Gabriel Radu chipleader, Neuville, Somers, Verdickt, Trebitsch, de Zutter at Final Day

The field shrank from 350 to 37 players over 12 40-minute levels on Saturday at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur for Day 2 of the €330 Circus Namur French Open Main Event. 



It took three hours to get to the money, with the bubble lasting only a hand-to-hand deal after Wilhelmus Crolla's exit. Gregory Dewinne, Manu Poznanski, David Yardin, Robin Onati, Morgan Poisson, Yves Senterre, Firat Baltaci and Ludovic Ruperto also just missed the min-cash... 

After the last 167 players had entered the money for a prize of €450, the action was fast & furious. Gone were Bryan de Riddere, Damien Hupe, Jean Yip, Pascal Honai, Dario Sorrenti and co...

BPC winner Samy Barka just missed out on the Top 100, falling short of two-time BPC champion Arne Coulier, who finished 94th. Dang Nguyen, Yves Sergeant, 7Bello Robin Fournez and Luigi Pacilli also added an ITM to their collection. 

Andrei Turcanu, Nikolas Wicquart, Linda Hamdi, Nicolas Steils or Salvatore Alessi and Antonino Mangano also made up the Top 100 of this tournament with 1,139 entries.

Guy Goosens (56th) and Bart van Heugten (54th) came within a whisker of the Top 50, losing out in the final hour of play. They were joined on the rail by Rachid Oufaska, Sandro Gangi, Arne Noel and Mohamed Razab Sekh (38th), the final eliminated player of the evening. 


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Pierre Neuville at Final Day 

The 37 survivors are guaranteed a €1,040 payout, and will return on Sunday at 2pm to contest the Final Day on 50-minute levels. Belgian Gabriel Radu will start in pole position with 3,320,000 chips on 30,000 - 60,000 (60,000). The boss's stack represents twice the average and almost 55 blinds, a fortune at this stage. 



Radu is ahead of Seeiar Noran (3 1 50 000) and Fabrice Somers (3 020 000), with Kiryn Antonius (2.7 million), Jeroen van der Grevel en (2.8 million) and Tino de Zutter (2 730 000) at the foot of the podium. 

Then we fall to 2.4 million with Gilles Frère or 2 million with Thomas de Kerchove... behind everyone can still believe, including the legendary Pierre Neuville, well placed with 1.6 million.

Vincent Verdikt, Anne Trebitsh, Yves Seghers, Jonas Viaene, Mihai Stinca, Kristof Verhoeven and Sébastien Guidez are also still with us! 

See you at 2 p.m. on Sunday for the conclusion of the tournament, the final will be available in stream with the revealed cards... 

Chipcount partial Day 2 
Gabriel Radu $3,320,000
Seeiar Noran 3 150,000
Fabrice Somers 3,020,000
Kiryn Antonius 2,795,000
Jeroen van der Grevel 2,800,000
Tino de Zutter 2,730,000
Gilles Frere 2,450,000
Thomas de Kerchove 2,070,000
Kristof Verhoeven 1,895,000
Mihai Stinca 1,860,000
Pierre Neuville $1,625,000
Dejan Bralo $1,410,000
Karim Ryad 1,400,000
Robert Seelen 1,335,000
Sébastien Guidez $1,300,000
Yacine Beztout $1,215,000
Simon Ebhomeya 1,200,000
Anne Trebitsch 935,000
Damien Di Pasquale 865,000
Olivier Carosella 800,000
Jonas Viaene 780,000

As soon as possible the complete chipcount in the document below

Report kicks off at 2 p.m., Sunday, September 10

Heading for the Big Money

Last day of the Circus Namur French Open Main Event... the last 37 survivors are guaranteed €1,040 in prize money and face off in 50-minute levels.

The first ten minutes were clear, with nobody jumping! 

First Victims

After a timid first quarter, Jeremi Pillault joined the rail while Karim Ryadi bailed out Dejan Bralo. 

Bralo is up to 3.6 million after a very quick call to Karim on a small-card board where a king had appeared on the river. Bralo showed the Ten, enough to take the lead of the tournament. 



