Raoul Kanme chipleader for Day 3

The Dutch are hot at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... After an Oranje success on the High-Roller and on the Mystery Bounty, it's a Dutch player who is in the lead at the end of Day 2 of the CPS 2024 Main Event, when only 53 players are left in the running. "It was a good day, but it's tomorrow that counts", said Raoul Kanme after 9 hours at poker . Kanme is part of the leading trio, a trio made up of the three players who will return with more than 100 blinds on 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000), on Saturday from midday. 

The average is 50 blinds, the levels 90 minutes but there will be action with €185,000 at the top and a Final Table to be found for Sunday. Day 3 participants secured a €4,410 payout. 

Kanme (1,310,000) finally beat Fabian Bartuschk (1,240,000) and Romain le Dantec (1,240,000).Both players are seasoned MTT players who are sure to be customers. Belgian Soner Guzel (810,000) and pro-French Greg Fournier (785,000) completed the Top 5. Soner took advantage of a misssclick to take a ton from France's Yannig Colin on the final hand... 



The Top 10 includes PLO CPS winner Anh Pham (78bb), Idir Haiche and Gilles Huet with 77 blinds, and Julien Mariani (70bb). Samy Barka (69bb), Paul Martin (67bb), David Olurebi (67bb), Jean-Marie Vandeborne (58bb) and Jean-Michel Texier (58bb), British EPT champion Tom Middleton (56bb - below), Djamal Boutaleb (56bb), who is enjoying his third Day 3 CPS, and Rayane Moktavarium (55bb) will all be back above average. 

The line-up was very attractive, with Dalil Masaud, Salvatore Alessi, Mohamed Aissani, Frank Schuler and Vladislav Naumov all around the average.

Quentin Destoky, EPT champion Kalidou Sow, online monster Christophe Brammer (below), Duc Nguyen, Rex Rajakumar and Iman Ghashayar all have around 30 blinds... at the back of the pack.

Behind them, only 7 players have less than 20 blinds, with Badr Douche, Mike Gysbrechts, Pierre Tilmant, Patrick Hutsch, Luca Delfino, David kahan and Antoine Vranken still on mission to survive. One chip one chair, there's still hope! 

Full Chipcount Day 3 Main Event

Raoul Kanmé 1,310,000
Fabian Bartuschk 1,240,000
Romain Le Dantec 1,220,000
Soner Guzel 810,000
Gregory Fournier 785,000
Anh Pham 785,000
Idir Haiche 775.000
Gilles Huet 775.000
Jorg Schneegass 770.000
Julien Mariani 700.000

Samy Barka 690.000
Berthold Winz 690.000
Paul Martin 670.000
David Olurebi 670.000
Axel Sebire 645.000
Michal Kil 635.000
Jean-Marie Vandeborne 585.000
Gaetan Lheureux 580.000
Jean-Michel Texier 580.000
Sofian Yach 570.000

Tom Middleton 565.000
Djamal Boutaleb 560.000
Rayane Mokhtar 560.000
Steve Lacomblez 530.000
Salvatore Alessi 505.000
Zhong Chen 505.000
Dalil Masaud 470.000
Spruehdeppe 465.000
Mohamed Aissani 460.000
Frank Schuler 460.000

Mathieu Gallois 420.000
Vladislav Naumov 370.000
Quentin Destoky 360.000
Jozef Cibicek 355.000
Kalidou Sow 355.000
Sung Lee Min 340.000
Lukasz Ciechanowicz 320.000
Christopher Brammer 315.000
Duc Nguyen 305.000
Jeroshan Rajakumar 305.000

Iman Ghashayar 295.000
Ali Aram 270.000
Zoran Marinkovic 245.000
Carlito Brigante 235.000
Yannig Colin 215.000
Mikael Koistinen 210.000
Badr Douch 200.000
Mike Gysbrechts 190.000
Pierre Tilmant 190.000
Patrick Hutsch 185.000

Luca Delfino 145.000
David Kahan 135.000
Antoine Vranken 125.000

Saturday Vibes

An hour and then gone

The dream was over for 9 players during the first 70 minutes of the penultimate day. Play resumed at midday with 53 players guaranteed a €4,410 payout, and now only 44 are on track.

