Back to school for the Holiday Festival

The Holiday Festival, which guarantees a €250,000 prize pool, kicks off with the start of the main tournament on Sunday, September 1 at 3pm.

Players start with 50,000 chips and 30-minute levels... the big money will be contested over 50-minute levels, on Sunday September 8 at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Before dreaming of the jackpot and taking part in the closing €250 Main Event weekend, players will have to complete 14 levels, i.e. 7 hours of play at poker. 

La Belle Entame

The game got off to a flying start, with antes already in the air. A big fifty players were seated at the start of level 1, played on blinds 100 - 200 (200).

Those who preferred to come to the Circus Casino Resort in Namur rather than take advantage of the exceptional weather and the sun shining on Wallonia will play 4 levels before the traditional first half-hour break.

They'll then return for another 5 levels before a 70-minute dinner break, which should start a little after 8 p.m.

The end of the day is scheduled for a little after midnight, with 14 levels of confrontation...

Big crowds ahead

The blinds are now 100 - 300 (300) with the 100-entry mark well passed.

The cash register went into overdrive after the shuffle up & deal and there were already 100 people at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur after just ten minutes of play.

With 17 minutes left to play in the second level of Day 1A of the Holiday Festival Main Event, the counter now reads 145 players in with 153 in! 

They arrive

The blinds have been raised to 200 - 400 (400), still plenty to play for with 50,000 starting chips.

The organization has decided to play 15 levels on Day 1A, so this will be the norm on all 8 opening days of the €250 Holiday Festival Main Event.

The day ends just after midnight 30 tonight, with the next 4 opening days starting at 4pm and finishing between 1 and 2am.

Meanwhile, the room continues to fill up, with 155 players now in the running for 167 entries. Among those already on track are a host of regulars including Maradona Abaz, Lorenzo Furia, Dieu Lam, Eddy Meyfroot, Jeremi Pillault, WSOP Main Event finalist Pierre Neuville, David Olurebi, WASOP champion Muriel Gomez Aragon and Patrick Aerts Ekin Kandemir... 

This game is easy

"They never believe me," laughed Harrie Snijders after capturing Sébastien Fiacre's last checkers. The latter opened at the beginning of the hand and sent nearly 20,000 chips to the blinds 300 - 600 (600) after being raised. Bad timing.

On the button with a nice stack already, the Dutchman placed a 3-bet and intantantly paid with the Aces to discover King Jack sucked in front. If the doorcard is a King for suspense, the Ace that follows ends the suspense.

The dealer finally unwraps a King Ace 3 Jack Jack board that gives everyone Full House, but it's Snijders who comes out on top with 125,000 chips.

Accustomed to good starts, Harrie sometimes struggles to go the distance... but he's got the cushion to go straight into Day 2 on Saturday September 7th, starting at 2pm on 40-minute levels. 

Toujours du Monde

The counter has continued to climb as the first break of Day 1A is imminent. There are now 167 entries for just under 190 on this 4th level of play!

Fabrice Somers has arrived, and he's been on a roll... successfully so far, as he's already up to three starting stacks. Two other players have already racked up tons at this table, with Joao Faria and Omar Gamhy also well over 100,000 in chips. 

It's also going well for Giovanni Di Stefano who has 160,000 pawns after swallowing two opponents in 5 minutes. Giovanni kicked off his tournament with a badbeat as he went all in with 8s on a small flop... only to find himself in danger as he was paid by a pair of Kings. 

An 8 river enabled him to pass the 6-figure stack mark and scalp his neighbor on the left (right in photo) a few minutes later. Enough to put him at the top of a not-so-quiet Sunday. 

The Sum of All Fears

Fabrice Somers has gone all-in 22 times in a row and is no longer chipleader on Day 1A of the Holiday Festival.

Back with 231,000 chips on blinds 400 - 800 (800), Fabrice Somers is now more or less average with 80,000 pawns in his possession. The fault lies with a pair of 6s and a Queen Ten 6 5 Ten board with two clubs on the flop.

Fabrice had opened to find two payers and a nice flop. Omar Gamhy called a first pocket on the flop, then a second on the turn to find himself heads-up on the river. Omar went all-in over Fabrice's 3rd barrel... and Somers didn't let up to find Dame Dix for Omar. Gamhy is now probably in the lead with 260,000 chips. 