Simon Ebhomeya went down in 36th place for €1,040 after an open-shove at the beginning of the hand. Calls from Gwendall Mazzara just to his left and Kristof Verhoeven on the button. 

Gwendall bets 5 Ten Jack with a spade draw and shows Ace Ten of clubs after Kristof's fold. Simon returns 9 and 7 of diamonds announcing "gutshot and backdoor flush-draw" but nothing will save him... 

They collect €1040

Anne Trebitsch opened with Ace Ten and jumped to Ace Queen 7, her opponent having defended with Ace 7... Anne ran to the High-Roller where she was the last to enter, in-extremis. 

The remaining players are guaranteed €1,200 and Mihai Stinca is aiming even higher. The Romanian is up to €3.6 million... while complaining about paying twice the big blind, Stinca double-up on the first rebalancing hand on 4 tables! 

10 minutes left to play on 30,000 - 60,000 (60,000) with an average of 1.8 million chips or 30 blinds... 




32nd - Olivier Carosella
33rd - Karim Ryadi 
34th - Anne Trebitsch
35th - Marc Thumelaire
36th - Simon Ebhomeya
37th - Jeremi Pillault

38th - Mohamed Razab Sekh (Day 2)
39th - Alessio Curia

En Rade?

Chipleader at the start, Gabi Radu is no longer at his best and looks back. A succession of lost shots, sometimes from the front, and Radu has no margin left.

After defending in the small blind, Gabriel goes tank-fold on Ten Ace 9 Queen 7 with a flush draw on the flop... Robert Seelen had opened at the end of the hand and his bet of 500,000 in a pot of 1.2 million won him the pot.

At the end of this move, Radu was down to 1.9 million, while Seelen was up to 2.7 million. But the worst was yet to come.

On the next hand, Jonas Viaene sends the box to Hijack for 1 million and Gabi goes all-in on the button with Ace-King. There's King-Queen in the shorts, but a 4-Queen-Ten-9-7 board drops Radu to 1 million, while Viaene finally gets some breathing space at 2.2 million. 

Neuville 5 out of 5

End of the road for WSOP Main Event finalist. Pierre Neuville bowed out in 29th place after a day to forget. 

Down to 300,000 chips, Pierre pushes for the hijack, but his neighbor on the left pushes over. Worse still, in the big blind, Jeroen van der Grevel tries his luck for the strike! 

Jeroen turns over 7s, behind Moahmed Boudazdit's queens. Pierre reveals King-Queen but the dealer unlocks three hearts on the flop and a fourth on the turn which gives the pot to Mohamed who is the only one with a heart in his hand. 

A fifth heart river changes nothing on this 5 4 9 2 8 board and Pierre pockets €1,200 for his deep-run on this field of 1,139 entrants. 

In the money on two regular tournaments the week before the festival, Pierre finished 7th on Big Tuesday and 11th on Mystery Bounty... will he have the fire to make it to the Sunday Special, which starts right now?



Gabriel Radu has jumped in the wake of the moves lost in the previous post, and there are now just 24 of them at three tables following Noah Allem's exit in 25th place...

They collect €1,200
28th - Gabriel Radu
29th - Pierre Neuville 
30th - Kristof Verhoeven
31st - Ben Suntornvibul

Double-Up

The 40,000 - 80,000 (80,000) level ends, the first break is just around the corner and Seeiar Noran has just given himself some air.

He 3-bets shove 730,000 big blind chips with Ace King after a button open from Kevin Brichet. With Ace Dame, Kevin pays to drop to 1 million a board 8 7 2 Ten 2 later. Seeiar breaks with 1.6 million in chips...

Play resumes on blinds 50,000 - 100,000 (100,000) with an average of 23 blinds... 

Break

The game is played over three tables... chipcount made with Pokercity, which also covers this Final Day.

Guide En Attente

Sébastien Guidez is waiting with 25,000 chips in front of him. The Frenchman is on the button, hoping someone will jump in before him to grab a few extra euros. 

Just after the break, Joost Brebels opened-shove 1.6 million in the small blind... and Sébastien woke up with the queens. An easy call, but the Belgian hit with his ROi Valet to move up to 3.3 million. 

