Watch coverage of Day 1B of the Main Event from 1:00 p.m.

After Day 1A, on which 80 entries were recorded for the event, it's time for Day 1B of the €2,200 Main Event starting at 1pm this Wednesday, November 29.

50,000 chip stack, 8 levels of 60 minutes to try to move up in chips and do better than Mihai Stinca, chipleader of Day 1A with 246,000 chips in the bag at the end of the day.

See you there tomorrow?

Second Opening Day kicks off

The €2,200 CPS Main Event got underway in earnest with the Shuffle Up & Deal of the main tournament, this Wednesday at 1pm, with around 40 competitors in the running. A number of players soon arrived to build up the numbers, attracted by the guarantee of €750,000 and one-hour levels on Day 1...

The game is played on 8 levels with registration open for two hours on Day 2, which takes place on Friday, December 1 from midday.. The start of the day was disrupted by a breakdown in the tournament software at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur, resulting in a slight delay.

Currently, with 40 minutes left to play in level 2, which is played on blinds 100 - 300 (300), they are 59 in the running for 61 entriess. Another good start in terms of attendance, with the opening day attracting 80 entrants (for 34 qualifiers).

An explosion in the number of players is expected for Thursday's starting days, with most of the 150-plus qualifiers yet to enter the fray! 

There will be a break at the end of this Main Event level... The dinner-break begins at 8.45pm and lasts 75 minutes. The survivors will then return for the last two levels of play and a wrap-up around midnight...

Warming up

Just before the break, David Opdebeeck plays it safe. The Belgian wanted to take advantage of the structure... which allowed him to 4-bet fold quietly.

"He'd done the same thing just before, if he's down bravo, the hand's over I've made my decision," comments David, trying to get the info before going to break. Aksel Aygun doesn't give up and runs off with 37,000 chips in front of him after placing a 5-bet.

Opening at 800, Aksel 3-bets to 2,200 chips for the second time in minutes... in the small blind David raises to 5,400 with Ace-King and ends up folding face-up following Aygun's 15,000-chip 5-bet for almost half his stack.

The break following the first two 60-minute levels is reached with 67 players for 71 entrants and an average of 53,000 chips.

Premier Bilan

Play is paused on the Main Event and the counter continues to climb, with the chipcount up to 70 players for 74 entries...

Florin Bilan is up front with Jeroen Leveur, a regular at the Namur games... Daniel Wuyts came out on top.

Chips
Daniel Wuyts 117,000
Jeroen Leveur 99,000
Florin Bilan 97,000
Kai Lehto 86,000
Michael Dick 78,000
Abdessamad Ayyad 75,000
Jonathan Bouchat 74,000
Pierre Neuville 70,000
Jordy Brouwer 66,000
Gilles Magny 65 000
Thomas de Kerchove 65 000
Stan van Dijk 64 000
Daniel Rosero 64 000
Soner Guzel 58 000
Mathieu Alciato 55 000
Guy Goossens 55 000
Mercedes Osti 52 000
Daniel Pirlot 47 000
Pieyr Maggi 40 000
Aksel AYgun 37 000

The 100 Bar 

The 100 entries mark has been reached in this second of the 4 opening days of the €2,200 CPS Main Event. Players such as Jonathan Abdellatif, Salvatore Alessi, Gary Hasson, Jeremy Baldisseri, Mohammed Boudazdit, Denis Charlier, Samuel Bovy and many others have arrived.

There are 25 minutes left to play on blinds 200 - 500 (500) and a break will take place at the end of this level... 

The dinner break will take place at the end of level 5, from 7.30pm to 8.45pm... 

The big stacks at the break

At the second break of the day, only 85 players remained in contention on Day 1B of the Main Event, out of the 104 entries at the start of the day.

The resumption will take place on blinds 300/600 (BB Ante 600).

