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 :

Seatdraw By Names


Live Report from Day 3 of the CPS Main Event from noon... 

Seatdraw By Chips

Day 3 starts at 12:00 p.m.

Jeroen Leuver

The final 58 players in the CPS Main Event return at 12:00 to continue their adventure in Namur.

Already in the money, with €3,880 insured, they are just two days away from pocketing the handsome €200,000 prize promised to the winner.

But there's still a long way to go, starting again on level 5,000 / 15,000 (15,000) and levels that will increase to 80 minutes.

The day could go on for hours, since the organizers' plan is to go down to at least 2 tables left, and why not push it a little further, so that the last day doesn't end up being interminable.

See you in a few minutes for the first developed shots of Day 3.

The top 10 on resumption:

The program for Saturday, December 2 at Circus Casino Resort in Namur

The structure of Day 3

There's no word yet on how many levels players will play today, but here's a look at the structure and timing of Day 3.

A whirlwind start

In just ten minutes of play, we've already had three exits on Day 3 of the CPS Main Event. The shorts didn't intend to hang around too long, obviously.

First it was Stefan Raschbauer who left the tournament on the very first hand of the day. He shoved his 8 blinds with Kh-Qc and was paid off by Fabian Bartuschk with As-7d from the big blind. He hits a King on the flop but his opponent finishes with a straight.

Next, Gregory Fournier sent his 8 blinds into the middle with a pair of 8s in the middle of the hand. Paid by Marco Silva on the button, the Frenchman saw an ace of clubs fall on the flop to end his tournament in 57th place.

Last but not least, Charly Mouline, one of the heroes of the last WaSOP, where he finished 3rd in the WaSOP Main Event for €53,000, made an early exit from Day 3.

In the Lojack, Charly Mouline sends in his 155,000 stack with Kd-Ts. At the cut-off, Martin Sedlak reshoves for 180,000 with Ah-Js.

Charly Mouline didn't find his 40% equity on the Qd-5s-3c-9s-8h board and left the tournament in 56th place for €3,880, missing the cut-off by one place.

Auteuil-Namur-Passy

Already down to 52 in the Main Event, we've just lost Michael-David Passy. Short-stacked with 9 blinds in front of him, he sent the couscous to the cutoff with As-5 sweat.

Bad timing, as Johnny Nedved discovers the small blind queens and is happy to pay.

No help for Michael-David Passy, who finished 53rd in the CPS Main Event, while Johnny Nedved climbed to 600,000.

We also lost Benoît Mahoux and Gilles Gauyacq a little earlier.

Melin: two-minute stop

A huge coup has just propelled Maxence Melin to the top 50 left of the CPS Main Event, at the expense of young grinder Arthur Thiriart.

In a battle of the blinds, Maxence Melin opens to 45,000 with K-T offsuit in the small blind. He is paid by Arthurt Thiriart from the big blind.

Both players check the Ks-7s-7x flop, with Maxence Melin explaining that he doesn't want to increase the pot here.

The turn is a Qx that doesn't bring in the flush-draw and Arthur Thiriart is the first to draw an 80,000 bet, which Maxence Melin checks/calls.

On an Ax river, Arthur Thiriart doesn't leave it at that and presses the overbet button, placing a large 330,000 jack.

Maxence Melin decides to hero call with his King, a good call since Arthur Thiriart had missed his color draw with 8s-6s in hand.

Thanks to this move, Maxence Melin takes off at 1,450,000, while Arthur Thiriart finds himself in trouble with 180,000 in front of him.

Elimination follows elimination on the first level of Day 3, and there are now just 47 players left in the running after the successive eliminations of Benjamin Celaudoux, Ferdinan Janssen, Michael Dick, Ismail Kalkan and Wim Verhaegen.

Mickael Dick was the victim of Johnny Nedved's run on Day 3, eliminated with queens against kings preflop.

As for Wim Verhaegen, he lost a flip to Thijs van Donselaar with a pair of 5s to his opponent's As-Queens. Both players were among the shorts when they put their tournaments on the line.

All these players cashed in €4,460 for their deep run in the CPS Main Event.

The grail will have to wait for Arthur Thiriart

At the first break of the day, the Circus Poker Series Main Event has been whittled down to 45, and we've sadly lost young prodigy Arthur Thiriart.

After starting Day 3 8th in chips, Arthur never recovered from a bloody blinds battle with Maxence Melin.

His tournament ended when he 3-bet shove his last 13 big blinds with a mismatched As-Dix against an open from Luxembourg's Marco Silva Valente UTG. Paid by King-Queen, Arthur was unable to maintain his advantage on the board and had to leave this tournament in 46th place for a prize of €4,460.

