214 qualifiers for Day 2, Registration Still Open

The four days of qualifying are over.

Play will resume at noon on Friday on blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500) with these 214 qualifiers and probably more players. Registration is open for two 70-minute levels and a half-hour break, until 2.50pm.

Then the competition can begin! Day 2 then runs over 6 further 70-minute levels...

See you on Friday for the rest of this tournament, which has already well exceeded its €750,000 guarantee. The evening ends with €897,000 already in the pot!

Seat-draw by names in the document below...

SeatDraw by Tables

SeatDraw by Seat

Day 2 of the Main Event kicks off at 12:00 p.m.

Chipleader Iurii Brechalov

It's off to the races on Day 2 at Circus Casino Resort Namur, with 214 qualifiers from the 472 entries so far in this €2,200 CPS Main Event.

I say "for the moment", because players still have two 70-minute levels plus a 30-minute break to join the tournament, or to re-enter for those who buster prematurely today.

The prize-pool already stands at €897,000 and the million finally seems almost within reach with almost three hours of late reg on Day 2. 54 additional entries would be needed for that.

Players wishing to register for Day 2 will return with 50,000 chips, or 33 blinds at the 1,000/1,500 (1,500) buy-in, at the bottom of the leaderboard, but still with plenty to play for at poker.

For the moment, Russian Iurii Brechalov is leading the troops with 294,500 chips, almost 200 blinds to go.

Logically, we should be playing 8 or 9 levels of 70 minutes each today, unless the organizers decide to stop play once the paid places have been reached.

The Top 10 at the start of the new season :

Dashboard :

The structure of Day 2

A quick look at the structure of Day 2, where we should be playing between 8 and 9 levels. The bubble should logically burst on level 4,000 / 8,000 (8,000) if my count is right.

22, here come the new guys!

Already 22 players have joined the ranks on Day 2 with 33 blinds to start - or restart - their adventure in this €2,200 CPS Main Event.

Mathias Moutaoukil, eliminated yesterday on a big bluff at the end of the day, took back a magic ticket to happiness. He will start Day 2 at the table of Yann Nasser and Christophe Morbee.

The newcomers on Day 2:

The million within reach of re-entry

After 30 minutes of play, the prize-pool for this CPS Main Event has already been swollen by 40 additional entries, and is now approaching the million mark.

Some of them have already walked out the door, like Sabare Atmani, Gilles Bramli or Murat Ayata, while others joined the rail during the first level but are back in the tournament, like EPT finalist Serafim Kovalevskiy.

A well-honed method

We sometimes wonder how Pierre Neuville gets up to tons in tournaments. After reading this shot, you'll understand better.

It all starts with a UTG limp from Nisad Muratovic. Pierre Neuville overlimps in the hijack, followed by Johnny Nedved, the cutoff and the small blind. From the big blind, Patrick Prijot is absent with his stack spinning since the start of Day 2.

There are 5 of them on the 3c-Qc-9s flop, on which Nisad Mratovic is the first to draw a bet of 2,500. Pierre Neuville raises to 7,500. Johnny Nedved cold-calls and Nisad Muratovic completes.

On the 5s turn, Nisad Muratovic insists with a 26,500 bet in front of him, which doesn't scare Pierre Neuville away.

Last shot at 31,000 on the Jh river for Nisad Muratovic. Pierre Neuville snap-calls with Qh-3d, the winning hand in the face of his opponent's strange bluff holding Kh-9h.

Nisad Muratovic busts a few minutes later, going all-in with a pair of 8s for his remaining crumbs.

Pierre Neuville reached 200,000 with just a few minutes to go before the end of the first level of the day.

Air Jorden

If the number of entries continues to rise at breakneck speed, so does the number of bustos, with almost 40 players having already given up their last chips on Day 2 of the Main Event.

In particular, we lost Paul-François Tedeschi and Jorden Verbraeken at the end of the first level of the day. Jorden Verbraeken thought he'd found a good spot when he pushed his 15 blinds with As-Queen of clubs after a raise, but a big blind woke up with Kings.

Despite the appearance of a 2-3-4 flop with a club, then a 9 of clubs on the turn, Jorden Verbraeken couldn't find one of his many outs on the river to survive. He announced to my colleague at Poker City that he probably shouldn't re-enter.

We also lost Raoul Refos, Dalil Masaud, Alain Fleurent, Louis Gabriel and Mario Van Ackeren in the final minutes.

The Million!

It's now official.

At 1.45pm, the symbolic million-euro prize-pool mark was reached on this Circus Poker Series Main Event, more than ever the second biggest event ever staged here in Namur in terms of prize-pool, after this year's 2023 BPC Main Event.

Almost 60 new entries on Day 2, and a counter that now stands at 528 entries for this €2,200 buy-in tournament, another huge success for this first Main Event to be so expensive in terms of entry fees.

Will the last one be the right one?

With registration still open for a good 30 minutes on this CPS Main Event, Antoine "Stacko" Stackowiak has just checked out for what he hopes will be his last bullet in the tournament.

The blow that pushed him out came against Julien Wasilewski, 9th in the WaSOP Main Event last August.

It all starts with a 4,000 open from Aksel Aygun on the hijack. Antoine Stackowiak pays from the small blind with a stack of 78,000. Julien Wasilewski then squeezes to 17,000 from the big blind. Aksel Aygun pays and Antoine Stackowiak makes a beautiful all-in New York Back-Raise.