Levels were doubled for the restart, with players still battling it out over 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000), but this time the rounds lasted 90 minutes, until the champion of the CPS 2024 Main Event was crowned at €2,200 per entry. 

There are now 60 blinds on average, and it took 20 minutes at the start of the day for the first player to disappear. Belgian Quentin Destoky led the way, losing with ace-valet versus ace-king in a blinds battle against Chen Zhong. He was soon joined by Mike Gysbrechts, who fell victim to Gilles Huet, who took the opportunity to climb to a million or so chips.

Ten Belgians were in the running after half an hour, and then only 9 with the exit of Jean-Marie Vandeborne after an hour's play in 45th place. JMV, who finished 17th in the first edition of the tournament, did not fare any better, but cashed for €4,410 after a big 3-bet pot in which he made an all-in turn by bluffing Ace-King. Djamal Boutaleb tank-called with a pair of 9's on 8's 8's Ten's 4's with good reason... enough to give himself some breathing space and bring down the Belgian contingent in this Main Event...

Zoran Marinkovic managed to sneak into Day 3 with an all-in double-up at the bubble. The German lasted just 35 minutes of play before disappearing under unknown circumstances. He was a few seconds ahead of Jerome Rex in the rail.

With 18 Frenchmen at the start, this Club 104 regular was the first to raise the white flag. "A flip against a Belgian", summed up the Parisian as he left the playing area in 50th position... Two players from the East then left the field, including the man who bailed out Greg Fournier at the start of Day 2, Jozef Cibicek (48th).

Yannig Colin then put an end to a complicated day. The Frenchman had a big stack for a long time before losing a ton in-extremis at the end of Day 2 with Queen 7 of hearts against King Queen on a Queen 3 5 7 King board... Arriving late, the Frenchman rallied from 20 blinds down to stay in with Ace 4 sweat, in the Aces! Heading for the rail in 47th place.

After starting the day with 20 blinds, Badr Douch left the French with 15 to conquer the title. After a fine deep-run last week in the DSO played at Club Circus Paris, Badr didn't make it to the first break of Day 3...

First Break

They were 43 at the break, resuming at 2pm in blinds 5,000 - 15,000 (15,000) and averaging 618,000 chips. Finito for the last Luxemburgish player on track, Patrick Hutsch has completed his shortstacking mission. The Sharky floor is without Hutsch, who wins €4,410 for his 44th place finish out of 532 players...

Raoul Kanmé 1.420.000
Fabian Bartuschk 1.340.000
Romain Le Dantec 1.320.000
Zong Chen 1.110.000
Soner Guzel 995.000
Anh Pham 990.000
Jorg Schneegass 915.000
Idir Haiche 870.000
Gregory Fournier 850.000
Gilles Huet 840.000
Steve Lacomblez 595.000
David Kahan 590.000
Gaetan Lheureux 525.000
Julien Mariani 465.000
Luca Delfino 440.000
Jean-Michel Texier 430.000
Kalidou Sow 390.000
Samy Barka 360.000
Vladimir Naumov 115.000
Min Sung Lee 105.000

Disembarked

Thirty minutes of play on 5,000 - 15,000 (15,000) and only 40 players remain after the exit of BPC winner Samy Barka. One less Frenchman!

Samy open-shoves a pair of 8s, but Gaetan Lheureux wakes up with Ace-King in the big blind. The Belgian hits to climb to 1,035,000 chips with an average of 665,000.

Back from the break, shortstack Antoine Vranken (43rd) failed to double up. Dalil Masaud (42nd) then gave up under unknown circumstances. Just before the break, the Belgian had lost a large part of his stack in a preflop pot against Mohamed Aissaoui. Dalil had two beautiful kings, but the flop came with an ace and the Frenchman had ace-queen...