Already 6th in this year's BPC Main Event for €42,000, Arthur Thiriart should continue to write a fine legend in the years to come, given what he has shown us over these three days.

Leavers from the first level of the day

Argence too expensive, life is priceless

Just as the break was about to begin, Yoan Argence graced us with the tank of a lifetime at 45 left of this CPS Main Event.

Under the gun, he opens at 35,000 (on 5,000 / 15,000) and is 3-bet to 85,000 by Dang Nguyen from the button.

The winner of the 7-handed festival then places a 4-bet to 225,000 (with 330,000 behind) and sees his opponent claim his stack.

It took Yoan Argence more than five minutes to make his decision, considering a coin toss, and finally deciding to drop his hand at the end of the time.

Yoan Argence will say he folded As-Roi on this hand.

Aie, Aie, Haiche

After more than 40 minutes without a busto, the frantic rhythm of eliminations resumed with no less than 5 exits in a quarter of an hour.

Among these five outgoing players was Idir Haiche, who had a particularly complicated day. First he lost a big hand with a pair of Kings, which he had to drop on a dangerous board, then a corner flip with As-King against Philippe Riminucci's Queens and a blinds battle against the last player in the event, Linda Van De Ree, when he pushed with Dame-Dix and was paid by A-5 (the player had 6 blinds). 

Down to 4 blinds, he waits until he's in the big blind with Ah-2d. His neighbor Florin Bilan moves all-in with 5s-7c and hits a 7h to pass the Frenchman's hand. 

Leading the leaderboard of Texapoker tournaments in France, Idir Haiche saw his fine run come to an end in 42nd place in this Main Event, for €4,460 in winnings.

Linda Van de Ree, 43rd in the Main Event

Just before, we had also lost Julien Wasilewski (45th), Andreas Gondrom (44th) and Linda Van de Ree (43rd).

The shot you didn't want to lose

Struggling like hell for hours and hours with a small stack, Eric Geraume had finally found the right spot to build up a nice stack with 40 players left. However, a cruel bad beat sent him back to short-stack status.

At the cutoff, he opens to 50,000 with Kc-Kh in his hand. From the big blind, Yann Nasser moves all-in for 415,000 with Ts-Td. Eric Geraume pays faster than his shadow and starts to salivate at his new stack close to the million mark when the Js-As-5h-Kd board falls... but a Qh falls on the river to give this pot to his opponent.

Tilted as I've rarely seen, the 2019 WaSOP Main Event winner is down to 100,000 (or 5 blinds) after this bad beat, while Yann Nasser doubles up in lucky fashion to 850,000.

All-in-Lovic

Miroslav Alilovic has just returned to form in this Circus Poker Series Main Event, after spending hours with a modest stack.

After an opening from Jean-Marie Vandeborne at the beginning of the game, Miroslav Alilovic is content to pay with Kh-Kd at the cutoff. Yoan Argence also pays on the button.

On the 3h-5s-3d flop, Jean-Marie Vandeborne places a continuation bet of 40,000. Miroslav Alilovic pushes all in for 265,000. Yoan Argence craps, but not the Team Poker One member, who decides to pay with Ac-Kc.

Nothing stands in Miroslav Alilovic's way on the rest of the board, and the French player climbs to over 600,000 chips after this move, while Jean-Marie Vandeborne drops back to 550,000.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne

The winners of the second level of the day

Julien Wasilewski, 45th in the Main Event

Only 39 players remain in the Circus Poker Series Main Event after the second level of the day.

The players resume play on the 10,000 / 20,000 blinds (20,000) for an average of 711,000 chips. 

Covrig slows down

A little more difficulty for WSOP winner Sergiu Covrig. The Romanian had triumphed on a Turbo for a bracelet at Rozvadov in 2021, this year he also has a nice win at CEP Barcelona... and he's still in the running for the CPS trophy at 34 left of this €2,200 Main Event.

Down to 205,000 in chips, a German who prefers to remain anonymous sends in a mismatched Ace 7 at the beginning of the hand... and lands on Kings in the GGpoker pro's small blind.

Covrig attempts a counter-jynx, telling his opponent that "normally it goes through, the Ace comes right away". The dealer complies, and throws in a Ten 4 3 Ace 2 board, giving Mr. Lawyer 440,000 in chips.

Covrig still has 905,000 for an average of 816,000 chips, with a good half-hour still to play on 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000)...

Ventilated

Max Wind continues its deep-run with another victim. With 20 minutes to go before the break and the draw for the €5,300 EPT Prague Seat offered by the Circus Casino Resort in Namur (a €5,300 seat is offered by PokerStars to the winner of the Main Event, editor's note), only 33 players remain in the running. 

Maxim Bevers defends in the big blind after a Max Wind open to discover a King 7 4 flop with two clubs. The button's continuation bet of 30,000 is paid. 

