Day 1C kicks off

The third of eight starting sessions for the €250 Holiday Festival Main Event got underway on time, with forty players taking to the tables at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. Participants received 50,000 chips and set off to tackle 15 30-minute levels in a bid to join the 55 qualifiers!

The first stage consists of 4 levels and two hours of poker, followed by the traditional first half-hour break. Then it's back for another 4 levels, with the 75-minute dinner break in sight. The dinner break will start at around 8.30 p.m., with the end of Day 1C scheduled for around 1.30 a.m.

Registration is open until the first hand of level 10, at around 10.15pm... Shuffle up and deal on blinds 100 - 200 (200), no observation round, it's back to work! 

Ouch

A badbeat to start the day. With just over fifty players lining up on the first level of Day 1C of the €250 Holiday Main Event, the first "seat open" has just sounded.

20 minutes of play since the start and just one hand for Laura Wautelet. This regular at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur had just sat down and had a stack of 50,000 chips when she discovered two Aces in the big blind on her first hand.

Open at the beginning of the hand, Raphael Canta 's cutoff raised the stakes to 1,800 chips. Laura clicks to 3,800 and the opener steps aside. 12th in the BPC in May, Raphael 5-bets to 10,800 chips with 70,000 chips in total since he's already won a few moves.

Laure counters by going all-in for the starting stack, which Raphael pays with the queens. Behind after the flop, Canta hits a Queen on the turn to move ahead. He's up to 120,000 chips after a river brick... Laura Wautelet will have to pay up again to try and reach Day 2 on Saturday September 7th.

Knock Knock

Who's in? The poker room at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur is filling up with 60 players and 61 entrants for the first blind raising. The game is now 100 - 300 (300)...

Many regulars are in the game, with David Opdebeeck, Luis Perez, Salvatore Allata, Arnaud Danes, Emile Custinne, Luc Gillard, Nicolas Destercq and Dario Sorrenti all with chips in front of them.

Laura Wautelet is back in the pot, and Saman Ziarati is also on track. Fabrice Somers, Mehidi Sahli and Neven Papic are back with a pellet after an unsuccessful attempt...

They arrive

The field for Day 1C of the Holiday Fastival continues to grow, with just over 70 players registered at the start of the 3rd level. Blinds are up to 200 - 400 (400) and 72 players are seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Reda Haidar got into the action straight away and has already won two small pots to take his total to almost 70,000 chips. Abdessamad Ayyad is also in the mix, as is Jérôme Balthazar.


Eddy Meyfroot, François Heine, Ivo Schoofs, Denis Charlier, Guillaume Navaro and Francesco Pillitteri also have chips on Day 1C...

Good Start

The fourth level of the third day of the Holiday Festival Main Event gets underway with 77 players in the running for 88 entries and an average of 57,000 in chips.

The blinds are now 300 - 600 (600) and some players are off to a good start. As on Day 1B, Neven Papic has not been fooling around. The Croatian is up to 125,000 chips atArnaud Danes and Luc Gillard's table.

Mehidi Sahli, also in second-best mode, has pulled ahead. The Belgian has 95,000 in chips, enough to set the pace... Dario Sorrenti has 110,000 chips in front of him, thanks to a sucked ace he played aggressively from the button. Dario found himself in a battle with his neighbor on the right and made runner-runner flush for an idyllic start. So poker ! 

New Players

As the first break of the third opening day looms on the horizon, the players continue to arrive. The 100-entry mark is not far off...

Daniel Tordjman has entered the €250 Holiday Main Event. Giovanni Di Stefano is also back after an unsuccessful first attempt. Nadir Guendouze, Daniel Dodet and David Janssen are also in the field.

Benoit Mahoux, Xavier Salcede, Charlène Kals and Giuseppe Pollina all try their luck on this third flight... 

New Start

A fresh start... without going through the cashier again. Open at the beginning of the hand, call from the neighbor and Martin Dohmen wakes up in the small blind with Aces and 14,300 chips. All in!

It's paid by the opener but the neighbor sends the box over. Vincent Gustin hesitates before retaining the benefit of his good start and wisely returns his cards. His neighbor turns over the queens and logically loses to Dohmen one board later. Dohmen arrived at the break with 44,000 chips - almost the starting stack!

