Day 1C kicks off

Fifty players were on hand to kick off the third of four starting days for the €2,200 Main Event, guaranteeing a €750,000 prizepool.

Play began with 50,000 chips and hour-long levels, with blinds ranging from 100 - 200 (200) on this deep, progressive structure...

Nine levels are on the program, with registration open during the first two one-hour levels of Day 2, i.e. until Friday December 6 at 2.30pm.

Dinner break at the end of level 6 for 75 minutes, between 7 p.m. and 8.15 p.m... End of game around 11:30 p.m... 

Over 100 entries

The blinds have increased to 100 - 300 (300) and there are over 100 players seated at the tables at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. The table shows 104 players for 106 entries.

Third in the Mystery Bounty for almost €50,000 all-in; he took one of the 3 Max bonuses, Djamal Boutaleb is already here, as are Philippe Riminucci, Noah Alem, Marc Bougaret, Robert Auer, Patrick Aerts, Christophe Colantoni, Samy Khaled, Antonius Roberts, Mehidi Sahli, Mischa Wieten, Paul van Oort, Jan Verbraeken and Mitch Vulperhorst. 

Kader Slila, Jean-Michel Texier, Pierre Tilmant, Mystery Bounty bubble-boy Donato Sparavilla, Evert Rosseel, Alexandru Matei and many others who have already hosted the start of the CPS festival are here for what will be the biggest starting day of the Main Event. The €750,000 guarantee is a foregone conclusion; last year there were 555 entries for a prize pool of just over one million euros!

At the end of the first two days of poker, 63 players out of the 187 entrants have validated a ticket for Day 2 on Friday, December 6 at midday... registration will still be open for two more levels when the action resumes, i.e. until 2.30pm on December 6!

120 players at the break

Play resumes on blinds 200 - 400 (400) after two hours of poker and the traditional half-hour break that kicks off the day... The registration counter for the €2,200 CPS Main Event shows 120 players at the break for 124 entries. 

The average was 51,000 chips, with Gilles Huet, Morgan Poisson, Dominique Potenza, Fred Hebette and Marc Gets also in attendance. For Jean-Michel Texier, it's time to believe: the Frenchman has reached the first breath of this 9-hour day of poker with 14,000 pawns... 

What's the program!

A fresh start

Jean-Michel Texier aka Doyoubelieve is on track... "I've tripled," he indicated a few minutes before finding another favorable confrontation to double up with the Jacks. From 14,000 to 100,000 chips in the last 50 minutes of play.

With 40 minutes left to play on Level 4, blinds are 200 - 500 (500) and the second break of Day 1C of the CPS Main Event will take place behind. The table shows 157 players in the running, with 173 entrants - an increase on the 187 entries for the first two opening days. 

As a result, a number of new players entered the fray after the break, including Mathias Moutaoukil (44,000) and Julien Mariani (50,000 - above). While Moutaoukil is a regular at Namur's Circus Casino Resort, Mariani is making his first visit to Wallonia. Belgium's Gary hasson has also just taken his place.

With an average of 56,000 chips, Samir Akhoullou, Min Sung Lee, Raoul Kanme and Rico Roumen have the starting line, while Miro Alilovic (75,000 for 3rd place in the Circus Cup), Amir Pahlawani (78,000), Barde Al Ghouch (65,000), Dominique Potenza (65,000 - below) and Philippe Riminucci (60,000) set the pace. Christophe Colantoni (27,000) would like to start his tournament before it finishes... the structure leaves him time to wait for favorable spots like Jean-Michel! 

Halfway (or almost)

After a short break, the action resumes in blinds 300 - 600 (600). In half an hour's time, players will have played half of the 9 60-minute levels on the program for this third opening day.


For those in a hurry, Day 1D kicks off at 8pm, with 9 half-hour levels on the program. Registration is open for the first two levels of Day 2, which starts at noon and runs until 2:30 p.m. on Friday, December 6... 