The dealer reveals a red 2 on the turn, Maxim check-calls again, this time for 80,000 chips. With 150,000 chips in front of him, Maxim checks again on river 3, which doesn't bring in the flush. 

Max Wind pushes him all-in and the Belgian ends up calling with 9 and 7 for second pair. Wind knows where the wind is going and returns Ace 5 for the runner-runner daddy straight! 

Max Wind climbs to €1.6 million, twice the average, while Maxim leaves the game €5,140 richer. 

Johnny lights the fire

Johnny Nedved just found a much-needed double-up, chatting up Max Wind.

It all starts with a 40,000 opening from Max Wind UTG. It's paid at the cutoff by Hamza Rochdi, Johnny Nedved from the small blind and Harrie Snijders from the big blind;

On the 2c-Tc-9s flop, Johnny Nedved thinks for a good minute before donk-bet all-in for 255,000. Max Wind asks for an account, then quickly accepts the invitation.

The games :

Qc-9c for Johnny Nedved
Qs-Td for Max Wind

Johnny Nedved is going to have to improve, and that's what he manages to do thanks to the Kc turn and the 3c river, which give him a flush to survive in this Circus Poker Series Main Event, and climb back up to 600,000.

Max Wind still owns 1.3 million after this loss.

Sur la Touche

End of the road for Fabian Bartuschk. The German had started Day 3 in the pack of laggards, but resisted to bow out in 33rd place for €5,140. 

While the Circus Casino Resort in Namur was buzzing about the Cray Pineapple Draw with an EPT ticket on offer, Fabian decided to defend his big blind after an open from Philippe Riminucci and a call from Yohann Argence on the button. 

The trio discover a 7 4 3 flop with two clubs on which the German donke 45,000 chips... without scaring anyone away. On the Jack turn, which reveals a heart draw, Fabian bets 240,000 chips with 25,000 behind... which makes Philippe Riminucci fold, the latter keeping 700,000 chips for himself. 

Winner of the 7Handed Festival, Argence responds by going all-in instantly. Fabian then starts tanking. He tries to wait for the landing but nobody moves at the other tables, so he calls with King 3 of hearts for a pair and a draw. 

Argence returns Jack 9 of diamonds and the river 2 of diamonds allows him to claim a victim and climb to just under a million chips. 



In the process, our German, who had doubled and prefers to remain anonymous, lost in 32nd place... and play was halted for the break. Draw EPT to be streamed in a few minutes right here.

The average is 895,000 chips, with a restart at 4:35 p.m. in blinds 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000)...

There will be 30 of them in the last few seconds, Hamza Rochdi sent in his last 5 blinds and joined the rail too. 

Leavers from the third level of the day

Florin Bilan, 37th in the Main Event

Théo Milioni the boss with 30 players left

With 30 players remaining, at the third break of the day, it was young Theo Milioni who took the lead with a stack counted at 1.7 million.

This is by far the biggest increase of the day for the bubble-boy of the BPC Main Event final table, who started with 300,000 chips at lunchtime and enjoyed an irresistible rise over the three 90-minute levels.

Found during the Seat EPT draw, Théo Milioni told me about the two moves that enabled him to build up this huge stack.

"After an hour of play," Theo rewinds, "I find As-Queen UTG+1. I get 3-bet shove from the button and decide to 4-bet shove my 20 blinds. I fall against As-King, but make the Queen river."

"30 minutes later, an Asian player opens UTG+1. I flat UTG+1 with a pair of 9's. On the K-8-2 flop, he checks, I make 2 blinds and he checks/raises me to 4bb. I pay. Magic card on the turn, the 9. Then he bets the pot. I pay with my three of a kind. River Dame brings in just J-T. Then he bets 2/3 pot, I simply pay and he shows me A-T offsuit, I climb to 1.5 million after this move".

Troop strength at half-time :

Romanian's bluff

GG team member Poker Romania Sergiu Covrig has just pulled off a move of his own, grabbing 540,000 chips without showdown and closing in on the biggest stacks in the room with 30 players left.

On the button, Bas Van Marwijkn opens to 60,000 (on 10,000 / 25,000). Sergiu Covrig 3-bets to 220,000 (with a stack of 900,000) and gets a call as a response.

"Do you cover me?" he asks his opponent, who replies in the affirmative.

On the 5h-4s-Kc flop, Sergiu Covrig places a continuation bet of 160,000. His opponent puts down 3 chips for 100,000 as a raise. He is told that he needs to put in 20,000 more chips for this raise to be validated.

That's 20,000 more chips than Sergiu Covrig will take when he announces "I'm all-in!", quickly passing his opponent in the second.