Crippled, Guidez resolved to his fate... he'll get 3 blinds if he doubles up once. And who knows behind that!

With 40 minutes left to play in level 27, the next man out will pocket €1,385, with the last 23 survivors securing at least €1,600 after that... 

Pour Quelques Euros de Plus

Only 21 players remained in the running, and Sébastien Guidez failed to win the €1,600 for 23rd place! The Frenchman finished 24th and missed out... 

A few seconds later, Dejan Bralo joined the rail, with a few euros to spare. Finally, Kevin Brichet fell to his nemesis, Seeiar Noran. This time, Kevin sent in his last 11 blinds with Ace 9... he was impaled on Noran's kings, who stayed ahead. 

Brichet heads for the rail for €1,600, Noran now averages €2.7 million

21 players remain from the 1,139 entries, with an average of 27 blinds... Only two tricolors left, Gilles Frère and Damien Batot, who has just doubled up to 2.2 million. This duo have more or less the same stack of ving blindes... 

They collect €1,385
24th - Sébastien Guidez
25th - Noah Alem
26th - Gwendal Mazzara
27th - Philipp Munzinger

New Level

The blinds continue to rise, and the pressure increases as the 20 survivors now face off on blinds 60,000 - 120,000 (120,000). 

1,845 guaranteed for the players still in the running... the average is now 2,850,000 chips. 

They collect €1,600
21st - Rudolf Wigchert
22nd - Kevin Brichet
23rd - Dejan Barlo

Nouveau Patron

25 minutes without an outgoing player, but things are happening... "Twice the Aces and it holds, once the Kings," sums up Fabrice Somers, while Theo Erkamps now stands at 7.2 million chips.

The Dutchman has just doubled up preflop with Aces against Queens at Jonas Viaene. The latter is now down to 300,000 chips in blinds 60,000 - 120,000 (120,000)...

Big Boss

There's a break in ten minutes' time, and only 19 players are left in the running in the 60,000-120,000 blinds (120,000). The average has risen to 3 million chips following the exit of Mihai Stinca... in the biggest pot of the tournament. 

Open under Mihai's gun, call just to his left from Dennie Cordromp and the duo find themselves on a 4 4 2 flop... Dennie takes the initiative for 250,000 chips and pays Mihai's 625,000 check-raise, heading for a 6 on the turn. 

Here Mihai sends the box for 3 million with Jacks. This is paid by Dennie, who reveals the Queens and stays ahead two cards later. 

Mihai pockets €1,845, while Dennie soars to 10 million chips on 57 million chips. 

No Break

No break for Fabrice Somers and Yves Seghers, eliminated within seconds of each other at two different tables. The break will be definitive at this Circus Namur French Open. 

Somers left the playing area disgusted, having lost King Queen of Diamonds to Jack 7 of Clubs at Tino de Zutter. A black flush later, it's Tino who's up to €1?7 million, while Fabrice is €1,845 richer in 19th place. 

After a big pot lost in a blinds battle, Yves Seghers sends his last 4 blinds from the button with Queen 5 suite. Seeiar Noran wakes up with Ace Dame in the small blind and logically calls to climb to 7 million chips. 

There are 17 to go on break, all guaranteed a €2,210 payout. 

They collect €1,845
18th - Yves Seghers
19th - Fabrice Somers
20th - Mihai Stinca

Two Tables At The Break

One hand was in progress at the start of the break and Jeroen van der Gevel surrendered... so there are 16 stacks spread over three tables and the semi-final redraw will take place as soon as the break is over.

Van der Gevel pockets €2,110 for his 17th-place finish, the same payout as whoever comes out first in the redraw on 75,000 - 150,000 (150,000).

The average is 3.5 million, with 8 players resuming with less than 13 blinds!

Redraw

Damien Di Pasquale jumped straight into the recovery on 75,000 - 150,000 (150,000), with 15 still in the running for an average of 3.8 million... all insured for €2,435. 

Each of the 9 finalists will also win a CPS ticket worth €2,200...