Julien Wasilewski quickly reshoves, pushing Aksel Aygun out of the way.

Hands:

Ad-Qd for Antoine Stackowiak

Qs-Qc for Julien Wasilewski

At the end of an 8c-5d-4c-Tc-7h table, Julien Wasilewski climbs to 250,000, while Antoine Stackowiak will have to start his adventure all over again with 50,000 chips for a restart on the 1,000 / 2,500 blinds (2,500).

Break

Just before the first break of Day 2, JS Denissa lost two kings to two preflop all-in 5's for 100,000 chips... the local will come back with a dozen blinds before the break. Still better than Dalil Masaud, who jumped into a pot of over 100,000 chips with three of a kind. Antonius Krijn pushed all in on the turn with gutshot and flush draw, he hit river!

The break ends in a few minutes and already more than 80 entries have been counted on this Day 2... the prizepool has well passed the million euro mark on this €2200 tournament guaranteeing €750,000!

The counter showed 548 entries at the chipcount marking the end of late registration... but there are still people at the cashier, like PF Tedeschi who will return with 20 blinds on blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500). The real Namur brawl begins!

Resume in a few seconds...

Chips
Matthias van der Perre 337,000
Guy Goossens 325,000
Michael Passy 320,000
Bas van Marwijk 290,000
Ismail Kalkan 285,000
Safwane Bahri 270 000
Marco Silva 170 000
Ibrahim Senoussi 270 000
Billy Tuaiva 240 000
Joey Cheung 240 000
Fabrice Somers 235 000
Mustafa Wardak 220 000
Mathias de Meulder 217 000
Damien Hupé 210 000
Wim Verhaegen 206 000
Max Wind 200 000
Kader Slila 196 000
Gary Hasson 190 000
Yann Nasser 190 000
Ugo Faggioli 160 000
Alexis Lucarini 150 000
Antonius Krijn 146 000
Miro Alilovic 137 000
Firat Baltaci 133 000
Tobias Peters 125 000
François-Louis Vlassis 90 000
Daniel Rosero 70 000
Ivan Vasilev 69 000
Paul-François Tedeschi 50 000
JS Denissa 36 000

555 entries for the Circus Poker Series Main Event

After the great success of the Circus Cup (1,380 entries) and the €1,100 Mystery Bounty (586 entries), the €2,200 CPS Main Event finally topped the €1 million prize-pool mark, with 555 entries for a total prize-pool of €1,054,500.

It is the second biggest tournament organized in terms of prize-pool behind the BPC Namur, which attracted 1,332 entries last May and generated a prize-pool of €1,266,388.

83 new admissions were recorded on the first two levels of Day 2, more than on Day 1A or 1D Turbo, and the organizers can congratulate themselves on this huge success after a year of record-breaking attendance.

There are still 205 players with chips to play for in this first CPS Main Event.

A river of bust

The big regs at Circus Casino Resort in Namur don't do each other any favors! That's what Salvatore Alessi sadly found out when he was the victim of a bad beat inflicted by Quentin Destoky.

It all starts with a 7,000 opening from Salvatore Alessi UTG (on 1,000/2,500). Only Quentin Destoky accepts the invitation from the big blind.

On the Ts-9c-8s flop, Salvatore Alessi offers a continuation bet of 7,000. Quentin Destoky counters with a check/raise to 20,000, which doesn't scare away the initial raise.

On the 3d turn, Quentin Destoky pushes his 68,000 stack into the middle. Salvatore Alessi's thoughts were intense, and he finally paid after a good two minutes with Qd-Qs.

Quentin Destoky doesn't get too clever flipping his Jh-8c, but he still has plenty of outs to chat.

And it's a Qh that falls on the river to give Quentin Destoky the straight. Shocked, Salvatore Alessi took a few seconds to realize that he'd just been mucked. Frustrated and dejected, he drops to 4,500 after this move and finds himself all-in blind the next hand. He then busts. 

At a river of bust, Quentin Destoky finds himself at 190,000 after this move.

Tu Y Vas (Ou Pas)

Gilles Gauyacq's 45,000-chip open shove in the middle of the hand is paid for by Billy Tuiava in the big blind. Billy returns Ace-Queen with the Ace of Diamonds and faces Jack-Ten of Clubs.

The dealer unravels a 5 5 8 flop with two diamonds and then a Ten of diamonds on the turn which potentially saves Gilles. No diamonds on the river, but the 6 of clubs and Billy falls back not far from the starting cellar. Gilles heads for a stack of 100,000 chips with 5 minutes to go before the raise to 1500 - 3000 (3000).

There are 176 players left and Fred Hebette has given up the ghost. The Belgian opened Dame Valet suit and a Dutchman called in position. "I find a Valet-high flop and let him bet because he's going to bet all the time.... I check-raise all-in and he pays with three of a kind," says Hebette, now in the rail and therefore no longer a contender for the €200,000 first prize. 

Grégory Fournier

The average is 157,000 chips, a mirage for Fabien Perrot who is trailing at 20,000... for Greg Fournier anything is possible as the Frenchman has brought out a short with Ace Dame. Greg opens, Mark Bongaerts 3-bets to 17,500 chips and the short blinds 27,000 and all in with King Jack. The raise is blocked, so the Frenchman pays and gleans precious chips thanks to an Ace-high board.