Playful as ever, the Romanian player even goes so far as to show a small 8d which doesn't really connect with this board. His opponent cashes, head down, while Sergiu Covrig raises to 1.5 million on Day 3.

Damien Hupé's Dream

Still in the CPS Main Event at midday, Damien Hupé is at the bottom of the leaderboard... but he's got a huge smile on his face as he's just won the €5,300 EPT Prague seat offered by the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

The Poker One boss had already planned his trip to the Czech capital, so he won't have to pay his entry fee for the season-ending Main Event on the European Poker Tour!

At the break of the Main Event, Tournament Director Adrien Cauchie presided over the draw. We already had to fill the table for this flash 9... and it took a long time. But what a pleasure it was to see enthusiastic players, happy as kids to be able to play for the pleasure of the game. 

Each player taking part in the Circus Cup, Main Event, Mystery Bounty and High-Roller of the Circus Poker Series received one ticket per buy-in for the draw. The number of tickets was doubled for entries on Day 1a of each event, so there were a ton of tickets in the ballot box as each tournament exceeded its guarantee.

The first seat had to be taken about ten times before it filled up - absentees are always wrong! Quentin Destoky, Alfred bacquelaine, Tom Dingenen, André Otten missed the bus to Prague and it was finally Ismail Kalkan who was the first to take his seat. He was called twice during the draw, but the candidates were only entitled to one place in the final.

Adrien got down to business and continued his Mr Loyal duties... and the lucky ones from Namur didn't answer the call. Djamal Boutaleb, Mihai Stinca, Bryan de Riddere, Ugo Faggioli, Erwin Vu Duc, Mitch Vulperhorst (3 times [!]) were not present at the draw.

Cheryl de Paron will also be missing three times!

Damien Hupé went on to claim the winning seat 2 ticket. He'll be called once again, proving that he was a success and that he'll have to hang on to get out of the main tournament offering €200,000 to the champion... and a €5,300 EPT Prague ticket courtesy of PokerStars! Damien can't take two, and if he goes all the way the ruuner-up will be entitled to an additional consolation prize on top of his 6-figure winnings.

André Otten, Salvatore Alessi, Abdessamad Ayyad and Benjamin Fesquet also missed the Crazy pineapple call, and the Flash table eventually filled up little by little. Mathias de Meulder will be the last to be called!

Seat 1: Ismail Kalkan
Seat 2: Damien Hupé
Seat 3: Luka Bojovic
Seat 4: Cornelis van Gent
Seat 5: Guy Goossens
Seat 6: Matthias van der Perre
Seat 7: Dove Monaco
Seat 8: Amaury Marie Chalon
Seat 9: Mathias de Meulder

The 9 players were ready for this freeroll with a €5,300 name ticket for Prague... they were going to receive three cards, one of which will have to be returned to the dealer after the flop...

The dealer unwraps a King 5 3 flop, placed behind Dovidio Monaco we see him return 4 6 7 for a wrap, he logically returns the 7 while Damien at the other end of the table keeps 3 and 7 of spades for a backdoor flush and an improbable straight.

The dealer then unwraps a 4 on the turn and a 6 on the river to give Dovidio two pair, but above all a straight to Damien. Let's goooo!

Damien Hupé is still holding 10 blinds with 30 Main Event survivors...

You didn't see my raise ?

Chipleader on Day 1C, Marco Silva Valente has unfortunately just taken the door in 30th position, after a move that might not have happened had he seen the raise before it.

In the hijack, Mathias Van der Perre opens to 55,000. From the small blind, Marco Silva Valente pushes all in for 250,000. As soon as the big blind has passed his hand, Marco Silva Valente looks relieved and pushes his hand towards the dealer.

We signal to him that there's another player in the game. Mathias Van der Perre still has his cards in front of him. "You didn't see my raise?" he asks the short-stack.

Marco Silva Valente confirms that he hadn't seen the raise and gets paid by his opponent, who returns King-Queen of spades, dominating his 8-9 of clubs.

The 8s-Ac-Qd-Th-Qc table confirms Mathias Van der Perre's advantage and Marco Silva Valente is eliminated on this error in 30th place of the Main Event for a win of €5,910, while his opponent Mathias Van der Perre climbs to €1.8 million.

Easy Argence

Winner of the 7-Handed Festival, Yoan Argence continues his insane run in Namur on this Main Event, where he has just passed chipleader with 29 players remaining, eliminating Miroslav Alilovic to approach the 2 million mark.

All the money went between the two players on a 6s-7c-Js flop, bet by Miroslav Alilovic to 80,000, raise by Yoan Argence to 20,000, re-raise to all-in for 450,000, call by Yoann.