Francesco Pillitteri also doubled up just before the break. After an open from the cutoff, Francesco pushes 9,400 from the blinds. The opener hesitates for a few seconds as everyone goes on break and ends up paying with 8 and Ten suited. Francesco doubles up with his ace-queen at the end of a Jack 3 Ace 8 4 board where he won't have the chance to tremble... 

Break

The first break of Day 1C is underway, resuming at 6:32 p.m. on blinds 400 - 800 (800) with an acquaintance in the lead. Just like yesterday, Neven Papic was all in, with success.

The Croatian is up to 215,000 chips at the break. "I doubled up straight away pretty easily and thought I'd mug the table... I 3-bet, I 4-bet, I attacked gutshots and when they paid it was in," laughs Papic. "This is just the beginning, yesterday I was card-dead for 10 levels after a big start," adds the player aware that he has to see the day through. "The feeling is good", concludes the man visiting Wallonia for the first time... 

Chipcount
Neven Papic 215 000
Fabrice Somers 170 000
Vincent Gustin 156 000
Alain Theisen 130 000
Yanis Senkevics 105 000
Abdessamad Ayyad 103 000
Youness Sari 89 000
Yves Pirson 83 000
Orhan Sen 79 000
Laura Wautelet 78 000
Daniel Tordjman 77 000
Raphael Canta 67 000
Luc Gillard 56 000
Charlene Kals 47 000
Arnaud Danes 27 000

100 for the aperitif

The 100-entry mark on Day 1C has been passed with 21 minutes left to play in Level 5. Play is 400 - 800 (800) with 80 players in contention and an average of 62,000 chips... 

The American Class

Benjamin Abitbol has just blown away the chipcount, killing the last hopes of Vincent Gustin, who had three starting stacks when he resumed play 35 minutes earlier.

With the blinds raised to 500 - 1000 (1000), Vincent Gustin found himself with 25,000 chips on a 6 7 9 flop. Gustin duels with Abitbol and pushes all in with a pair of 8s... bad timing as his opponent turns over the 6s for three of a kind.

Two cards later, Benjamin continues his good start and raises to 130,000 chips. "I had 6 times the average," realizes Vincent as he leaves the gaming area!

At this table we find Nicolas Destercq and Charlène Kals with more or less the same starting stack. Carlos Lopes has now entered the game... 

Strike

Nadir Guendouze has just taken control of Day 1C, with fifteen minutes left to play on blinds 500 - 1000 (1000). 

After an open at the beginning of Daniel Tordjman, Fabrice Somers places a 6,000-chip 3-bet on the button. In the small blind, Nadir raises the stakes to 26,000 by covering everyone. 

With 65,000 chips and the queens, Daniel sends the couscous on a 5-bet all-in. Fabrice plays 110,000 chips and doesn't bother with King Jack... all in! Nadir expects nothing less with his Kings and stays ahead after a suspenseless board. 

Towards 330,000 pawns and the head of the game. 

New Level

With 20 minutes left to play in the 600 - 1200 (1200) blinds, the leaderboard now shows 125 entries. There are still 76 in the running on this third of eight opening days of the Holiday Festival Main Event, guaranteeing a €250,000 prizepool.

The average is 82,000 chips and Emile Custinne continues to pick up chips. He's now up to 150,000, a small mattress at the table of Nadir Guendouze and Daniel Tordjman. The man who recently distinguished himself at the DSO Gujan has re-entered and taken Fabrice Somers' seat... Fabrice has not yet returned.

Giuseppe Pollina, Vincent Gustin and David Opdebeeck have also used the rebuy option, whileAndreas van Deyck is still on his first attempt. 

Mid-course

With half of Level 8 still to play, the 71 players still in contention on Day 1C are halfway to bagging up chips. There are 15 half-hour levels on the Main Event's third opening day, and the leaderboard now shows 129 entrants.

Saman Ziarati is up to 100,000 chips from an average of 91,000, and the Namur regular is on a roll thanks to a crucial flip against David Opdebeeck. Another Namur regular, Dario Sorrenti, continues to pile up the chips and now stands at 240,000.

Charlène Kals placed a 3-bet before 3-barrels all-in with Top Pair to the Queen on the flop and King Queen in her hands... heading for re-entry after her opponent clipped her on the turn with a draw on both ends before hitting straight river. 