Bongaerts will lose the minimum with the queens, he hadn't counted the short's stack and calibrated his isolation...

Bad Horse

Bernardus van Horssen is in the rail at the end of a 3-way with Jacks.

Bernardus opens with 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500) and his neighbor on the left goes all-in. Fred Blehaut pushes 27,000 chips with 8s and he's not at his best when he hears Tom Hoebrechts go all-in in the big blind.

Bernardus plays a little more than the starting stack and accepts the invitation to discover ace-queen from the man covering everyone.

The dealer unravels an 8 9 Ten flop which gives Blehaut some breathing space but still leaves plenty of room for improvement for everyone. The turn changes nothing, but the river Ace executes Bernardus.

Tom climbs to 150,000 chips while Fred soars to 85,000... And then the blinds go up! 

200,000 for the winner of the CPS Main Event

The official figures have just come in: there will be 79 players in the money in this Circus Poker Series Main Event, i.e. almost every other player in the field at the time of writing.

The winner of the event will take home a handsome prize of €200,000, almost as much as Omar Lakhdari, winner of the BPC Main Event last May.

The min-cash has been set at €3,475, so if you've re-entered the tournament once, you'll need to reach at least 55th place to win any cash.

Main Event payout scale :

There are currently 175 players still present on Day 2, while the blinds have just risen to 1,500/3,000 (3,000), signalling the start of the fourth level of the day.

To The Moon

Axel Bevers leads the tournament. The Belgian opens under the gun and takes the button, along with Mark Roovers in the big blind. 

No action on the 9 6 7 flop with three clubs, and the dealer unlocks a king of spades on the turn. Axel bets 6,500 chips and the button folds... Mark Roovers, who was still on a bubble on the high roller, check-raises to 26,000 chips. 

Bevers calls to discover a red 7 on the river and Mark Roovers checks. Bevers reflexively goes all-in, largely covering his Dutch opponent. Roovers hesitates for 50 seconds before calling with 8 and 6 for his 60,000 chips... enough to reach the rail as Bevers returns Ace Jack of clubs. 

Axel Bevers tops 500,000 chips with 155 players in the running on blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000). The average is 60 blinds...

Caught up in his demons

We've just lost Fabrice Somers, the great host of Namur's Circus Casino Resort, to a missed hero call against Ibrahim Senoussi.

It all starts with a UTG limp at 3,000. Fabrice Somers raises to 7,000 UTG+1. It's paid once before Ibrahim Senoussi raises to 28,000 from the big blind.

Only Fabrice Somers accepts the invitation and both players discover a 7c-4d-8c flop.

Ibrahim Senoussi decides on 3-barrels, 22,000 on the flop, 45,000 on the Kh turn and 185,000 and all-in on the Ts river.

Fabrice Somers takes a good five minutes to think things over. On several occasions, you can feel the spew demons inside him urging him to pay up, but he holds back.

He apologizes for taking so long, and looks for information in his opponent, who doesn't move an ear, sitting back in his seat and hiding under his hood.

At the end of an interminable tank, Fabrice Somers committed his 170,000 in the middle with Tc-9c for a straight flush draw that turned into second pair, well short of Ibrahim Senoussi's Ks-Kc for brelan max.

Ibrahim Senoussi joins the clan of chipleaders with 535,000 now in front of him with 151 players remaining in this Main Event.

Ibrahim Senoussi

No Double

It's all over for Wouter Beltz, winner of the High-Roller at the CPS Festival. The Dutchman opens at the Cutoff and Iurii Brechalov defends in the big blind. 

The Russian check-calls 6,000 chips on Ace 4 7 with two clubs before checking-raise all-in on a turn 2 of spades. Wouter had bet 35,000 chips for an overbet... he pays for his 140,000-chip stack with Ace-King. 

Brechalov flips Ace 2 and hits the Full House river on heart 2. This brings the total to 480,000 chips as the 1500 - 3000 (3000) level closes in 10 minutes. 

There are 150 players in the running for 555 entries, with an average of 186,000 chips. Chipleader of the opening days with just under 300,000 chips, Brechalov promises to be a customer at this CPS tournament... 

Second Break

Resumption at 5.50 p.m. on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000) with 146 players in contention for an average of 190,000 chips. Jean Yip is just above the average after losing the Aces to the 8s to climb to 440,000... the break comes just in time for him to lower his tilt percentage!

Fabien Perrot doubled up just before the break with the Queens. Fabien 3-bet shove and the opener called Jack 9 of spades to give him 76,000 chips just before the break...

Chips
Kader Slila 529,000
Alaetin Keles 500,000
Arthur Thiriat 490,000
Gianni Morano 490,000
Alex Bevers 464,000
Iurii Brechalov 456 000
Mohamed taabouni 455 000
Yann Nasser 451 000
Grigoli Liklikadze 447 000
Dove Monaco 415 000
Ibrahim Senoussi 445 000
Florin Bilan 420 000
Rui Dias Dias 371 000
Sergio Covrig 370 000
Ferdinand Janssen 351 000
Tran Duc 329 000
Guy Goossens 326 000
Quentin Destoky 270 000
Philippe Riminucci 220 000
Ugo Faggioli 210 000
Theo Milioni 200 000
Jean Yip 200 000
Gary Hasson 200 000
Yoann Argence 200 000
Antoine Stacko 188 000
Paul-François Tedeschi 180 000
Damien Hupé 160 000
Sammy Barka 110 000
Johnny Nedved 109 000
Morgan poisson 100 000
Fabien Perrot 76 000
Mathias Moutaoukil 69 000
Jensen Bernard 55 000
Maria Lampropoulos 47 000

32 countries represented on the Circus Poker Series Main Event

We now know which nations will be the most represented at this CPS Main Event, and as expected, Namur's three strong nations are well represented.