Hands:

Kx-Jx for Miroslav Alilovic for top pair

As-9s for Yoan Argence for flush-draw

Yoan Argence won't hit his flush, but just an Ad on the turn will allow him to get rid of a formidable opponent and put himself in a good position for the end of the tournament.

Miroslav Alilovic finished 29th in the Circus Poker Series Main Event for €5,910.

There's really no friends in poker !

Thirty minutes after chatting up his seat for the EPT Prague Main Event, Damien Hupé has just been disappointed at the CPS Main Event, ending his fine run in 28th place for €5,910. Not quite the place he'd hoped for, but we're not going to feel sorry for him, all the same, for this little 10k day.

The last shot of his tournament was against his friend Johnny Nedved, who had been sitting next to him for two hours.

From the small blind, Damien Hupé shoves 130,000 (5 blinds) with Kc-3s. A little embarrassed, Johnny Nedved snap-calls with Kh-Jh from the big blind, a logical call, but one that the founder of Team Poker One has a hard time digesting.

As the saying goes, "There's really no friends in poker", and Damien Hupé won't be able to chat a double-up to hope for a comeback on this Main Event.

After being boxed on several occasions, twice being bluffed by King-Queen on this table of regs, Johnny Nedved is back with 670,000 in front of him, and believe me, he's got fangs!

Last Main Event withdrawals

Miroslav Alilovic, 29th in the Main Event

The idol of youth

After a long stretch with 25 players remaining, it was finally Johnny Nedved, the man who made himself famous for his legendary fold with Kings against Aces at the BPC Main Event final table a few years ago, who bubbled the redraw at 3 tables left.

And yet, he had found a perfect spot to commit his meagre 8 blinds.

Following Max Wind's 60,000 open at the beginning of the word, Cornelis Von Gent 3-bet to 160,000 at the cutoff, Johnny Nedved sent his 220,000 rug into the middle with Ad-Kh.

Max Wind reshoves with Qs-Qh for over a million and Cornelis Von Gent foldes what he says is a pair of tens.

Johnny Nedved stands up to experience what may be his last hand in this Main Event.

He seems relieved when he sees the dealer reveal an Ac-5h-3h flop that puts him ahead, but a crulle Qd falls on the turn to give his opponent three of a kind.

Stunned, Johnny Nedved didn't even seem to realize he was drawing dead before the river fell, and saw his fine run come to an abrupt halt in 25th place in this Circus Poker Series Main Event. He collected €6,820 and will no doubt find it hard to be satisfied.

The redraw to 24 remaining players has just been made and one of the three remaining tables will be streamed on the return from dinner-break, the one featuring Gary Hasson, Sergiu Covrig, Cornelis Von Gent and Cyril Richard.

Just before the redraw, Philippe Riminucci found a way to breathe a little, his last 5 blinds went to the middle with As-King against King-Ten and he found two pairs to confirm his advantage on the board to get back to 330,000.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne's time?

The last member of Team Poker One to take part in this Circus Poker Series Main Event, Jean-Marie Vandeborne continues to make good progress on Day 1C and now stands at 1.4 million.

After Philippe Riminucci opened at 60,000 UTG+1, Jean-Marie Vandeborne was content to pay at the cutoff, as was Yoan Argence, who defended from the big blind.

On the Qh-Kd-As flop, all three players quickly check.

On turn 2c, Philippe Riminucci delay c-bet to 110,000 and only Jean-Marie Vandeborne accepted the invitation.

Change of plan on the 6 o'clock river where Philippe Riminucci goes into check/call mode for the 230,000 advanced by Jean-Marie Vandeborne.

Not thrilled at the moment of paying with what he'll say is As-Valet, Philippe Riminucci discovers nuts in his opponent, who returns Jd-Td for a flopped straight.

On the same table, Théo Milioni lost a big pot to Ngoc Nguyen. After checking/raising to 315,000 on a 130,000 bet from his opponent on a 9h-6c-4s flop, he took a good three minutes before folding to a 670,000 shove, preferring not to dip into his 2 million stack to spew. 

Dinner break

Cornelis van Gent

Play is on hold with 24 players taking home €6,820. The 23rd player will pocket €7,840...

Play resumes at 8:55pm on blinds 20,000 - 40,000 (40,000) with an average of 1,156,000 chips.

Table 41

Table 42

Table 50 (TV Table)

Who wants to win Milioni?

At the cutoff, Billy Tuaiva opens to 80,000. Only Theo Milioni defends from the big blind.

On the Ts-7d-6c flop, the action starts to heat up. Continuation bet to 60,000, check/raise to 150,000 from Theo Milioni, 3-bet to 395,000 from Billy Tuaiva.

We thought we'd call it a day, but Théo Milioni went all-in, claiming the remaining 420,000 from the player from French Polynesia.