Dinner break

Time to go to La Carte du Roi. The 75-minute dinner break has begun... resuming at 9:45pm on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) for level 9, the final late registration level of Holiday Day 1C guaranteeing €250,000 prizepool.

Play was paused with 67 players in contention for 137 entrants and an average of 102,000 chips. A chipcount during the break... 

Checkpoint

Resuming at 9.45pm after the dinner break, with just under 80 players in the running and an average of 51 blinds... 

Chipcount
Nadir Guendouze 283,000
Dario Sorrenti 258,000
Raphael Canta 246,000
Salvatore Allatta 237,000
David Janssen 204,000
Daniel Dodet 204,000
Emile Custinne 200,000
Benoit Mahoux 184 000
Abdessamad Ayyad 182 000
Guillaume Navaro 172 000
Neven Papic 168 000
Yanis Senkevics 152 000
Ricardo de Rubeis 148 000
Benoit Tombeur 143 000
Yannick Lapoirie 133 000
Xavier Salcede 132 000
Giuseppe Pollina 128 000
Mehidi Sahli (photo) 128 000
Benjamin Abitbol 127 000
Richard Breuskin 117 000
Alain Theisen 117 000
Younes Sari 116 000
Martin Dohmen 112 000
Luc Gillard 103 000
Ohran Sen 100 000
Carlos Lopes 95 000
Christophe Barre 88 000
Eddy Meyfroot 81 000
Laura Wautelet 31 000
Yves Pirson 28 000
Daniel Tordjman 8 000

Almost 500

Twenty minutes of play on 1000 - 2000 (2000) since the dinner break and Nadir Guendouze 's neighbor has taken control of the tournament. Emile Custinne has around 450,000 chips... it's hard to tell if he's closer to the half-million mark, but this Circus Casino Resort Namur regular isn't in stack-of-20 mode!

With just a few minutes to go before the 1000 - 2500 (2500) blinds, and the end of late registration, the field had fallen to 65 players for 145 entrants. With the registrations recorded over the first two starting sessions, the overall attendance rose to 493 entrants... We'll be closing in on 500 by the close of entries tonight!

The average is 111,000 chips, with Daniel Tordjman still on the ropes. Dario Sorrenti has more margin, even if his stack has dropped below 200,000 chips for the first time in ages on Day 1C... 

Top 60

Registration is closed, the blinds have been increased to 1000 - 2500 (2500) and only 60 players remain in the running on Day 1C. Participation is being verified at the moment...

On the poker side, Christophe Bare (330,000) and Salvatore Alessi (200,000) have moved on. Neven Papic is still on course (280,000), while Salvatore Allatta (150,000) has lost ground.

Worse still, there are chips directly to his left, as behind him are Benoit Tombeur (255,000), Raphael Canta (250,000) and WSOP Circuit winner Daniel Dodet (190,000). We're going to have to get back on track fast! 

Skimming

Three minutes to go before the blinds drop to 1500 - 3000 (3000), and only 56 players remain in the running on the third starting day of the Holiday Festival's €250 main event.

Michel Marinelli had just made a triple-up, but he wasn't out of the woods yet, as he only had 16,000 to start with. With Ace Ten, he found himself all-in against John Lienard, who was playing just 12,000 chips. Johan Kelleter had everyone covered with his King-Queen, but the Jack 8 7 2 4 board saw him fall back to 110,000 chips.

Lienard rejoined the rail, while Marinelli was once again close to the starting stack. Busto with no return on Day 1C for François Vinsot, Adrian Miroiu and Christophe Lecoq... 

145 Entrants on Day 1C

With a quarter of an hour left to play in the 1500 - 3000 blinds (3000), the field of players has shrunk to 52 survivors. Michel Marinelli has not found a second wind, nor have Mario Parada and Francesco Pillitteri. While this trio has already jumped, Daniel Tordjman and Carlos Lopes are still hanging on. One chip one chair! 

We leave the Main Event for a moment to see what's happening on Big Tuesday, which kicked off at 7.30pm... 

Only 5 Tables left

17 minutes to go before the end of Level 12 and the start of the final break of Day 1C. Only 44 players remain in the field, competing in blinds from 2000 to 4000 (4000), with an average of 40 blinds.