555 entries were recorded for the event, including 329 unique players and 226 re-entries.

Belgium dominates with 125 representatives (38%), the Netherlands is a distant second with 67 representatives (20%) and France is third with 63 representatives (19%).

32 nations are represented on this Main Event, with players from Vietnam, French Polynesia, Argentina and South Korea.

The Dutch are trigger-happy, with more than 2 entries/player in this CPS Main Event.

Countries represented on the CPS Main Event:

Neuville Busto



End of the road for Pierre Neuville who 3-bets shove 10 blinds in the big blind after an opening from his right-hand neighbor, Luis Rosario.

The latter snap with Jack Ten and passes the legend's Ace 9 at the end of a board with a King and Queen on the flop... then a 9 on the turn. The straight to eliminate the WSOP Main Event finalist and climb to 130,000 chips! 

Same verdict for Nicolas Faure, Marcus Schilling and Day 1A chipleader Mihai Stinca, all eliminated in the final minutes... 

There's still an hour to play on 2000 - 4000 (4000) with 137 players in the running... this level will be followed by the 75-minute dinner break... 

Maria, No!

We've just lost the charm of this CPS Main Event, with the disappearance of Maria Lampropoulos not far from the paid places.

Struggling with a small stack for hours, she pushed all-in minus one blind (for around 30,000). José Deliège paid and showed his hand, the Aces, thinking the player was all-in.

Finally, the flop 6c-4h-2s is turned over, and Maria Lampropoulos is faced with a nasty decision with her remaining blind. She knows that her opponent has a pair of Aces and that she's in a bad position.

José Deliège bets on the flop and it takes the Argentinian a good two minutes before she folds her hand and keeps 4,000 chips.

At the same time, how can you blame her here if she has As-Roi, even with so little money to put in?

She busts two hands later, with Ah-4d against a pair of 8s from another short-stack and As-Dame from a big stack.

The bluff of a lifetime

At Romain le Dantec's table, Cyril "Cacyna" Richard has just graced us with one hell of a move. I'll let you be the judge of that story.

It all starts with Romain le Dantec on the button for 10,000. Cyril Richard 3-bets to 25,000 from the small blind. Romain le Dantec replies with a 4-bet to 65,000 (with 105k behind).

Just when I think Cyril Richard is going to save his provisions for later, he goes all-in almost instantly.

Everything happens very quickly, as Romain le Dantec makes a fool of himself by showing an Ace ... and Cyril Richard calls the bluff of a lifetime with 7d-5h.

"He cracked completely," Romain told me after this hand, confessing to having folded As-Valet, and regretting not having sent the rug straight rather than 4-bet sizé.

In any case, this bold move allowed Cyril Richard to climb to 240,000 and position himself comfortably as he approached the paid seats.

Romain le Dantec

Hasson maximum

Probably one of the Top 10 prizewinners still in contention in this CPS Main Event, Gary Hasson has just been propelled into the lead of the tournament with 125 players remaining, thanks to a full double-up against Mohamed Taabouni.

On the hijack, Mohamed Taabouni opens to 10,000 and is 3-bet to 31,000 by Gary Hasson from the button. He pays and both players discover a 9d-5c-9c flop, on which Gary Hasson continuation-bets to 18,000.

It's paid by Mohamed Taabouni. Again on turn 6s, Gary Hasson bets 59,000, a bet that still doesn't scare the French player.

The two players meet again on the river 5s and Gary Hasson continues to tell us his beautiful story of a guy who hit a big play, pushing his 185,000 all-in on the river.

Mohamed Taabouni hesitates between Kings or As-Kings when guessing which hand Gary Hasson might have, and tanks for a good minute before settling on Qh-Qc. 

Gary Hasson reveals As-9h for a full house and takes this huge pot to 616,000.

Mohame Taabouni drops to 101,000 after this bad call.

Downhill slope

A bad moment for two French players... Alexis Lucarini sees a short player send in 23,000 chips and goes all-in on the button with Ace-Queen.

His opponent reveals the 4s and hits a King 8 4 3 6 board which drops the young grinder to 27,000 chips. Not a big stack as the blinds are now 2000 - 5000 (5000) with 117 players for 555 entrants. 

Paul-François Tedeschi has more chips but has just lost a little room to maneuver. Open from PFT to Cutoff, Badre Al Ghouch defends his blind to find an Ace 8 7 flop with two clubs. 

The continuation bet of 8,000 is paid and there's no action on the King of Hearts tournament which opens a second flush draw. The river 8 of hearts is checked by the Dutchman who will snap Paul's 17,000 bet. The latter can only show King-Queen in the showdown, insufficient in the face of Badre's Aces 7s, who reraises to 25 blinds by taking this pot. PFT still has a block of 30bb +. 

Argence cash

Winner of the Main Event of the 7-handed festival here at the end of October, Yoann Argence is more than ever in contention to repeat his feat here in Namur, after a chip-filled victory over Kader Slila.