Since then, Fabrice has doubled up Benoit Kozubzki to 65,000 chips with Jack 9 suit. Despite his Ace Ten, Benoit shook a bit on a 3 8 Ten Ace Ten board, with the PokeraLille boss now at 65,000 chips.

It's Benoit who keeps track of the stacks stacked by Fabrice, who defeatedOliver Luft during this period. Oliver paid with Ace 6, ahead of the Belgian's Queen 6, who hit a lady on the flop.

Attendance continued to climb, with 217 entries and the arrival ofAlain Fleurent, Gaetano Moreci, Olivier Carosella, Hervé Decker and Tino de Zutter...

Ca Pique

Max flush draw on the flop and straight on the turn with Ace 5 of clubs on a 3 4 9 2 board... Lowjack must have felt in a good position despite Mihai Stinca's aggressiveness.

From the big blind, Stinca paid his opponent's stack for his last 30,000 chips... before turning over a mismatched 6 and 5 for a productive defense and a top straight. River brick and double-up dad!

A runner-up at Carnival 2024 and a regular on the Belgian scene, Mihai takes the opportunity to climb to 90,000 chips as the 500 - 1000 (1000) level draws to a close.

The blinds will rise to 600 - 1200 (1200) in 3 minutes' time, with 160 players in the running for 233 entries and an average of 73,000 chips. The boss is now Harrie Snijders.

The Dutchman once again found the Aces and two non-believers for a strike that gave him a further 115,000 in chips. The Arrows held against the Jacks and Ace-King at preflop all-in, enough for a smoke break for this friendly regular of Namur's Circus Casino Resort...

For his part, Dalil Masaud (below left with his brother at the BPC 2024, editor's note) has given up the ghost and will have to pay up if he wants to get back in the game. Not very loquacious at the time of his busto, the Belgian spoke of three fatal horrors...

Inflatable

Day 1A of the Holiday Festival Main Event is no laughing matter. The organizers took the gamble of not scheduling the traditional Sunday Special in the afternoon, and instead put on a €60 qualifier starting at 8pm... leaving players free to concentrate on the €250 main event.

With 236 entrants and ten minutes left to play in level 7 and blinds 600 - 1200 (1200), 156 players are still in the ring, and registration is open until the first hand of level 10, the post-dinner resumption at 9.16pm.

The field is packed with haters including Robert Seelen, Daniel Pirlot, Sabri Philips, Sofian El Yachou, Fouad Elmouhmouh, Roger Edain, Arnaud Debaille, Jean Gessis, Pierre Pezzuto and Bjorn Frings...

Harrie Snijders (at Carnival 2024 below) remains in the lead, although three-four players are now approaching a stack of 200,000 chips, equivalent to 4 times the starting stack... 

Caisse

The average chip count has climbed to 91,000 in blinds 800 - 1600 (1600), with 137 players in the running for 245 entries after 4 hours of poker on Day 1A.

The 8th of the 15 levels on the Main Event's opening day has come to a close, with a very good turnout already. Registration is open until 9.15pm and the end of the dinner break... so it's back to the cashier for some of the Namur favorites.

Prescillia Duhoux, Roger Sacre, Muriel Gomez Aragon, Robert Seelen, Eddy Meyfroot, Dieu Lam and Stéphane Meo all gave up the ghost in the final minutes. Whether to rebuy immediately or go via satellite, with this €60 qualifier starting at 8 p.m., that's the question! 

Streaming

Level 9 is underway and 126 players are still in contention on Day 1A of the Holiday Festival. The dinner break will begin at the end of this level, which is being played on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000).

You can follow some of the action in streaming with the cards revealed, including Giuseppe Genco and Roger Edain at the TV table. Will Lion and Loi Xans provide commentary. 

Dinner break

Play is paused for 70 minutes, resuming at blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500) for the 10th of 15 levels on each opening day.

Day 1A has so far attracted 253 entries, with registration closing at 9.16pm when play resumes. So far, 123 players will be back in action, with an average of 102,000 chips, representing twice the starting stack. 

Harrie Snijders, Kevin van Veen and Omar Gamhy (from left to right in photo) have formed a fine trio, all of whom were in the upper echelons of the ranking at the dinner break. 