Billy Tuaiva won't take more than ten seconds before folding his hand, keeping 11 blinds after this fold.

Théo Milioni is chipleader of the tournament more than ever, with 2.5 million ahead of him.

Philippe Riminucci's beautiful week

Back in survivor mode with a handful of blinds in front of him, Philippe Riminucci first managed to save himself once again when he went all-in with As-Dix of spades against Billy Tuaiva's As-Jack of diamonds preflop, first finding a Tc that gave him hope of a double-up, but a flush finally appeared on the board to split him.

A few minutes later, he sends in his meagre remaining stack with exactly the same hand. This time he's paid by Dang Nguyen in possession of a pair of tens.

Nothing helped Philippe Riminucci this time, and the Circus Casino Resort de Namur regular came away with a fine 22nd place in the Circus Poker Series Main Event, good for €7,840.

After finishing runner-up in the €300 CPS and 6th in the Circus Cup, Philippe Riminucci has put in another fine performance in this Main Event.

Covrig goes into a tailspin

On the TV table, Team GG representative Poker Romania Sergiu Covrig had a bit of a go against the always solid Gary Hasson.

After a 90,000 opening from Gary Hasson UTG, Sergiu Covrig 3-bet to 275,000 UTG+1. Gary Hasson insists with a 4-bet to 575,000.

Sergiu Covrig obviously didn't have time to fold today, and decided to 5-bet shove for 1,400,000 with As-Valet.

He gets snapped by Gary Hasson with a nice pair of Aces.

The best Hold'en hand remains the best hand on the board and Sergiu Covrig finds himself a few minutes away from the cashier to collect his €7,840 from 21st place.

Save Billy

Just after Sergiu Covrig's exit from the televised table, it was French Polynesian representative Billy Tuaiva who left us in 20th place in this Main Event.

On the button, he pushes his 11 blinds with King-8 mismatched. His neighbor on the left reshoves with a pair of 9s, which will stay in front on the board.

8th in last summer's WaSOP Main Event, Billy Tuaiva adds another fine line to his young record on the live circuit, and leaves this Main Event €9,020 richer.

Verbakel gets Petersized

After Maxence Melin opened to 80,000 at the beginning of the hand, Tobias Peters 3-bet to 215,000 at the cutoff. Bjorn Verbakel decides to cold 4-bet shove for 745,000 with queens.

As is often the case, Tobias Peters was armed with Aces in hand.

He snap calls and keeps his advantage on the 7c-6d-3h-9d-3d board.

Bjorn Verbakel saw his fine run come to an end in 19th place in the Circus Poker Series Main Event, for a prize of €9,020.

JMVB's emotional roller coaster

The poker website can be cruel, as demonstrated by what has just happened to Team Poker One member Jean-Marie Vandeborne.

Firstly, he contributed greatly to the elimination of Dang Nguyen in a battle of the blinds, where the image he had built up worked in his favor.

From the small blind, Dang Nguyen limps to 40,000. Jean-Marie Vandeborne raises to 165,000 and his opponent sends 30 effective blinds into his head with 2c-2s.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne pays with As-Kc and prays not to lose this coin flip which could propel him to the top of the ranking.

He rises to watch the dealer flop a 6c-Jd-Qs, all the while (inwardly) calling one of his outs. And it's a Kd that falls on the turn to give him the win and boost him to 2.6 million.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne explained to me after the move that it was probably his 3-bet with Dame-3 off in a blinds battle (showing his trash can after the move) a few minutes earlier against this same player that earned him this move.

Dang Nguyen finds himself crippled at 2 blinds and bustera two minutes later in 18th position.

We can already imagine that the road is paved for the Belgian player to finally achieve the big performance we've all been waiting for. And yet, 15 minutes later, it was he who was announced as the next outgoing player.

He first lost two Tens to As-5 all-in preflop after 3-betting/calling Mattheus von Donselaar's 22 blinds, then 4-bet shove for his last 22 blinds with a pair of 3s following a 3-bet from Max Wind, in possession of As-King.

This time, Jean-Marie Vandeborne lost the coin flip and had to leave the tournament in 17th place for €10,350, after a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

We've got the redraw with two tables remaining on this Circus Poker Series Main Event.

Semi-Finals

Here's the redraw at 16 left, without the Belgian Jean-Marie Vandeborne who had a big stack a quarter of an hour ago...

The game will resume with 5 minutes to play on blinds 20,000 - 40,000 (40,000) and an average of 1.7 million chips...


Table 50 (TV Table)

Table 41

King Nasser is dead, long live the King!

On the button, Yann Nasser opens to 80,000 with 3h-3d and a stack of 1.3 million. Cyril Richard defends from the big blind with Qs-5s.