In a 4-way pot, Yoann Argence sent 3-barrels to cutoff on a Kh-Qh-2d-6s-Ks board, 18,000 flop, 40,000 turn and 55,000 river.

If he was ready to pass on a raise, he only got checked/called three times by Kader Slila and was able to serenely show his pair of 2s for full house.

"I think I pass if you shove!" announces Yoann Argence as he puts away his new toys, for a handsome total of 440,000.

Winner of the €250 Single Re-Entry two days ago, Kader Slila is still huge with 550,000 chips in front of him despite this lost move.

Slila, he calls, if he doesn't get it, he folds

Once tournament chipleader with a stack approaching 700,000, Kader Slila is having a tough time of it, having just dropped to 370,000 at dinner-break, following a fine call from Dang Nguyen. Nothing dramatic, however, as the next round will take place on 3,000/6,000 (6,000).

After opening UTG, Kader Slila sends three big potatoes on a Th-Qs-5c-Ts-2c board, claiming the remaining 185,000 from his opponent on the river when there's already 200,000 in the middle on the river.

Dang Nguyen takes a moment to reflect and ends up paying with Ad-Qc, a call that is clearly not simple for his survival in the tournament.

Kader Slila can only show Ks-Js for a huge missed draw and has to give up a large part of his stack on this bluff.

The dinner break has just begun. Chip-count to follow...

Coupatriotes

A crazy stunt took place at Théo Milioni's table, involving Cornelis Von Gent and Ferdinand Janssen.

UTG+1, Cornelis Von Gent opens at 12,000, paid by Ferdinand Janssen on hijack and by Duc Quy Nguyen from the big blind.

On flop 5c-7d-2d, Cornelis Von Gent makes a continuation bet of 12,000. Ferdinand Janssen pays and Duc Quy Nguyen decides to raise to 33,000 (with a stack of 64k). Cornelis chooses to press raise again for 60,000. And doesn't scare anyone away. Ferdinand Janssen pays, Duc Quy Nguyen goes all-in for 4,000 more. Both players pay.

On the Kh turn, Cornelis Von Gent checks/calls his compatriot's 85,000 bet.

The river is a Qs and Cornelis Von Gent faces a 219,000 bet from his opponent. A crowd gathers around the table, all wanting to see this big pot which is taking shape between two big stacks and could result in the emergence of a massive chipleader.

After a good two minutes, Cornelis Von Gent managed to make a big fold, declaring to pass King-Queen of Diamonds after Ferdinand Janssen had revealed a pair of 7s for a flopped three of a kind.

As for the short-stack in the story, it's hard to believe he has 5-6 off on this hand.

In the end, Ferdinand Janssen climbed to 590,000, while Cornelis Von Gent dropped to 240,000.

Dinner break

The dinner break is here, and 105 players will return to the 3000 - 6000 (6000) blinds at 9.20pm. For Jonathan Abdellatif, Samuel Tebege, Samy Barka, Alexis Lucarini, Benoit Grobocopatel, Octavian Ripan, Mike Niegho, Fabio Rolli, Safwane Bahri or Stefan Aerts, the cut is definitive...

The average will be 264,000 chips when we return from the Carte du Roi restaurant at Circus Casino Resort in Namur...



Chips

Max Wind 690,000
Gary Hasson 660,000
Mattheus van Donselaar 630,000
Ferdinand Janssen 590,000
Gianny Morano 580,000
Dang Nguyen 575,000
Ibrahim Senoussi 520,000
Iurii Brechalov 510,000
Yoan Argence 500,000
Harrie Snijders 485,000
Wim Robyns 465,000
Bas van Marwijk 450,000
Julien Wasilewski 430,000
Tobias Peters 400,000
Erwin Vu Duc 370,000
Florin Balance sheet 350,000
Kader Slila 335,000
Jean Yip 300,000
Benoit Mahoux 275,000
Johnny Nedved 268,000
Firat Baltaci 255,000
Mathias de Mulder 243,000
Damien Hupé 240,000
Martin Sedlak 235,000
Marco Silva 210,000
Cyril Richard 210,000
Greg Fournier 205,000
Romain Le Dantec 193,000
Idir Haiche 180,000
Miro Alilovic $170,000
Mohammed Boudazdit 150,000
Yann Nasser 150,000
Saul Berdugo 130,000
Piotr Nurzynski 109,000
Badre Al Ghouch 109,000
Morgan Poisson 70,000
Fabien Perrot 65,000

The flip that feels good

I'm almost tempted to say "A river of bust" every time I see a Quentin Destoky hit, as he shows us that poker really doesn't stand for much sometimes.

After a 14,000 opening from Ibrahim Senoussi UTG, paid by Firat Baltaci UTG+1 and Max Wind UTG+2, Quentin Destoky takes the spot at the cutoff by sending his 145,000 rug into the middle with Kc-Qh.

Only the initial raiser pays the young grinder with Ts-Th and Quentin Destoky is out until the river of an 8c-7c-5h-Jc board, but with plenty of cards to help him.

And it's one of them, the Queen of Clubs, who comes to strike the felt to give it the win.

He climbed to 340,000 just before the bubble, roughly the same stack as Ibrahim Senoussi.

Dans Le Sens du Vent

Max Wind already had a nice stack... now he has a huge one after squaring up to an opponent. 



