kevin Meziani has just moved into second place, thanks to a dream spot. Open under the gun, Somsong Intharanop 3-bets 22,500 with the same stack behind... 4-bet all-in from the cutoff for 106,000 chips... and Kevin wakes up with kings and 44,000 checkers.

All-in, opener folds, Somsong adds and we have a 3-way Plan. The player is behind with the Jacks, the cutoff reveals the Queens and nothing changes one table later. Kevin reaches 135,000 at a table featuring Muriel Gomez Aragon (50,000), Pascal Masset (170,000), and Mohamed Razb Sekh (120,000)... 

Final Level

The final level of Day 1G got underway with 135 players still in the running. Patrice Libert, Mehdi Maroufi, Florian Six, Jeff Hemmer, Luisa Stagnitta and Julien Pincemaille gave up the ghost in the final minutes...

Joost Kuijpers took over, just under 500,000 chips... 

Need a Boost?

Joost Kuijpers is still ahead, but the sequence that follows has seen him down to 503,000 chips. A fortune with 20 minutes left to play on 1500 - 3000 (3000) before the chips are bagged up.

There are 127 players left when Joost defends his big blind after Cedric Dorvaux's open Hijack is paid for by his two neighbors on the left. Cedric sends in 13,000 on the turn of a 3 2 Ten Jack board with two color draws.

Only the chipleader returns his cards and the dealer unlocks a river 8. Here Cedric sends in 25,000, at the Cutof Christophe Joncquel sends in his stack and the button folds. The opener reveals the 2s and drops to 17,000 chips when he discovers 9 and 7 suit in Joncquel's hand, now 165,000-strong.

On the next move, Joost Kuijpers 3-bets from the small blind after an open from the cutoff and sends a 17,000-chip c-bet on Dame Dame Valet. The cutoff raises to 34,000 chips and shows Ace Valet after an intense starring session from his opponent, who then gives up his cards.

Cédric Dorvaux goes all-in with 17,000 chips and raises to 100,000. With the 5s against the queens, Cédric was in a bad way, but a 7 9 8 3 6 board allowed him to sit back with fifteen blinds and still some hope. 

4 Last Hands

The clock is ticking, the board shows 124 survivors before the final 4 hands of Day 1G... Rami Awad has just spun off to Turbo, 3-bet to carpet turn and impaled himself on two pairs, the Mystery Bounty winner hasn't found his 30% equity... Davy Huyst, Muriel Aragon and Shana Oyen are no longer in the Flight either...

Joost Kuijpers dominates largest Flight, 114 additional qualifiers

Day 1G attracted 351 entrants, with 114 players clearing the hurdle in this €300,000-plus prizepool tournament. 190 players had already validated their tickets for Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 2, bringing the total to 306 before the final wave on the Last chance turbo... Final attendance at the Circus Namur French Open was therefore 1,139 entries as 97 entries were recorded on Day 1H...

Joost Kuijpers finished with 540,000 chips and the chiplead. The Dutchman already had 250,000 chips when he found the Aces and two opponents who went all in with Ace-Kings and Queens... enough to take him over the half-million mark. 



Fabrice Somers, Jean Yip, Noah Allem, Arne Coulier, Firat Baltaci, Robin Onati and Kader Slila have put together a big rug, as have Sébastien Guidez, Sammy Barka, Saman Ziarati, Prash Knight, Romain Becker and Pascal Honai...

Resumption at 14 Saturday on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000)...

Chipcount partial day 1 G
Joost Kuijpers 540,000
Yuksel Tok 445,000
Firat Baltaci 365,000
Simon Ebhomeya 341,000
Andrei Cosma 340,000
Jean Yip 335,000
Kader Slila 325,000
Fabrice Somers 323,000
Abdel Slila 312,000
Noah Allem 295,000
Eshan Meshan 294,000
Arne Coulier 294,000
Rudolf Wigchert 264,000
Robin Onati 263,000
Sébastien Guidez 235,000
Iman Browers 228,000 
El Mofessor 224,000
Moh Razab Sekh 201,000
Jan Keunen 190,000
Jonas Viaene 171,000
Sandro Gangi 165,000
Romain Becker 159,000
Sammy Barka $122,000
Matheusz Kubik 99,000
Pascal Honai 95,000
Bart van Heugten 73,000
Saman Ziarati 57,000
Johann Compagnon 47,000

	Day 1A	Day 1B	Day 1C	Day 1D	Day 1E	Day1F Turbo	Day 1G	Day1H Turbo	Total
Day2 qualifiers	39	29	35	32	47	8	114	48	352
Incoming	155	101	114	123	176	22	351	97	1.139

As soon as possible the complete 1G chipcount under the Document tab