Selective chip-counting of large stacks at the break:

Guy Goosens 195,000

Harrie Snijders 160,000

Sebastian Benz 148,000

Jimmy de Barros Livramento 145,000

Wim Verhaegen 125,000

Serafim Kovalevskiy 120,000

Sharam Rastegari 112,000

Jeroen Leuver 111,000

Alexandre Viard 106,000

Among the players who gave up prematurely on Day 1B were Philippe Bara, Christopher Marcadet, Joseph Bardakji, Hamed Sedini, Jensen Bernard, Abdessamad Ayyad, Salvatore Alessi and David Kahan. 

Crackers Melin

Maxence Melin

A regular here in Namur, where he has achieved some of the best live performances of his young career on the BPC and WaSOP High-Rollers, Maxence Melin tells me how he found himself down to 8,000 chips at the start of the third of the day, after a huge loss to Swiss Fabian Rolli.

At the cutoff, Fabian Rolli, who recently finished 8th in the WSOP online Main Event for $339,000, opens to 1,000 from 200/400. Maxence Melin discovers Ad-Ac and raises to 3,500 from the button. Fabian Rolli decides to simply pay up.

Both players check on the Jx-7d-3d flop, Maxence explaining that he wanted to play it tricky with his ace of diamonds.

On the 3x turn, Fabian Rolli checks again. Maxence Melin opts to bet 10% of the pot, i.e. 800. His opponent checks/raises to 7,000 and decides to pay.

The river is a Qx and Fabian Rolli advances a bet to 26,000, exactly what Maxence Melin was expecting with his pair of Aces. He quickly pays but is shown a pair of Queens for a full house on the river.

Dropped to 8,000 after this big setup, Maxence Melin came back to 40,000 at the second break of the day, at the strength of his wrist.

Fabian Rolli

Argence all-risk

Yoan Argence on his 7-handed Festival Main Event victory

Winner of the 7-Handed Festival Main Event for €34,000 a few weeks ago, Yoan Argence hasn't enjoyed the same success so far in this CPS Main Event, with his stack reduced to around ten blinds.

The latest feather-losing move came against Billy Tuaiva.

UTG+1, Yoan Argence opens at 1,500 and is only paid by Billy Tuaiva from the big blind.

Yoan Argence then sends two barrels on a board Ah-Qc-Js-5s-2h, 2,000 on the flop and 5,500 on the turn.

He wisely checks back on the river and can't beat Billy Tuaiva's As-8d.

For Billy Tuaiva, who we discovered in his WaSOP Main Event final, the day began peacefully with a stack of 90,000 after this move.

Goosens in all senses

On this fifth level of the day, an indisputable chipleader stands out on Day 1B of the CPS Main Event, none other than the indefatigable Guy Goosens.

He's up to €280,000 after recently taking out young shark Antoine "Stacko" Stackowiack, an online terror who won two Sunday Millions and finished 2nd in the Battle of Malta High-Roller last October for €45,560.

Antoine tells me about the move that pushed him out. "I open to 1,500, he 3-bet me to 5,000. Cold call behind, I 4-bet to 16,000. Guy Goosens 5-bet me to 70,000. I have about 100,000 and didn't have the strength to fold Kings here."

Guy Goosens held the Aces and thus ended Antoine Stackowiak's first bullet in this €2,200 CPS Main Event. The young grinder has already taken his second bullet at the next table.

Antoine Stackowiak

On the eliminated side, we also lost Yoan Argence, Idir Haiche and Aksel Aygun, three players who could well go through the re-entry process.

Dinner-break

Mathias de Meulder

81 players left for dinner-break at the end of the fifth level of the day out of the 110 registered on Day 1B so far.

Players will return from break at 8:45pm to blinds 400/800 (BB Ante 800) for the final three levels of the day.