It all starts with an open from Dutchman Jeroen Leuver. On the button, his compatriot Wind sends a 3-bet to 30,000 chips. From the blinds, Rui Costa pushes his house for a total of 220,000. 

Leuver gets out of the way, but not Max Wind, who turns over the jacks. Rui Costa is ahead with Kings but the flop changes everything. 

The croupier unwraps a Jack Ace Jack Queen 6 board with no hope for Rui Costa, who is eliminated by starting ahead. 

Max Wind climbs to 820,000 chips, probably leading the tournament, while 100 players remain for an average of 277,000 chips. 

Half an hour left to play on 3000 - 6000 (6000), Jeroen is at 320,000 after this open... 

 

A Demain

Finito for Romain Le Dantec, who was ahead in the showdown. The Frenchman opened 14,000 chips on the button and paid with his Ace-King when Mario Silva went all-in from the big blind. 

Mario reveals ace-queen, but goes ahead in extremis at the end of a 4 6 7 2 queen board! That's enough to take him up to 320,000 as the money and the 79 paid places get closer... 

The French WSOP winner is on the rail as the blinds climb to 4,000 - 8,000 (8,000) in 10 minutes, for what should be the penultimate level of the day. 

There are 96 players left, with an average of 292,000 chips, and only two WSOP winners left in the field, Dutchmen Bjorn Verbakel and Tobias Peters... Romain will probably be at the start of the two-day Event #40, a €1,100 6-Max starting Saturday at 4pm...

He made a teub!

Hamza Rochdi

Duc Tuan Tran has been making a lot of players go crazy for the past two days. He's the guy who snap-called Omar Lakhdari's shove for 70 blinds with 9-7 suite.

It seems that someone has finally caught him in the middle of a bluff.

The action begins with Duc Tuan Tran opening to 15,000 under the gun, Hamza Rochdi simply pays UTG+1 and Florin Bilan defends from the big blind.

All three players check on the Ah-2c-6s flop.

On the 3 o'clock turn, Duc Tuan Tran sends a 40,000 bet, which Hamza Rochdi promptly pays.

Quietly, Duc Tuan Tran advances a 145,000 bet on the river Th, a very phallic bet as the whole table has noticed.

"He made a teub!" laughs Hamza Rochdi as he begins his thought process. He takes a long look at his opponent, who for once seems less agitated.

Hamza Rochdi convinces himself that his opponent doesn't want to be paid and makes a winning call with Qc-Qh in hand, well ahead of the Vietnamese player's 4s-3s.

Thanks to this fine call, Hamza Rochdi joins the clan of chipleaders in this CPS Main Event, with 675,000 in front of him at the start of the 8th level of the day.

As for Duc Tuan Tran, he soon made up for it by doubling a few minutes later with the Kings against Dennie Cordromp in possession of a pair of 9s.

The remaining 92 players have just switched to the 4,000/8,000 blinds (8,000).

DestaKé

Quentin Destoky's journey to the money comes to a close. The young man 4-bets shove 310,000 small blind chips after an open and a 3-bet shove to 60,000 chips... He immediately hears Bjorn Verbakel go all-in over the big blind!

Fold from the opener, Bjorn turns over the kings, in front of the ace-queen of diamonds of the Belgian who finds no help on the board and joins the rail, disappointed...

90 players remain for an average of 308,000 chips and an hour of play on blinds 4000 - 8000 (8000). Piotr Nurzynski has also gone into push or fold mode... he has just gone all-in from the Cutoff after a Hijack open to climb to 105,000 chips without showdown...

We're getting close to the bubble

Badre El Ghouch, 88th in the Main Event

In the end, the eliminations came thick and fast in this pre-bullet period, and the counter has already fallen to 86 players remaining after the eliminations of Quentin Destoky, Anthony Rabene, Axel Bevers, Dovidio Monaco and Badre Al Ghouch.

For Badre Al Ghouch, it was a lightish 3-bet shove with mismatched Valet-Dix for 62,000 (8BB) from the small blind after an open from Ibrahim Senoussi that ended his hopes of this CPS Main Event, his opponent deciding to pay with King-2 suit.

Duc Tuan Tran continues to put on a show at Miroslav Alilovic's table, where he first folds what he says is As-King on a cold 4-bet shove from Hamza Rochdi (who in the room believes him?) before 3-betting/calling As-Valet against Florin Bilan's 40-blind shove in possession of Queens. He then drops to 35,000 (5 blinds) after this move, but triples the next hand to get back in the game.

En Short

There are 12 minutes left on 4000 - 8000 (8000) before what will be the final break of the day. The board shows 82 players, and the money is very close!

The average is 328,000 chips, so here are the players who are in danger before the bubble, thanks to a chipcount from PokerCity, who are running a coverage where you can follow the Dutch players in particular.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne 117.000
Ngoc Nguyen 108.000
Frederic Bléhaut 100.000
Wim Verhaegen 99.000
Erwin Vu Duc 95.000
Tom De Boom 90.000
Hoa Nguyen 81.000
Yves Kupfermunz 73.000
Jean Yip 68.000
Tuan Tran Duc 67.000
Fabien Perrot 41.000
Gilles Frere 38.000

Senoussi's worries

Up to 550,000 chips after eliminating Fabrice Somers at the start of the day, Ibrahim Senoussi had a tough night on Day 2 of the CPS Main Event, busting just a few places short of the money in a cruel blinds battle with Jeroen Leuver.