Chipcount
Jurgen Lopez 162,000
Darie Ilie (above) $155,000
Arno Thuy 147,000
Ismail Kalkan 142,000
Patrick Hutsch 137,000
Danny Ummels 115,000
Evangelos Tsoutas 94,000
Guy Goossens 90,000
Marc gets 87,000
Pierre Tilmant 86,000

Jhonn Lienard 85,700
Tommy Steinmueller 85,000
Djamal Boutaleb $80,000
Patrick Prijot 80,000
Vladislav Naumov 80,000
Gaetan Lheureux 77,000
Ami Pahlawani 77,000
Mihai Stinca 75,000
Philippe Riminucci 73,000
Quentin Roussey (below) 72,000

Fred Hebette 72,000
Thomas Jansen 70,000
Miro Alilovic 63,000
Rui Da Costa 59,000
Samuel Bovy 55,000
Mitch Vulperhorst 54,000
Marc Bougaret 50,000
Gilles Huet 50,000
Paul Covaciu 46,000
Antonius Roberts 45,000

Jorden Verbreaken 38,000
Paul Van Oort 32,000
Alexandru Matei 17,000
Iman Ghasheyar 15,000

Guarantee cleared, €779,000 already in the kitty

The €2,200 CPS 2024 Main Event guarantees a €750,000 prizepool, an amount exceeded during Level 6. There's currently €779,000 in the prize pool, as the entry counter reached 221 entries at the dinner break on Day 1C (for a provisional total of 408).

Play is on hold until 8.10pm, when the 7th of 9 one-hour Levels on Opening Day 3 begins. Start of the last chance, Day 1D at 9 half-hour levels, at 8 p.m. sharp. Registration is open for two levels on Day 2, until Friday December 6 at 2.30 p.m.! 

On Day 1C, 157 players reached the dinner break in the wake of Darie Ilie. Already well established two hours ago, the Romanian is navigating well at a table featuring Greg Fournier, Kalidou Sow and Johnny Nedved, fourth in the CPS High Roller on Wednesday. Greg Fournier lost a pot to Nedved and then chipleader Illie just before the break...

Runner-up in the High-Roller, Frenchman Antoine Stacko is also riding the wave. He's up to 160,000 chips, while the restart will take place in blinds 500 - 1000 (1000) with an average of 70,000 chips. Things are going well for Tim van de Riet (137,000 - below) and Samuel Bovy (135,000 - above).

Angelo Aliberto, runner-up of a well-attended Big Tuesday Special 24 hours ago, is at 130,000 chips at the top of the provisional leaderboard. Also off to a good start are Arno Thuy, Danny Ummels and Idir Haiche (110,000)...

Chipcount
Darie Ilie 240 000
Patrick Hutsch 200 000
Clayde Terlaan 200 000
Jurgen Otega 185 000
Samy Barka 184 000
Antoine Stacko 160 000
Mustafa El Sayegh 151 000
David Kahan 150 000
Danny Ummels 142 000
Samuel Bovy 135 000

Angelo Aliberto 130 000
Arno Thuy 115 000
Idir Haiche 110 000
Philippe Riminucci 106 000
Jean-Michel Texier 95 000
Djamal Boutaleb 91 000
Evert Rosseel 78 000
Julien Mariani 75 000
Anh pham 70 000
Kader Slila 68 000

Rico Roumen 63 000
Ali Nafaoui 63 000
Kalidou Sow 60 000
JS Denissa 55 000
Paul van Oort 51 000
Mihail Stinca 50 000
Raoul van der Wersch 50 000
Omar Lakhdari 47 000
Francois Grossmann 39 000
Mathias Moutaoukil 32 000
Greg Fournier 25 000

Top 140

137 players (233 entrants) battle it out on the penultimate level of Day 1C of the CPS 2024 Main Even... with 50 minutes of play left on 600 - 1200 (1200), it's break time for the survivors. After the break, there's one more level to go before we join Day 2 at midday on Friday. Registration is open until 2.30 p.m. on Friday December 6, with Day 1D starting at 8 p.m. at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... There are some forty entrants in this final flight, comprising nine half-hour levels...