Table 1  (in seating order)
Marvin Achzenick
Vincent Verdickt
Robert Seelen
Gilles Frere 
Moh Bouzdazit
Joost Brebels
Seeiar Noran
Jonas Viaene

Table 2 (in seating order)
Thomas de Kerchove
Damien Batot
Tino de Zutter
Antonius Krijn 
Yacine Beztout
Dennie Cordromp
Theo Erkamps

They collect €2,110
16th - Damien di Pasquale
17th - Jeroen van der Gevel 

Batot Coulé

Gilles Frère is the last Frenchman standing at the Circus Namur French Open. With 1.6 million chips on 100,000 - 200,000 (200,000), Gilles is not the favorite to win... 

The average is 4.7 million with 12 survivors in this field of 1,139 entrants, with Damien Batot (pictured) bowing out in 13th place for €2,930. 

The Frenchman sent in 11 blinds at the start of the hand with Ace-King... He made the acquaintance of Mr Aces, Dutchman Theo Erkamps. 

Erkamps woke up again with the Arrows in the big blind to suck up a new stack and climb to 8.6 million chips. 

They pocket €2,435
14th - Joost Brebels
15th - Marvin Achzenick 

The award is irrevocable

Negative verdict for Vincent. No Final for Vincent Verdickt, who only made one mistake in the Main Event...

The Belgian had started Day 2 with the starting stack, but lost out on the final table in 11th position. Down to 6 blinds, Vincent sent in an ace-valet of hearts at the start of the hand... and impaled himself on Mohamed Boudazdit's queens. 

No helpers on the board and Mohamed climbs to 4.1 million chips while Vincent pockets €3,515. 

Just a few minutes earlier, Tino de Zutter had given up the gauntlet, and we're now on the bubble of the final table. There are 28 minutes left in 100,000 - 200,000 (200,000) with an average of 5.7 million chips. 

They collect €2,930
12th - Tino de Zutter (photo)
13th - Damien Batot

Robert Seelen Bulle la Finale (3.515€)

Robert Seelen misses out on the final of the Circus Namur French Open and the €2,200 ticket to the CPS Main Event. Down to 6 blinds, Robert played one flip too many. 

His pair of 3s was no match for Seeiar Noran's Ace 5. See You Robert! 

Robert pockets €3,515 for his efforts in this field of 1,139 entrants... Play is paused with 27 minutes to go on 100,000 - 200,000 (200,000). 

The average is 6.3 million chips and the final is set. Seatraw as soon as possible, with play resuming at 8.40pm after the dinner break...

They collect €3,515
10th - Robert Seelen 
11th - Vincent Verdickt

The Final Table

Streaming begins around 9pm, with the final resuming at 8:40pm... Tonnie Krijn gets a head start as play resumes with 27 minutes to go on 100,000 - 200,000 (200,000)...

No French

The first outgoing finalist is the last Frenchman in the running at this Circus Namur French Open... 

Tonnie Krijn opened as usual and Gilles Frère had little left in the big blind. He went all in with Queen Ten and finally lost to Ace 4 of clubs at the end of a 6 9 4 2 7 table...

Gilles will be consoling himself with €4,585 and a CPS ticket worth €2,200... his opponent climbing to 16 million chips. 

La Corde a Rompu for Yacine

Theo Erkamps opens Dame Valet de trèfle to 725,000 chips and Dennie Cordromp sends his 6.4 million stack into the small blind with the Jacks.

In the big blind and short with 1.2 million, Yacine Beztout pays for his last 4 blinds with the 7s. The opener gets out of the way and the 2 Queen 2 2 6 board drops the final to 7 players.

Yacine collects €5,955 and a CPS ticket worth €2,200... the game now goes to blinds 150,000 - 300,000 (300,000).

Each finalist also wins a CPS Main Event ticket worth €2,200. 

The Shove de Trop for Thomas

Thomas de Kerchove (photo) was the third finalist, eliminated in 6th place for €7,740 plus a €2,200 ticket to the CPS Main Event... 

Thomas sends in 11 blinds or so early in the game with a pair of 4s, and is paid by Tonnie Krijn unveils As Dix. 