From the small blind, Jeroen Leveur opens and is paid by Ibrahim Senoussi.

He then sends 3 barrels all along an Ah-4h-5c-Ks-Qs board, claiming the remaining 140,000 from his opponent on the river when there's already nearly 200,000 in the pot.

Ibrahim Senoussi senses the muddle but fails to fold his Qh-5h for a flush-draw + pair that turned into two pairs on the turn.

Almost apologetically, Jeroen Leveur turned over his 3s-2s for a flopped straight and climbed to 575,000, while Ibrahim Senoussi left the tournament with a sour look on his face.

Break at the Bubble

There are 80 players on break for 79 paid seats... the bubble could have burst just before this break! Resumption at midnight on blinds 5000 - 10,000 (10,000) with a dozen players in danger. Guy Goossens and Morgan Poisson jumped a quarter of an hour before the break, while Duc Tran put up 67,000 chips, leaving himself 1,000 chips behind with 3 minutes to go.

At the cutoff, his neighbor on the left, Hamza Rochdi, paid and the rest went in on a 3 4 5 flop all diamonds. "Oh ouiiiiiii," Hamza blurts when he sees the flop and turns over a pair of 4s well in front of the Duke's mismatched Ace 8... which doesn't have a diamond. A Queen and a 9 sealed Tran's fate as he bowed out in 81st place.

Then, with only 80 players left, Antoine Vranken opened with 17,000 chips at the end of the hand. To his left, Gary Hasson raises to 42,000 chips. Antoine 4-bets to 81,000 and pays for his 186,000 chips when Gary 5-bets him all-in.

Vranken turns over the Arrows at showdown and Gary can show no better than 8 and Ten mismatched. Vranken stays ahead and climbs to 345,000 chips after a 4 4 9 Ace Jack board. Hasson can now put the pressure on again, as he still has 885,000 pawns in front of him.

Gyanno Morano bubble-boy of the CPS Main Event

It only took 5 hands to find out the identity of the bubble-boy of this Circus Poker Series Main Event, and only two "All in and a call".

First, on the first hand of the hand-for-hand, Frenchman Benjamin Celaudoux takes his courage in both hands to 4-bet shove 19 blinds with Jacks against Romanian Sergiu Covrig. Paid by a pair of tens, Benjamin Celaudoux manages to dodge the bullets to double his stack.

All the shorts in the room, and especially Fabien Perrot, in possession of 25,000 chips at the time (2.5bb), start shaking and try to get information on the shortsest players in the room.

This special period for all players brings us its share of strange plays, such as Ismail Kalkan's 3-bet/fold face-up with a pair of queens, who is shown the jacks, or Hamza Rochdi's attempt to snatch the board, which falls to a full house from Fabian Bartuscht.

It was finally on chipleader Max Wind's table that the bubble burst in Gyanni Morano's face.

Despite having a huge stack a few minutes earlier, Gyanni Morano finds Ks-Kc from the small blind and opts for a raise to 40,000. Max Wind 3-bets to 120,000 from the big blind. Gyanni Morano 4-bets shove for 340,000 and gets paid by Tc-Th.

At the end of an 8d-8c-Qd-9h-Jc table, Gyanni Morano ended his fine run in the worst place of this CPS Main Event, the river giving the straight to Max Wind, propelled huge chipleader of the tournament with 1.3 million ahead of him now.

The 79 other players in the room expressed their relief, as they are now all guaranteed to win a minimum of €3,475.

And as usual, the popcorn period kicks off, with all the short-stacks trying to get back into the race.

Benjamin Celaudoux doubles at the bubble

Busto(s)

As soon as the bubble burst, the busto farandole began. Tom de Boom was first out of the gate, on the hand following the bubble-boy's exit.

He 3-bet shove 7 blinds from the big blind after an open from Cornelis van Gent in the cutoff. The Dutchman paid with Ace 8 and stayed ahead of the Belgian's Ace 4, who bowed out in 79th place for €3,475. Cornelis climbs to 850,000 chips...

At the next table, Fabien Perrot sent in 25,000 chips on this first hand too... the Frenchman was in agony and would have gone all-in automatically from the small blind. Fabien nevertheless found a dream spot as he turned over King 5 at showdown and the big blind paid the 2.5 blinds with 9 and 5 mismatched. A 9 on the flop finished off the Poker One player, who thus bowed out in 78th place. 

Erwin Vu Duc also lost his last chips as soon as the bubble burst, good for 77th place in this CPS Main Event with 555 entrants. 

Strike for Verhaegen

Open shove for 6 blinds to the cutoff from Ibrahim Shameen, all-in for 12 blinds from Wim Verhaegen and tank in the big blind from Ohran Egecem who only has 2.5 blinds in front of him. Ohran eventually goes all-in and returns 7 and 2 mismatched... a little disgusted to see 7 and 9 of clubs in Ibrahim's hand. 

With ace-ten mismatched, Verhaegen is ahead and remains so at the end of an ace-six-queen-king-king board. This double elimination sees him climb to 235,000, or 23 blinds, with 45 minutes to go before wrapping up... 

Last breath for Ugo



Game over in 73rd position for Ugo Faggioli, who misses the second payout by a matter of seconds. Ugo sends in 8 blinds with King Ten from the Hijack but falls to Ace Jack in the small blind. 

No miracle for the Frenchman, the coin doesn't fall on the right side and Ugo cashes in €3,475. 