Chipcount
Kevin van Veen 301 000
Pierre Neuville 245 000
Emile Verpoort 240 000
Sharhan Rastegani 240 000
Omar Gamhy 225 000
Alexandru Carac 223 000
Harrie Snijders 220 000
Fabrice Somers 209 000
Bayran Guezeli 202 000
Sabri Philips 180 000
Vincent Robaye 160 000
Guillaume Bazoge 155 000
Jeremy Wastiels 153 000
Stefan Schmitz 132 000
Giovanni Di Stefano 112 000
David Ramillon 108 000
Daniel Colaruccio 103 000
Pierre Baronville 63 000
Robert Seelen 19 000

256 to get started

The opening day of this €250 Holiday Festival Main Event guarantees a €250,000 prizepool, with 256 entries recorded by the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Registration is now closed for the first of the eight starting days, with 114 players still in the running. Play resumed some twenty minutes ago, and it's time to digest, as the average is 112,000 pawns on blinds of 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500).

For Fred Borgmans, Daniel Colacurcio, Julien Poulain, Benoit Kozubzki, Sébastien Fiacre, Eddy Meyfroot or Herald Gosse who skipped out after dinner, you'll have to try your luck another day... so you can enjoy dessert or the evening at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Top 100

With only 15 minutes left to play on Level 11, 97 players remain on Day 1A of the €250 Holiday Festival Main Event.

Play is now running on blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000), with an average of 44 blinds, and there have been a few exits since the last point. While Pierre Baronville (215,000) has gone all in, multiplying his stack by 4 in the three quarters of an hour since the start of play, things haven't gone so well for Franck René or Giovanni Di Stefano.

Day 1A also came to an end for Alexandru Carac, Roger Edain, Xavier Coutereel, Julie Devin, Dennis Raijer, Lorenzo Furia, Mehidi Sahli, Emile Verpoort or Sebastiano D'Angelo and Fabrice Somers. 

Sprint

Fifteen minutes to go before the final break of Day 1A. Level 12 is already well underway, with play now running at 2000 - 4000 (4000)... depth is still the order of the day, with an average of 39 blinds and an average of 157,000 chips.

82 players are still in with a chance of securing their ticket for Day 2 at 2pm on Saturday, but the others will have to come back. Christian Tonnelier, Robert Seelen, Wolfgang Mota and Harrie Snijders gave up in the final minutes.

No success for Carmine Giordano, Hans Zerfl or Jean Gessis either... For his part, Bjorn Frings (photo) is still fighting.

Bonus for Clyde

End of the last break with 76 players resuming on blinds 2000 - 5000 (5000). The average is 168,000 chips and Clyde Tjaw Foe (below) is flying high on Day 1A.

"I've won a few strokes," laughs the man who was down to 73,000 chips at the dinner break. In 90 minutes, the young man climbed to 730,000 chips. "I won several pots with Ace-King, including a big 250,000-chip flip against a pair of 8s... another time with Ace-King I had two overs, draw straights and draw flushes and hit to take out another opponent," finishes the Dutchman as he sits back down.

During this recap, Bjorn Frings took the opportunity to pass an important flip, his Jacks holding against the King-Queen of a short to allow him to climb to 165,000 chips and return to the average, also in the right tempo.

Chau Han Soo, Daniel Tordjman and Omar Gamhy jumped just before the final 20-minute break... 

Chipcount
Clyde Tjaw Foe 730,000
Vincent Touil 600,000
Vincent Parilla 445,000
Sabri Philips 415,000
Everardus Zwartjens 350,000
Alain Fleurent 340,000
Sébastien Lonnoy 332,000
Michael Verjans 300 000
Pierre Neuville 275 000
Daniel Pirlot 275 000
Kevin van Veen 265 000
David Olurebi 242 000
Christian Hardenberg 210 000
Yannick de Raeve 195 000
Pierre Baronville 190 000

The Last Hour

There are 25 minutes left to play in the 3000 - 6000 (6000) blinds, and it's the penultimate of the 15 levels on the program for each opening day. Mihai Stinca, Tino de Zutter and Ali Bilgin have just surrendered their weapons to bring the field down to 59 survivors from the 256 entries on Day 1A...