Thomas is about to be counterfeited by the board as the dealer unwraps a 9 King 5 9 board. Tonnie Krijn continues to pile up the chips, he now has 19 of the 57 million in circulation... 

Pressure mounts, so do the blinds

The blinds are now 200,000 - 400,000 (400,000) with an average of 9.4 million... Two of the six players in contention have more than 20 blinds...

Jonas Viaene Rate le Deal

Jonas Viaene cashed for €13,080 and a €2,200 CPS ticket, but the chatter had already started and picked up after his exit.

Dropped to a blind during the semi-finals, Viaene made a string of winning moves to convert his buy-in into a 5-figure payout. Already a huge comeback for a regular at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Jonas fell in two stages, first losing with a pair of 9s to Dennie Cordromp's Ace 5s. Cordromp was playing for his life and he was very badly beaten on the 9 6 Jack flop, but the dealer unraveled a 7 and an 8 to bring him a space straight.

Down to 4 blinds, Jonas finally lost, still starting ahead. His pair of 6s was no match for Seeiar Noran's mismatched 8s and 5s... a dark tale of a double pair! 

Deal 

The last four players in this 1,139-entry tournament have decided to settle. The deal leaves the winner with €3,910 and the trophy... 

Mohamed Boudazdit €35,500
Krijn Antonius €31,500
Seeiar Noran €27,000
Dennie Cordromp €22,000

Dennie Cordromp at the foot of the podium (€22,000)

In the final moments of the 250,000 - 500,000 (500,000) level, and just before a break, Dennie Crodromp left the Dutch championship. He leaves his team-mates to battle it out for the trophy and the remaining €3,910 after a final flip lost to Mohammed Boudazdit.

At the resumption, the levels will move to 25 minutes, so it should soon be decided between the three remaining players...


Chipcount at the start

Antonius Won't Win

A bluff that doesn't work, an opponent who doubles down on you and there's nothing left to do but put down the chips and pray. Tonnie Krijn was down to 6 million, last in class, when he played his last move with King Queen Suit.

He fell on Ace King to Mohamed Boudazdit, who took advantage of the situation to take the lead of the tournament with 40 million against 17 to his last opponent.

Tonnie aka Antonius leaves the French Open, which has turned into the Dutch Championships, with a 5-figure win, his third in a row in Namur. Winner of the Havana High Roller and then the WaSOP High Roller, the Dutchman has once again made the trip for a reason!

Mohammed Boudazdit wins the French Open

With five Dutch players in the last six and three Dutch players on the podium, the French Open turned into an orange wave. 

After Antonius's elimination, and despite a 40 million to 17 advantage, Mohammed Boudazdit settled for victory and the trophy. The final duo split the remaining €3,910 and called it a day. Time to celebrate! 



The final stretched over 5 hours, with the last Frenchman in contention bowing out in 9th place in this field of 1,139 entrants, Gilles Frere being the first to be eliminated from the final. 

Like the last 9 survivors, Gilles also pocketed a €2,200 CPS ticket, so he'll have to come back in November for the most expensive Main Event in the history of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 

Jonas Viaene put in another solid performance to save Belgium's honor, finishing in 5th place and turning his €330 buy-in into a 5-figure payout. The final 6 players in the tournament took home at least €10,000, proving that a deep-run in Namur is always lucrative! 



Day 3 was played out over 50-minute levels, with 37 players still in contention for the original €50,000 first prize. The last four players in contention came to an agreement at the ICM before playing out the end evenly, right down to the head's up. 

Among the Final Day players who missed out on the final, Pierre Neuville (29th) made it five consecutive paid places in Namur. Anne Trebitsch (34th) had a Day 3 on the Main Event and a final on the High Roller. 

Many Namur regulars took part in Day 3, and congratulations to Yves Seghers, Noah Alem, Vincent Verdikt and Fabrice Somers and Sébastien Guidez, who once again put in fine performances in the Walloon resort. 

See you on October 1 for the Oktoberfest festival, where the Tripik should be flowing like water, and the prize pools to be shared by the winners look huge!