They collect €3,475
72nd - Antoine Vranken 
73rd - Ugo Faggioli
74th - Antoine Stakowiak
75th - Ibrahim Shameen 
76th - Ohran Egemen 
77th - Erwin Vu Duc
78th - Fabien Perrot 
79th - Tom de Boom

Au Pieu

Piotr Nurzynski has given up the ghost. The 2018 EPT Barcelona winner from Poland resisted the bubble to secure the min-cash... he promptly sent after the bubble. 

In the money on the High-Roller, Nurzynski follows up with a 70th-place finish for €3,880 on the €2,200 CPS Main Event. He sends 8 blinds into MP with queens... and just to his left Tobias Peters isolates him with 9s. 

The Dutchman hits a 9 on the flop to climb to 350,000 chips and eliminate a CPS headliner... 

Just before, Fred Blehaut had lost in 71st position, also having passed the first payout. Fred put his last 8 blinds in the middle with Ace 8 in MP, but he had a bad time as two players fought over his scalp with Ace Queens and Queens. No miracle, heading for the rail after a bubble spent in pain. We had to go all-in at the worst possible moment! 

Hoa Nguyen is also €3,880 richer, in 69th position... 

Tedeschi's destiny

After a 20,000 opening from Jeroen Leuver at the cutoff, Paul-François Tedeschi thought he had found a good spot to send his 19 blinds to the middle with Ks-9s on the button.

And yet, he hears all-in just to his left, from Cyril Richard, in possession of a "problematic" hand for him, namely two beautiful Kings.

Despite the appearance of a 9 of hearts on the flop, PFT was unable to chat a double-up and had to leave this Main Event in 66th place for €3,880.

Cyril Richard, who doubled his stack in the opening minutes of Day 1C full vs. full, continues his adventure, as he is now at his highest level ever, with 775,000 in front of him just a few minutes before the end of the day.

We also lost Jean Yip (67th) and Pierre Tilmant (68th).

He's putting them all out of business, Hasson

At the hijack, Mohamed Taabouni opens to 25,000. His new best friend Gary Hasson decides simply to pay at the cutoff. Max Wind enters the three-way from the big blind.

All three players check the 8c-2d-Qh flop.

On the Js turn, Max Wind is the first to draw a 55,000 bet, which Gary Hasson pays without batting an eyelid.

On the river 2s, Max Wind placed a very small bet of 25,000, which Gary Hasson promptly raised to 180,000. The induce worked, it seems, except that Gary Hasson simply had the nuts with Ts-9s in his hands.

Thanks to this move, Gary Hasson steals the chiplead from his opponent, climbing to 1.3 million.

And it doesn't end there, as fifteen minutes later Gary Hasson pulls off a fine strike to confirm his new chipleader status.

It all started with a shove from Kader Slila for 120,000 at the beginning of the first hand (12 blinds), reshoved by Mohamed Taabouni for 350,000 at the cutoff. On the button, Gary Hasson discovers As-King and reshoves all. He plays against As-4 (Slila's) and a pair of 5s (Taabouni's) and hits a King on the flop to take the lead and raise to 1.9 million.

Kader Slila and Mohamed Taabouni are eliminated from this Main Event, respectively 61st and 62nd for €3,880 in prize money.

Day 2 has just come to an end, so see you soon for the day's conclusion. There are just 58 competitors left in the race as the bags are finally packed.

Players in the money eliminated before Day 3

Gary Hasson chipleader of the Main Event with 58 players remaining

Day 2 of the Circus Poker Series Main Event comes to a close, with 58 players still in the running, led by chipleader Gary Hasson, who ends his crazy day with a massive stack of 1,850,000 chips, after a nice strike against Kader Slila and Mohamed Taabouni and a profitable straight against ex-chipleader Max Wind.

All players are in the money on this €2,200 Main Event, which officially becomes the second biggest event in terms of prize-pool after the BPC Main Event won last May by Omar Lakhdari, with €1,054,500 in the prize pool.

555 players took part in the event, with a staggering 83 re-entries on Day 2 alone.

The Main Event bubble bursts

Gyanni Morano unfortunately inherited the worst seat of the tournament, bubbling kings against Max Wind's tens when he had 35 blinds.

Cornelis Von Gent

5 players surpassed the million-chip mark at the end of Day 2, including chipleader Gary Hasson, Dutch reg trio Cornelis Von Gent, Bjorn Verbakel and Max Wind, and Belgium's Max Bevers.

Maxence Melin

Players with lots of chips to watch out for tomorrow include Arthur Thiriart (850,000), Cyril Richard (815,000), Maxence Melin (755,000), Hamza Rochdi (730,000), Idir Haiche (540,000), Yoan Argence (500,000), Jean-Marie Vandeborne (475,000), Julien Wasilewski (465,000) and Johnny Nedved (435,000).

Yann Nasser

And let's not forget the shorts, who all still have a chance in this great tournament, like Theo Milioni, Miroslav Alilovic, Philippe Riminucci, Yann Nasser, Damien Hupé, Wim Verhaegen, Eric Geraume, Grégory Fournier and Charly Mouline.

The resumption will take place tomorrow from 12:00 onwards in the 5,000 / 15,000 blinds (15,000) for an average of 478,448 chips.

Chip-count complete at the end of Day 2:

The scale of remaining earnings to be distributed :