There are 14 French and 7 Belgians left, as well as 7 Germans and 3 Dutch... David Kahan is still on the list after a nice move at poker. This cash-game regular from Namur's Circus Casino Resort is up to 425,000 chips after checking-raise the Queen 4 5 flop with two hearts and tank-folding Queen's ace after being asked for his stack.

From the cutoff, Mathieu Gallois had it all in, the Frenchman showing Kings after David gave up his cards... "I'm happy with my fold" exults David, still solid and in the middle of a deep-run... "That's enough for me", replies Welsh, with 660,000 pawns in front of him and the average. 

5,000€ and the million

The average is 682,000 chips over 5,000 - 15,000 (15,000) with 5 tables of 8 players on Day 3 of the €2,200 CPS Main Event. One table is down to 7 since the death of Pierre Tilmant in 40th place for €4,410. There are still 6 Belgians in the running...

Axel Sebire has just entered the 7-figure club. While Raoul Kanme dominates his table with 2.3 million chips, Axel raises to 1.5 million by defending in the small blind after Anh Pham's open on the button. Pam sends in 3 bets on 2 4 7 Dame 9 with two hearts on the flop and a third on the turn. When the Frenchman check-calls river for 230,000 chips, the Dutchman mucks to drop to 210,000.

Anh Pham (left above) had already lost big to compatriot Kanme, who had flopped just before, and now finds himself at the back of the pack after having been huge since the end of his Day 1. "I've got two tens," says Axel to another player at the table who asks as he racks the chips.

Vladislav Naumov doubled up with a 3-bet shove of 9s in the big blind following an open from Gaetan Lheureux. The Belgian pays ace-valet suit but finds no help on 5 king 6 6 8 and falls back to 950,000 chips. The Russian is at 425,000.

There's still half an hour to go on level 21 of this game... The dinner break is scheduled for the end of level 24, at around 8.30pm.

The 39 players in the running are guaranteed a €5,000 prize.

36 for one title

It's the second break of Day 3, back to 10,000 - 15,000 (15,000) for 90 minutes of poker before another break.

Germany's Spruehdeppe (below) surrendered in 39th position 18 minutes before the break, going all-in with King-Queen for 250,000 chips, only to be finished off by Gaetan Lheureux, who had open Ace-Queen and climbed to 1,130,000 chips after this move. 

Meanwhile, Romain le Dantec opens at the beginning of the game and sends three jacks on 4 5 5 6 Ten with two diamonds and a spade on the flop and two spades turn-river... Jean-Michel Texier checke-call-mucke to drop to 3 blinds with Kings. Romain Le Dantec raises to 2.2 million with Ace 7 of spades!

JMT doubled up Ace-King against Ace-Queen two minutes later before going all in with the Jacks to fall to Ace-4-Suite at the end of a 2-4 Ace-6-3 table. Texier jumped to 37th place, while Belgian Sofiane Y (below) lost out in 38th place for €5,000 as well.

Not all bad news for Team Belgium, which still has a good contingent, but still lags behind Le Dantec and Kanme...

There are still 6 Belgians, 13 Frenchmen and 5 Germans... 8 players have at least a million in chips for an average of 739,000 and 9 others have less than 20 blinds. 

Duo de Bustos

Luca Delfino jumped in 36th place for €5,000 under unknown circumstances directly back from the break on 10,000 - 15,000 (15,000). Just before the break Kalidou Sow had successfully 3-bet shove from the small blind following an open from Chris Brammer on the button. The online legend quickly gave up his cards...

Romain le Dantec 3-bet from the big blind after an open from Tom Middleton on the final deal before the break... the EPT champion also quickly folded.

Just before the break, it's Mohamed Aissani who gave himself some breathing space by chatting King Jack against the preflop all-in queens at Raoul Kanme. The Frenchman didn't have much left, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods...