Selective chip-counting :

Guy Goosens 284 000
Harrie Snijders 200 000
Jimmy de Barros 140 000
Sebastian Benz 135 000
Radu Pitic 128 000
Daniel Pirlot 121 000
Jensen Bernard 85 000
Jonathan Abdellatif 82 000
Dalil Masaud 76 000
Paul-François Tedeschi 75 000
Antoine Stackowiak 65 500
Jean-Marie Vandeborne 61 500
Mathias de Meulder 57 700
Raoul Refos 55 000
Samuel Bovy 53 000
Fabian Rolli 51 300
Iulian Calagiu 47 000
Maxence Melin 45 000
Slimane Mamèche 33 000
Pierre Neuville 24 000
Charly Mouline 23 500

Charly Mouline

Mercedes pile-up

Mercedes Osti

Just when I think I'm on to something when I see Mercedes Osti check/raise Pierre Neuville on the turn Jc-Td-3s-8d, putting up 10,000 after the dean's 4,000 second barrel, a player from a neighboring table comes over to ask me for some info, about how many levels we'll be playing today.

Once the player has been informed, I turn my head towards Pierre Neuville's table to see Mercedes Osti in full tilt after having doubled her opponent.

In front of her, Qh-9h for a found straight at the turn.

But Pierre Neuville found a flush on the river Jd with Ad-Qd in hand, and all the money went down the middle between the two players.

Thanks to this double-up, Pierre Neuville doubles to 60,000 while Mercedes Osti drops to 95,000.

Pierre Neuville

The king of middle-buy-ins

Clearly one of the hottest runners on the middle buy-in circuit in recent years, Irish Open winner and UKIPT Player of The Year David Docherty from Scotland makes his CPS Main Event appearance today after dropping two buy-ins in the €4,400 High-Roller.

He found a double-up with two Aces on a 2h-3d-Qs-Kd-Ks board to go up to almost 100,000, getting paid by a pair of Jacks on the river, and could well start to create problems on a fine table also featuring Samuel Bovy, Samuel Tebege, Fabian Rolli and Paul-François Tedeschi, a table on which Maxence Melin is unfortunately no longer, having joined the rail just after the dinner-break.

Rock and Rolli

Earlier in the day, Fabian Rolli, 8th in the WSOP online Main Event last October, chatted a full house with two queens against Maxence Melin's pair of aces.

He continues his great story with the Ladies, having chatted once again to eliminate Samuel Tebege.

Preflop, after an opening from Samuel Tebege at the end of the floor, Fabian Rolli 3-bets with Qd-Qc from the small blind.

He then sends 3 barrels along a 9d-9s-4c-Qh-Jh table.

Samuel Tebege fails to fold his 9c-7c which has turned into a three of a kind on the flop and finds that his Swiss opponent has hit the turn, once again finding a full house with his queens.

With this elimination, Fabian Rolli takes off at 165,000 chips in the €2,200 Main Event, while Samuel Tebege joins the rail for the second time today.

Riminucci buys Omar and joins the clan of chipleaders

6th in the Circus Cup a few days ago, Philippe Riminucci is taking advantage of his good run at this festival to get even better in this CPS Main Event.

He now has more than 200,000 chips in front of him, after taking on Omar Lakhdari.

After a Hijack raise from Omar Lakhdari, paid twice, Philippe Riminucci defends from the big blind with a pair of 9s in his hand.

Philippe Riminucci decides to donk to 6,000 with his three of a kind on the K-9-4 flop. He is paid only by Omar Lakhdari.

On turn 4, a change of plan for Philippe Riminucci who checks/raises to 26,000 after a 10,000 bet from Omar Lakhdari. It's paid by Omar.

Philippe Riminucci takes advantage of a brick on the river to send a barrel to 36,000. Omar Lakhdari pushes all in for around 60,000 with J-4 and is snapped by the local, who reveals his full house and pockets this huge pot to position himself among the chipleaders during the 7th level of the day.

Last break

The players have just taken their final break on Day 1B of the CPS Main Event. In a few minutes, they'll be playing the 8th and final level of the day.

The counter shows 123 entries for Day 1B, making a cumulative total of 203 entries for the first two Days 1 of this Main Event.

David Kahan

There are only 72 of them left, after the recent exits of Daniel Wuyts, Salvatore Alessi, Omar Lakhdari, David Kahan, Samuel Tebege and Mathieu Alciato.