Both players find plenty to eat and drink on the 4s-3s-2h flop, on which things heat up.

Check from Cyril, 100,000 from Yann. check/raise to 310,000 from Yann, 3-bet to 530,000 from Yann and 4-bet all-in from Cyril which provokes a snap call from the Luxembourg player.

Following the turn Th and river Ah, Cyril finishes in a straight and eliminates one of the most experienced players in the field in 16th place for a win of €10,350 while climbing to 5.2 million chips, leading the tournament with 15 players remaining.

Snijders stops the end

Although I don't understand Dutch, I gather that Tobias Peters was aware of his indecent run in this Circus Poker Series Main Event, joking that for him a 20/80 is a bit of a coin flip.

Just ask Harrie Snijders. On the button, he opens shove for 850,000 (out of 25,000/50,000) with Jc-Jd.

From the big blind, Tobias Peters uncovers 9s-9d and pays the rug to his compatriot, who gives him a little "Good luck" before the dealer returns the flop.

Quietly, Tobias Peters hits a 9c on his first card and eliminates Harrie Snijders in 14th place of this Main Event to climb to 2.9 million.

Prior to this elimination, we also lost Abdelhakim Zoufri on the televised table, victim of hurricane Cyril Richard on a classic coin flip with As-Queens against the Frenchman's pair of 8s.

Despite the appearance of a Queen on the flop, the Frenchman emerged victorious from this confrontation by finding an 8 on the river.

The last Main Event runners-up

Cornelis van Gent, 24th in the Main Event

After a big slowdown with 30 players left, everything went very - too - quickly from 24 to 13 players left, so much so that two bustos even escaped us, as they took place on the TV table, but off camera, due to a technical incident at the start of the stream.

In case you were wondering, we also lost two top regs directly after the redraw at 24 left, Cornelis van Gent (24th) and Martin Sedlak (23rd).

There are currently thirteen players who still believe in their chances of reaching the magnificent final table, all of whom are already guaranteed a minimum of €13,685 in the €2,000 Circus Poker Series Main Event, with their eyes firmly fixed on the €200,000 prize for the winner of the event.

Final tribute to retiring members:

Don't forget you can follow all the action at the main table on Streaming Live with Will and Sébastien Hetzel on commentary.

Thirteen players dreaming of a final table

Cyril Richard, current tournament chipleader

There are still 13 players at the final break of the day. The organizers have decided that either we reach the final table, or we reach the end of the current level, i.e. 30,000 / 60,000 (60,000).

At the break, I caught up with Cyril Richard, who was on a roll with 6 million chips at the break, and explained that this was his 5th live tournament in his life.

A big one-time success for the man who shipped his ticket for the Main Event on a satellite this Wednesday in Namur and usually competes at very low buy-ins.

Chip-count complete on recovery:

Remaining Main Event winnings:

Even Tobias can spew

Solid as a rock for days, not hesitating to let himself die while waiting for premiums, Tobias Peters has just graced us with a good little family spew against one of his compatriots.

At the cutoff, he opens to 120,000 (from 30,000/60,000) and is 3-bet to 420,000 by Max Wind from the big blind. He decides to 4-bet shove 2.3 million (38 blinds) with Ad-Td and is snapped by As-Kc.

At the end of a 4d-Qs-4s-Kh-Kd table, we lose the biggest prizewinner in the remaining field, who had already finished runner-up in the Mystery Bounty three days ago and therefore finished 12th in this Main Event for €13,685.

Max Wind joins Cyril Richard at the top of the chip-count with 6 million chips now in front of him with 11 players remaining.

Just before Tobias Peters' exit, we had also lost Grigoli Liklikadze on the televised table. Short-stacked with 6 blinds on resumption, he sent all in UTG with Qc-Tc and was isolated by Mickael Arcidiaco in possession of Ad-Ah.

No help came on the board to save him, and the Georgian player ended his fine run in 13th place in the Main Event.

Aram dawn!

On the TV table, Mickael Arcidiaco continues to clear the chips from the short-stacks.

He has just eliminated Ali Aram on a corner flip with 5s-5c against Ad-Jd. 

The German player pushed his 8 blinds to the cutoff and Mickael Arcidiaco decided to pay into the blinds with his small pair.

At the end of a 9c-Js-5d-9h-2h table, Ali Aram saw a way out on the turn, but eventually left the tournament in 11th place for a €16,435 prize.

There are now 10 players in the tournament, spread over two tables of 5. In theory, the game ends when there are only 9 players, or at the end of this level.

Yoan Argence bubbles up the Main Event final table

Winner of the 7-handed Festival Main Event just a month ago, Yoan Argence looked set to repeat his feat and reach another final table in a big event here in Namur.