They are 34 in the running for an average of 780,000 chips. Steve Lacomblez has been eliminated. There are 17 minutes left to play on this level and 12 Frenchmen after the disappearance of Steve who put it all in with Ace 4. Raoul Kanme played the extreminators by paying Ace Ten and winning river after a 4 flop and a Ten on the last!  

Chipcount starts Level 21

Romain Le Dantec 2.100.000
Raoul Kanmé 2.000.000
Axel Sebire 1.650.000
Soner Guzel 1.600.000
Fabian Bartuschk 1.500.000
Zhong Chen 1.155.000
Gilles Huet 1.000.000
Jorg Schneegass 975.000
Salvatore Alessi 920.000
Djamal Boutaleb 890.000

Berthold Winz 855.000
Gaetan Lheureux 850.000
Mathieu Gallois 800.000
Tom Middleton 750.000
Frank Schuler 655.000
Idir Haiche 580.000
Rayane Mokhtar 580.000
Ali Aram 550.000
Iman Ghashayar 550.000
Gregory Fournier 530.000

Carlito Brigante 510.000
David Olurebi 500.000
Julien Mariani 495.000
David Kahan 460.000
Kalidou Sow 450.000
Mohamed Aissani 435.000
Anh Pham 430.000
Christopher Brammer 420.000
Duc Nguyen 375.000
Mikael Koistinen 370.000
Michal Kil 360.000
Vladislav Naumov 330.000
Sung Lee Min 320.000

Moktavarium is at home

Another 35 minutes of play on blinds 10,000 - 12,000 (20,000) and only 32 players are left on 4 tables in this €2,200 CS Main Event. The winner of BPC 2024 has just moved up to 1.1 million chips!

Paul Martin jumped into a 3-banded hand. Open-shove from the Frenchman at the end of the hand to 305,000 chips with King Jack suit... reshove to the button for 460,000 chips from Rayane Moktavarium with Ace Ten suit and in the big blind Chen Zong asks for the count before calling Ace Queen.

The German sees Rayane pass him on a 9 8 7 6 Jack board. Paul (below) joins the rail in 33rd place €5,000 richer! 

The average climbs to 831,000 chips as Luxembourg's Michal Kil (jumped shortly before. Mohamed Aissaoui is at death's door after having Anh Pham dobbed. Open-shove at the end of Mohamed's hand with a suit Queen Jack and Anh Pham pays covered Ace 7 in the small blind to re-raise to 350,000 chips. The Frenchman now has 120,000 in chips...

Meanwhile, Greg Fournier doubled up Ace King against Ace 7 at Christophe Bramme's house to raise to 780,000 chips. The Briton is down to 280,000... The French are hot, and there are a lot of them. 

2+2

Two Dutch eliminations in a row... and the tricolore who wasn't there to see the CPS PLO winner and his runner-up go out within a minute of each other. With the departure of Anh Pham and Duc Nguyen (below), two Dutch players remain in the race at 28 left. 

There are 25 minutes left to play in the 10,000 - 20,000 blinds (20,000) with two Dutchmen still in the running, the chipleader Raoul Kanme and Iman Ghashayar who finished 3rd in the Circus Cup 2023 for €43,000... 

Bonus, Mohamed Aissani couldn't get back on track either. Exit the tricolore, they are now only 10 Frenchmen in the running while the average has climbed to 915,000 chips. Aissani and Nguyen pocket €5,710, a few euros that feel good! 

Finland, Russia... jump! 

Finito for Mikael Koistinen who bet 635,000 chips with Ace-King after opening to take a calibrated 3-bet from Gilles Huet. The Frenchman, who won a high-roller a few months ago at the Cicus Casino Resort in Namur, paid in the second with Kings.

No horror and Gilles continues his perfect day, heading for a stack of 1.6 million, at the top of the leaderboard with only 15 minutes left before the break and 27 players in the running.