With the final two starting days underway, provisional overall attendance has reached 442 entrants for a prizepool of €837,000. Samuel Bovy has just withdrawn from Day 1C and will have to go back into the pot to take a share of a prizepool that should eventually approach €1 million. 

Samuel opened As Valet at the beginning of the speech, call from Hendrik Tabernak and two other players under the eyes of Greg Fournier and Gilles Huet, two Parisians with more or less the starting hand. Samuel continuation-bet on As As 6, paid only by the Dutchman on his left... all in the middle on a turn 7. Tabernak returns As 6 for Full House and reraises to 210,000 pawns, in the lead. Samuel Bovy is replaced by Quentin Roussey, a former Parisian now based in Luxembourg. 

Namur sur Seine, Paris sur Meuse, Stéphane Gabarre and Omar Lakhdari are more used to meeting at Club Circus in the 16th arrondissement than in Wallonia. Omar is in the right tempo with an average of 85,000 chips, a little ahead of the host, just over the 50,000 mark... 

The Last Hour

60 minutes to go on Day 1C, the third and penultimate starting day of the €2,200-entry CPS Main Event. With Day 1D played out over 30-minute levels, provisional attendance has climbed to 451 entrants for a prizepoool of €856,000. Guaranteed!

There are still 118 players in the running on 1000 - 1500 (1500), these survivors of a field of 235 entrants have already played eight hours of poker and are just coming off a break. The break was not too much for Samir Akhoullou and Frank Schuler. 

The Belgian found the queens under the gun on the final hand of 600 - 1200 (1200), and was check-raised by the small blind on an 8 9 brick flop with a spade. Samir shook on the spade on the turn, but the river allowed him to climb to 352,000 chips, leading the proceedings. Ouste Ali Aram.

Samir is ahead of fellow German Frank Schuler. On the last deal before the break, Frank found a dream confrontation against Daniel Pastor. It all went down the middle on a 9 5 King 4 King board with two diamonds on the flop and a turn diamond. Schuler had the 9s and was facing King-Queen... heading for the rail for Pastor and up to 327,000 chips for an average of 100,000 chips for Schuler (below in red).

 

Patrick Aerts eliminated Ali Nafaoui. "Nice call," blurts out another player at the table. "You've got the snap," he adds, as the Belgian vaiqnuer of the SPirit Festival high roller a few weeks ago clocks in at 70,000 chips. 

Before these final card tricks, it's Samy Barka who was out in front. Finalist and 9th in Wednesday's €1,100 Mystery Bounty, the French BPC winner was chipleader just before the break... he's got a ton of chips to start Day 2 ahead of schedule. All that's left is to pack it in. 

Alexandre Silva Meira, this day's floor boy, is guaranteed to see Day 2... and even Sunday's Final Day. Patrick Hutsch has no guarantees, but with a stack of 175,000 the Belgian is in a good position to see out the weekend in this tournament. Sharky and Hutsch on Sunday at Circus Casino Resort in Namur? 

98 qualifiers on Day 1C, €885,500 prizepool

Unsurprisingly, the third of the four opening days of the CPS Main Event will be the busiest, with 236 registrations across the 9 one-hour levels of Day 1C. While there are 39 players for 44 registrants on Day 1D (at level 8) and open registrations during the first two one-hour levels of Day 2, i.e. until 2.30 p.m. on Friday December 6, attendance climbs to 467 entrants.

There is an €885,500 provisional prize pool, but one thing is certain: the €750,000 guarantee is wiped out again for this second edition. In 2023, the prizepool was just over a million, with around 50 entries on Day 2... 2024 is right on schedule!