And yet, after rising to 2 million, he opened a little too much and got 3-bet quite a few times, until dropping to 10 blinds. At the secondary table, where play was very fast (unlike the televised table where it was tanking every hand), Yoan Argence found himself with just 10 blinds to his name.

After a 60,000 limp from chipleader Max Wind on the button, Yoan Argence pushes his 500,000 big blind stack with Qh-9h. He's snapped by Max Wind, who returns Jh-Jd.

At the end of a 6d-Kd-3c-4s-5h table, Yoan Argence bubbled the final table of this Circus Poker Series Main Event, walking away with a handsome €16,435 prize.

The day comes to a close here in Namur, with 9 players still in the tournament and a final table which Max Wind will tackle in the chipleader's seat.

The final table of the CPS Main Event can be seen tomorrow from 12:00 p.m.

555 entries for the €2,200 buy-in Circus Poker Series Main Event, and there are now only 9 players left in the tournament, which promises a fine televised final table tomorrow from midday, starting with blinds of 30,000 / 60,000 (60,000) for an average of 3 million.

Max Wind

After running like never before on Day 3, Dutchman Max Wind will enter the final table in the chipleader's position with 6,830,000 chips.

On his roll was a certain Tobias Peters, whom Max Wind managed to spew in 12th position, gobbling up his 38 blinds with As-King against the As-Dix of the player with the biggest record in the room.

He was also responsible for the elimination of final-table bubble-boy Yoan Argence, after he limped/call with two Jacks against the suit Dame-9 of a 7-handed Festival winner. 

Cyril Richard

In second place was the surprise of the Main Event, Frenchman Cyril Richard, who is enjoying a fairytale run in what is simply his 5th live tournament to date. Having qualified the day before the Main Event on a €330 Satellite, Cyril Richard had already doubled his stack within the first ten minutes of play on Day 1C, full against full.

" Rather than rejoicing at the time," Cyril told me, "I thought I was going to be jinxed for having chatted so quickly. After a long period without cards, the move that really launched his tournament came when he 5-bet shove Romain le Dantec with 7-5o, making As-Valet to the WSOP-Europe Main Event winner. A real "trigger" , Cyril told me, and from then on he felt no pressure at all on the tournament, even when he was short-stacked, although he clearly thought that would be the case on a much more expensive tournament than he'd ever played.

Let's be clear: this is a big one-time game for Cyril Richard, who has been playing poker for a long time (he even started with the closed poker ), but has always been content to play the famous " poker plaisir", playing games with his buddies, small tournaments in his club AS Troyes Poker or a few online sessions when the mood takes him, in tournaments between €10 and €50.

A big fan of streams poker, Cyril admits to having learned a lot from watching Benny & Yu comment on the EPTs. Under the spotlight today at a televised table, Cyril enjoyed his moment. " I warned the guys, and they kind of spoiled the chat," confides the man known as "Cacyna" in the poker Twitch community.

Very busy with his work at his trading company, Cyril even has to manage his company's affairs during his deep run, making phone calls during breaks or answering administrative questions on WhatsApp.

Tomorrow, I promise, the phone will be turned off and put away in a box, while he plays at the first big final table of his life, with €200,000 up for grabs. It would be really satisfying to win a tournament like that over 4 days (or 5, for me)," he says, "I see it as a bit like my own mini-EPT .

When I ask him about the player who scares him most at the table, he half-heartedly utters the name Gary Hasson, but seems fairly confident. " I get the feeling he respects me, so I don't think he's going to overplay me either," he tells me.

Tomorrow, Cyril Richard will have more than 100 blinds when he resumes play, and dreams of victory will be on his mind. Opposite him, 8 players we'll get to know better, with Gary Hasson the scarecrow in 3rd place on the chip-count.

Théo Milioni

We'll also be keeping an eye on Théo Milioni, who was very impressive throughout Day 3 and who, after the bubble at this year's BPC final table, didn't make the same mistakes and this time reached his first big target with the 4th stack, playing a diligent and terribly effective poker on this Namur field, having made his name mainly online in tournaments with buy-ins of between €10 and €50.

Maxence Melin

But let's not forget the other title contenders either, such as Dutch runner-up Mattheus Von Donselaar, French enigma Mickael Arcidiaco, crazy tankeur Mathias Van Der Perre, local Ngoc Nguyen or experienced Maxence Melin in the short-stack position with 11 blinds to go.

The final table starts tomorrow at 12:00 on blinds 30,000 / 60,000 (60,000) for an average of 3 million. There are 30 minutes left in this level before we move on to 40,000 / 80,000 (80,000).

Of course, you can follow all this on Streaming Live with a 30-minute delay.

Composition of the final table :

 The scale of remaining earnings to be distributed :

 The day's results :