The average is approaching the million mark with 985,000 average chips, €5,710 for the Finn, who is joined directly in the rail by Vladislav Naumov. The Russian made the money on all his tournaments in Namur this week, coming 55th in the Cup and 35th in the Mystery Bounty before making the podium on a Big Tuesday Special (3rd) and then bowing out in 28th place in the main event. What a festival!

The Mariani break

Julien Mariani 's first visit to Namur's Circus Casino Resort saw him finish 27th in the Main Event. The Frenchman has brought the sun from Marseille to Namur... even if the weather is always fine in Belgium.

Winner of 15 Winamax Series, probably a record, the Marseilles grinder pocketed €6,550 for his efforts, which ended just before the break after running into Gilles Huet, who took the opportunity to get back to 1?5 million. The game was then paused, with 26 players returning to the 10,000 - 25,000 blinds (25,000) with an average of 1 million...

With everyone on the break, Idir Haiche doubled up on Romain le Dantec. Open on the button from Romain, reshove from Idir in the small blind for 600,000 and bananas, call from Romain with ace-queen. Idir reveals Kings but falls behind on an Ace on the flop... before a King propels him to 1.350 million chips!

Chipcount

Raoul Kanmé 2.025.000
Romain Le Dantec 1.725.000
Axel Sebire 1.715.000
Ali Aram 1.700.000
Gilles Huet 1.650.000
Fabian Bartuschk 1.530.000
Idir Haiche 1.500.000
Soner Guzel 1.400.000
Djamal Boutaleb 1.250.000
Rayane Mokhtar 1.175.000
Mathieu Gallois 1.160.000
Gaetan Lheureux 1.070.000
David Kahan 1.010.000
Iman Ghashayar 1.000.000
Berthold Winz 935.000
Jorg Schneegass 930.000
Carlito Brigante 675.000
Zhong Chen 675.000
Kalidou Sow 640.000
David Olurebi 600.000
Frank Schuler 520.000
Tom Middleton 500.000
Salvatore Alessi 460.000
Gregory Fournier 435.000
Christopher Brammer 320.000
Min Sung Lee

Three Last Tables

This is the bubble of the last three tables after Christophe Brammer 's exit in 26th place. Brammer was short and slowplayed the Kings to go all-in on Jack Ten Ten... against Ali Aram who had Jack Ten. No King and one out, while Ali Aram is at the top of the leaderboard at Gilles Huet's table.

Gilles Huet values river 235,000 chips after defending in the big blind and check-calling 8 6 2 with two spades. No action on the 4 of trefoil and the bet on the Queen of spades is not paid by Iman Ghasheyar, who returns his cards. 1.9 million for Gillou!

Salvatore Alessi was in the deep end of the rankings and he doubled up with Ace-Queen against King-Queen at Rayane Moktavarium' s on Queen-Queen 9 with a flushdraw. No turn or river help for the BPC winner who drops back to 925,000 chips. The Belgian climbs back up to half a million chips.

Bad news for David Olurebi, who misses the redraw on the last three tables with an hour left to play on 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000). With 18 blinds, the Belgian sent his stack from the blinds after an open from Jorg Schneegass on the button. The German pays with Ace King and stays ahead of David's sweaty King Ten, caught red-handed.

There are 5 Belgians, 6 Germans, 9 Frenchmen, 2 Dutchmen, a Briton and a Korean left in this game... along with two EPT champions and a WSOP winner! 

Redraw

There are 55 minutes left to play on 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000) with 24 players guaranteed a payout of €6,550. The 23 survivors will be guaranteed at least €7,520...

The average is 1.1 million chips or over 40 blinds on 90-minute levels...