Brechalov a serious contender for the chiplead

Iurii Brechalov, already well-stocked in chips with almost 200,000 in front of him, has just scalped Jimmy De Barros Livramento on a classic coin flip with As-King against Jacks to climb to 265,000 chips, catching up with Guy Goosens at the top of Day 1B.

After 3-betting from the blinds, the Russian player happily paid off his opponent's 30-blind stack with As-King and hit a King on the board to pocket the chips.

The unexpected double-up

Member of Team GG Belgium, Jean-Marie Vandeborne has just found a magnificent double-up spot to climb to over 100,000 on this CPS Main Event, at the expense of an EPT finalist.

At the cutoff, he opens with Qd-Jd and is only paid by Serafim Kovalevskiy at the button.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne then sent 3 barrels all along a Kc-Ts-2h-9s-5c board, finding the max straight on the turn, his opponent failing to pass his pair of Aces on the river.

A double-up sometimes comes down to a few things. If Serafim Kovalevskiy hadn't played him in trapisch mode, Jean-Marie probably wouldn't have put another chip into this deal. Instead, he's all in on Day 1B of the Main Event.

Slim fast

With just under 15 minutes remaining on Day 1B of the Main Event, Slimane Mamèche tells me how he increased his stack from 22 to 120,000 in the final level of the day.

In particular, he found a flush with Ts-7s in hand and took 3-barrels of value on a Qx-Qs-6x-Ks-4s board.

A few minutes later, he wants to 3-bet a player he says is tilted with As-2 "to show him a 2", but finally finds an A-A-2 flop. "Now I don't want to show him any more". He'll still win a nice little pot on that. 

Add to this a number of pots taken without showdown, and you have Slimane Mamèche with a more than decent stack for the end of the day.

Happy ending

On the last hand of the day, Antoine Stackowiak found a way to double his stack to stay on a good feeling on Day 1B.

On the button, he discovers Ac-8c and logically opts for a raise. He's paid by Dutch big blind Luis Romero Ramirez.

Antoine Stackowiak finds a monstrous 8h-Tc-2c flop on which he is checked/raised by his opponent.

On the 6 o'clock turn, Luis Romero Ramirez again sends a bet, which the young Frenchman is content to pay.

The 7c river brings the much hoped-for flush for Antoine Stackowiak, who sends everything he has left in the middle (around 30k) and manages to get paid, as his opponent had found two pairs on the flop with Td-2d in his hand.

Thanks to this beautiful double-up on the last hand, Antoine Stackowiak has 124,000 chips in the bag at the end of Day 1B, a more than decent stack when you consider that the replay will take place on 1,000/1,500 (BB Ante 1,500).

The day has just come to an end, with 56 players remaining from the 123 entries counted on Day 1B. See you soon for the chip-counts at the end of the day.

Iurii Brechalov chipleader of Day 1B of the Main Event

Having bubbled the final table of the €1,100 Mystery Bounty earlier in the day for €4,870, Iurii Brechalov jumped into the CPS Main Event and has the luxury of finishing as chipleader with €294,500 in his possession at the end of today's eight levels.

123 new entries were recorded on Day 1B, bringing the total number of registrations to 203 (1A & 1B combined) as we await the probable tidal wave on Day 1C.

56 players managed to emerge from this field with chips in the bag, validating their qualification for Day 2 scheduled for Friday.

Jeroen Leuver

Among the players who had an excellent day on Day 1B were Jeroen Leuver (216,500), Wim Verhaegen (215,000), Guy Goosens (213,000) and Jean-Marie Vandeborne (175,000), who finished the day on a high.

Philippe Riminucci

Other qualifiers include Philippe Riminucci (156,000), who took the scalp of Omar Lakhdari on Day 1B, and Steve Lacomblez (151,000), Alexandre Viard (126,000), Antoine Stackowiak (124,000), Dalil Masaud (102,500), Slimane Mamèche (101,000), Pierre Neuville (99,000), Idir Haiche (81,500) and Paul-François Tedeschi (81,500).