Still in the lead, Clyde Tjaw Foe has seen his lead whittled down to just 660,000 chips, with fellow Dutchman Sabri Philips hot on his heels (620,000, below).

Gaetano Moreci (380,000) and Vincent Touil (470,000) are still in good shape, while Guillaume Bazoge is out. 

Bag race

The final table is approaching, with 34 minutes left on the clock and the blinds going up one last time in just a few minutes. 52 players are still in the running, with an average of 246,000 chips...

The final battle will be fought in the 4,000 - 8,000 blinds (8,000), and Clyde Tjaw Foe has resumed his advance to 750,000 chips. At his table Vincent Touil (pictured) continues to lose ground, with just 300,000 chips now in front of him. That's half of what he had an hour ago, but still more than the average! 

Philippe Cocquyt, Philippe Merckx, Chris Blumer and Redouan Bettioui have joined the cart and will have to try their luck again as the end of Day 1A draws near...

Papy Fait de la Résistance

The field is down to 50 after the exit of Niels Kuiper with 20 minutes to go before the end of Level 15 and the end of Day 1A.

After an open under Pierre Neuville's gun, Niels shoves on the button for 8 blinds... in the big blind Johannes Brouwers invests his last 3 blinds! Call from Pierre Neuville, who turns over the jacks and covers everyone.

Niels has the Tens and Johannes 7 and 9 suit... the combo winning a board 8 9 9 3 4. "Grandpa never dies", laughs Johannes' neighbor who then triples as Niels joins the rail...

Pierre Neuville is just over 300,000 chips after this 3-way and the clock should soon be stopped...

The game is running with an average of 256,000 chips on 4000 - 8000 (8000) for a few more minutes. 

Clyde Tjauw Foe gets off to a strong start

After 15 30-minute levels and 5 final hands, it was Dutchman Clyde Tjauw Foe who bagged up the biggest stack... In 7 hours 30 minutes at poker , this regular at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur turned his initial 50,000 chips into a million. With 993,000 chips and a 2 p.m. Saturday restart in blinds 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000), Clyde will be in the money for a deep-run. 

The first of the eight starting days of the €250 Holiday Festival Main Event was fully booked, with the aim of breaking the €250,000 guarantee. A total of 256 entries were received, with Sabri Philips (€713,000), Gaetano Moreci (€515,000), Pierre Neuville (€512,000) and Daniel Pirlot (€456,000) all having already qualified.

Sofian El Yachou, Alain Fleurent, Vincent Robaye, Guillaume Bazoge, Joao Faria and Patrick Aerts have also already made the cut. These players are among the 42 survivors on Day 1A!

We'll see you on Monday from 4pm for Day 1B... at 7.30pm a €110 NLH Single Re-entry will get underway for those who need to get active for the start of the new school year! 

Chipcount complete Day 1A
Clyde Tjauw Foe 993 000
Sabri Philips 713 000
Vincent Parilla 645 000
Toyser 634 000
Michael Verjans 623 000
Gaetano Moreci 515 000
Pierre Neuville 512 000
Daniel Pirlot 456 000
Vincent Touil 435 000
Kevin van Veen 404 000

Adil Benkhaled 382 000
Pim van Wieringen 377 000
Hamid Mazari 364 000
Eufrasio Piano 360 000
Rudolf van Mol 351 000
Sebastien Lonnoy 349 000
Mohamed Boulakhrif 345 000
Duc Nguyen 327 000
Everardus Zwartjens 320 000

Markus Osinga 310 000
Santi Sungkapaas 251 000
Yavuz Akuz 245 000
HH 239 000
Javier Dominguez 223 000
Christian Hardenberg 205 000
Sofian El Yachou 191 000
Alain Fleurent 185 000
Vincent Robaye 180 000
Stefan Schmitz 177 000

Jackie Hu 173 000 Carmelo Cacciola 164 000

Suat Ozlu 154 000
Alei Cherif 152000
Guillaume Bazoge 149 000
Bjorn Frings 142 000
Marc Kirchdoerfer 141 000
Bruno Vandenhaute 115 000
Joao Faria 112 000
Patrick Aerts 109 000
pokersplrgeel 87 000
Johannes Brouwers 70 000
Pierre Pezzuto 33 000