Table 41 (in seating order)
Gilles Huet
Djamal Boutaleb
Axel Sebire
Zhong Chen
Frank Schuler
Jorg Scheengass
Kalidou Sow
Greg Fournier

Table 42 (in seating order)
Fabian Bartuschk
Gaetan Lheureux
Tom Middleton
Min Sung Lee
Rayane Moktavarium
Raoul Kanme
David Kahan
Berthold Winz

Table 43 (in order of seating)
Iman Ghasheyar
Idir haiche
Mathieu Gallois
Ali Aram
Soner Guzel
Romain le Dantec
Carlo Brigante
Slavatore Alessi

Fast Poker

With two outs since the last three tables were set up, there was no time to see Germany's Berthold Winz fall for €6,550... enough to earn Carlo Brigante a few extra euros. On mission résistance, the Belgian collected €7,520 for his appearance on the last three tables of the most expensive Main Event of the year 2024 in Namur... he jumped against Idir Haiche.

45 minutes of play remain on 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000) with a 1.3 million average, still plenty of depth for the big stacks... There will be a break at the end of this round and then one more level, heading for the 75-minute dinner break!

Bad timing

More action as the cover man posts the news... another two no-witness eliminations with the exit of EPT Barcelona winner Tom Middleton and another Belgian down, Soner Guzel (below). 7,520 for the duo!

Middleton put in 9 blinds UTG1 with 9 and Ten suiter to be taken out by Raoul Kanme who uncovered Ace Ten from the button. Despite a Jack 8 2 flop, the turn Ten and river 5 didn't change a thing... 2 million for Raoul.

There are 40 minutes left on this level with only 20 players and an average of 1.4 million chips. 

French War

With 9 French players still in contention, the clashes between French players are multiplying... this time it's Namur's Djamal Boutaleb who's paying the price... against another Namur regular, BPC 2024 champion Rayane Moktavarium.

Germany's Fabian Bartuschk opens hostilities with a min-raise... all-in 20 blinds from Djamal Boutaleb on the button for just over 500,000 chips and 20 blinds. Reshove for 40 blinds in a big bline from Rayane who tank-folds Fabian, rightly so as Moktavarium turns over the kings to climb to 1.7 million a board later!

Bartuschk remains firmly in the lead with 2.9 million chips... Third in the Mystery Bounty after taking one of the €25,000 Max envelopes, Djamal Boutaleb made it three Day 3s on this CPS festival. He'll be consoling himself with €8,660 on this one!

There are still 19 in the running, with 8 French players and an average of 1.4 million chips. Break in 20 minutes! 

In Bed

Game over for the day's ninja short-stack, Min Sung Lee. The Korean joins the rail after an open from Rayane Moktavarium under the gun and a call.

Lee sends in his big blind stack, the smallest stack of the survivors, with Ace Valet and sees Rayane go all-in over the top to isolate. Moktavarium flips Ace Queen and finishes in a flush with his Queen of Clubs as the dealer unrolls a 9 2 2 King 5 board with Clubs!

Heading for €2 million for the BPC champion as his opponent pockets €8,660. The stakes are rising...

There are 8 minutes left before the break with 18 players and an average of 1.5 million chips. 

Direction le Dîner

The action resumes at 7:10 p.m. in blinds 15,000 - 30,000 (30,000) with 18 players at 3 tables, the last 3 tables of this €2,200 CPS Main Event. The average chip count for the resumption is 1.5 million... 

4 players return with less than 20 blinds, there are 3 Belgians and 3 Dutch, 4 Germans and 8 French in the game... Table 41 should be on the move when the action resumes! 

Table 41 (in order of seating)
Gilles Huet 1,545,000
Axel Sebire 880,000
Zhong Chen 415,000
Frank Schuler 290,000
Jorg Scheengass 2,685,000
Greg Fournier 470,000

Table 42 (in order of seating)
Fabian Bartuschk 2,300,000
Gaetan Lheureux 1,000,000
Rayane Moktavarium 1,350,000
Raoul Kanme 1,900,000
David Kahan 1,500,000
Kalidou Sow 1,000,000

Table 43 (in order of seats)
Iman Ghasheyar 870,000
Idir Haiche 1,300,000
Mathieu Gallois 2,000,000
Ali Aram 2,245,000
Romain le Dantec 2,775,000
Slavatore Alessi 515,000