Samuel Bovy

On the other hand, it will be more complicated for Matthias de Meulder (23,500), Raoul Refos (28,000), Samuel Bovy (30,500) or Farukh Tach (33,000) who will have less than 25 blinds at the start.

Tomorrow sees the start of Day 1C of the event at 13:00 and the 1D Turbo at 20:00. Players will also be able to register, or re-enter, during the first two levels of Day 2.

Chip-count complete at the end of Day 1B:

Position	First name	Name	Stack	Country
1	IURII	BRECHALOV	294 500	Russia
2	JEROEN	LEUVER	216 500	Netherlands
3	WIM	VERHAEGEN	215 000	Belgium
4	GUY	GOOSSENS	213 000	Belgium
5	MUSTAFA	WARDAK	202 500	Netherlands
6	MALLORY	FRERE	185 000	Belgium
7	MAX	WIND	184 000	Netherlands
8	JEAN MARIE	VANDEBORNE	175 000	Belgium
9	DANG	NGUYEN	174 500	Netherlands
10	HARRIE	SNIJDERS	169 500	Netherlands
11	NIKOLA	SEKLER	165 000	France
12	PHILIPPE	RIMINUCCI	156 000	Belgium
13	ABDELHAKIM	ZOUFRI	156 000	Netherlands
14	KAI	LEHTO	155 500	Finland
15	STEVE	LACOMBLEZ	151 000	France
16	FLORIN	BALANCE SHEET	149 500	Romania
17	FABIAN	ROLLI	145 000	Switzerland
18	DENIS	CHARLIER	142 000	Belgium
19	SERGIU	COVRIG	140 000	Romania
20	SONER	GUZEL	130 000	Belgium
21	MICHAEL	DICK	127 000	Germany
22	ALEXANDRE	VIARD	126 000	France
23	ANTOINE	STACKOWIAK	124 000	France
24	JONATHAN	BOUCHAT	123 500	Belgium
25	SEEIAR	NORAN	119 500	Netherlands
26	IULIAN	CALAGIU BLEAU	115 000	Romania
27	DALIL	MASAUD	102 500	Belgium
28	DANIEL	ROSERO RAMIREZ	102 500	Belgium
29	TOM	HOEBRECHTS	101 500	Belgium
30	SLIMANE	MAMECHE	101 000	France
31	WIM	ROBYNS	101 000	Belgium
32	PIERRE	NEUVILLE	99 000	Belgium
33	MOHAMMED	BOUDAZDIT	95 500	Netherlands
34	NISAD	MURATOVIC	86 500	Bosnia-Herzegovina
35	IDIR	HAICHE	81 500	France
36	PAUL- FRANCOIS	TEDESCHI	81 500	France
37	GARY	HASSON	80 000	Belgium
38	VALENTIN	DELANNOY	79 000	Luxembourg
39	CHARLY	MOULINE	71 500	Luxembourg
40	SEBASTIAN	BENZ	69 000	Germany
41	JENSEN	BERNARD	65 500	Belgium
42	DAVID	DOCHERTY	64 000	Scotland
43	Anonymous	Anonymous	60 000	Belgium
44	MATHIEU	ALCIATO	58 800	Belgium
45	NGOC	NGUYEN	58 500	Belgium
46	YVES	KUPFERMUNZ	52 000	Belgium
47	DAVID	OPDEBEECK	45 500	Belgium
48	JORDY	BROUWER	45 000	Netherlands
49	FARUKH	TACH	33 000	Netherlands
50	SERAFIM	KOVALEVSKIY	32 500	Russia
51	HAROLD	VILLERS	32 500	Belgium
52	SAMUEL	BOVY	30 500	Belgium
53	FABRI	CARDENIA	28 000	France
54	ARNAUD	DANES	28 000	France
55	RAOUL	REFOS	28 000	Netherlands
56	MATTHIAS	DE MEULDER	23 500	Belgium