63 players had passed through Day 1A and then Day 1B, 98 players passed through Day 1C on Wednesday to bring the contingent of qualifiers for Day 2 to 161 players before the end of Day 1D and therefore the late reg'/re-entries at the start of Day 2. The third opening session went to Belgium's Samir Akhoullou (314,000), Germany's Franck Schuler (283,500), the Netherlands' Raoul Kanme (286,000 - below) and France's Jean-Michel Texier (240,000), Antoine Stackowiak (211,000) and Samy Barka (193,000).

Patrick Hutsch (with Sharky below), Idir Haiche, Rayane Moktavarium, Fred Hebette, Patrick Aerts, Pierre Tilmant, Samatar Gelle, Michal Kil, Gilles Huet, Greg Fournier, Omar Lakhdari, Kalidou Sow, Steve Lacomblez, Erik Tabak, Jeroshan Rex, Clyde Terlaan, Min Sung Lee, Rico Roumen, Julien Mariani or Anh Pham, all of whom have already hosted the week in Namur... 

Day 1D ends at midnight 40 and we'll be reporting on participation, the prizepool and the qualifiers for this final session. We'll be back on Friday at around 2 p.m., by which time Day 2 will have been running for almost two levels, and the numbers will be more definitive on this Main Event, which concludes on Saturday and Sunday with 90-minute levels and streaming...

Partial chipcount Day 1C (the complete one in the document below)
Samir Akhoullou 314,000
Raoul Kanme 286,000
Frank Schuler 283,500
Michal Kil 222,000
Clyde Terlaa 217,000
Patrick Hutsch 214,000
Antoine Stackowiack 211,000
Samy Barka 193,000
Eric Tabak 184,000
Idir Haiche 160,000

Steve Lacomblez 139,000
Kader Slila 137 000
Fred Hebette 130 000
Djamal Boutaleb 118 000
Gaetan Lheureux 107 000
Gilles Huet 108 000
Miguel Coussement 108 000
Omar Lakhdari 106 000
Greg Fournier 105 000
JS Denissa 103 000

Pierre Tilmant 102 000
Samatar Gelle 102 000
Patrick Aerts 81 000
Min Sung Lee 80 000
Kalidou Sow 73 000
Everet Rosseel 40 000

470 entries, 187 qualifiers for Day 2

With registration still open until the start of the third level of Day 2 on Friday, December 6 at 2.30pm, the four starting sessions of the CPS 2024 Main Event have delivered their verdict.

Played over nine 30-minute levels, Day 1D attracted 47 entrants and 26 additional qualifiers, bringing the provisional attendance to 470 entries for a prizepool of €893,000, with 187 players qualifying for Day 2. During the first edition of the CPS, held in the same format, nearly 80 additional entries were recorded during late reg'. This should take the total past the million mark and close in on the 555 entries recorded in 2023!


John Karman (200,000), Mike Gysbrechts (186,000) and Willem de Jong (168,500) dominated the final qualifying session, which enabled Daniel Tordjman, Quentin Roussey, Kamel Djemai, Radowslaw Kopec, Arno Coene, Ali Bilgin and Monnapa Geissler to secure their ticket to the next stage without paying a penny more on Day 2... 

Chipcount Day 1D (redraw asap in the document below)
John Karman 200,000
Mik Grysbechts 186,000
Willem de Jong 168,500 
CHEN Zhong 151,000
Badr Douche 149,500
Jochen Kundrun 137,000
Mikael Koistinen 113,000
Daniel Tordjman 94,000
Renaud Avery 91,000
Monnapa Gaissler 82,500

Bobby Simmons 80,500
Lukasz Ciechanowicz 79,000
Ivan Kuziz 70,000
Quentin Roussey 70,000
Radoslaw Kopec 69,500
Murat Ayata 68,500
Roope Tarmi 59,000
Bart Maes 56,500
Riccardo de Rubeis 55,500
Ali Bilgin 54,500

Arno Coene 54,500
Raoul van Wersh 49,000
Antoine Degris 45,000
Willem de Graaf 43,500
Kamel Djemai 38,000

Redraw Day 2