After the break, there will be 90 minutes of poker and another 3 levels to play, so we'll meet again at midnight for an update on the stacks before the final straight! This will be without Yassine Hassani, Simon Duprat, William Wautelet, Gunther Rettel or Martin Dohmen, Guillaume Navaro and Charlene Kals, all of whom fell in the final minutes... 

Game On

It's back to work for the last three levels of the day. There are 40 of them for this final stretch, and Carlos Lopes gave up just before the break. So did Yohan Kelleter, Dario Sorrenti and Benjamin Labye.

Daniel Tordjman flopped a flush draw in a multiway and played a 400,000-chip pot on the turn against Benjamin Abitbol. Abitbol had a flush draw, which he took in river to restart with 453,000 chips from blinds 2,000 - 5,000 (5,000). Daniel is just above the starting stack!

The boss remains Emile Custinne with more than 12 times the starting stack at the start of level 13...



Chipcount
Emile Custinne 666,000
Jon Persent 465,000
Benjamin Abitbol 453,000
Christophe Bare 440,000
Benoit Tombeur 343,000
Giuseppe Pollina 333,000
Yanis Senkevics 330,000
Stephane Ransy 300,000
Nadir Guendouze 290,000
Salvatore Alessi 290 000
Richard Breuskin 232 000
Salvatore Allatta 222 000
Ohran Virus 195 000
Yoness Sari 183 000
Ricardo de Rubeis 170 000
Eddy Meyfroot 162 000
Neven Papic 155 000
Daniel Dodet 150 000
Luca Peroraro 126 000
Saman Ziarati 105 000
Benoit Mahoux 104 000

The Last Hour

The blinds have been raised to 3,000 - 6,000 (6,000), with just under an hour of play remaining and 29 players still in contention followingAndreas van Deyck 's exit.Daniel Tordjman retired a few minutes ago.

Raphael Canta also finished with a big pot against Neven Papic. The Croatian opened the button and paid the Belgian's 27,000 3-bet in the small blind. Canta bets 35,000 on flop 4 4 6 with a spade draw and calls when Papic sends the box. There are 315,000 chips in the middle and Canta returns 8 5 of spades for a big draw. Papic reveals King 6 of clubs and will hold to give himself a chance of joining Day 2 tonight!

Saman Ziarati has doubled up to 240,000 chips, while Nadir Guendouze continues his undermining work (410,000). Fabio Pecoraro fell victim to Salvatore Alessi (below). Having arrived a little late, the regular from Namur continued his ascent, reaching 335,000 chips after this confrontation.

Fouad Elmouhmouh, Xavier Salcede, Matthieu Colin and Alain Theisen also joined the rail... 

Top 25

There are 25 minutes left to play on this Jour 1C, and in a quarter of an hour the clock will be stopped and the last hands announced... There are just 25 players left to see out the end of Jour 1C, and Benoit Mahoux has just doubled up.

After 3 limps, the last of which is paid by Benjamin Abitbol, Benoit Mahoux raises the blinds for a duel against Benjamin. Everything starts in the middle on 5 7 3 with two clubs... Benoit turns over the Kings and stays ahead of Benjamin's 7 and 6 mismatch after an Ace turn and a King river. Leading 200,000 chips to Mahoux's 300,000 average, Abitbol falls back to 260,000.

The average is 300,000 chips for this final sprint and Saman Ziarati is up to 380,000 chips after a peak of 450,000. Christophe Bare (500,000), Emile Custinne (610,000) and Norwegian Jon Persent (630,000 - below) lead the way...

Yves Pirson, Yoness Sari and Ohran Virus are the latest victims of the previous level... 

Bare Toi de Là

Day 1C ended with a huge bang... and Richard Breuskin's in-extremis accession to the throne. Richard opened and got a call from Christophe Bare at the end of the hand and Stéphane Ransy in the blinds.

On a Jack 7 4 flop, Richard sends in 35,000 chips and doesn't scare anyone away. The Jack turn also opens a flush draw, but there's no action. On river 2, which doesn't bring in the flush, Stephane checks and Richard bets 65,000 chips. He's greeted by a very quick all-in from Christophe for just over 330,000.

Ransy returns his cards but not Breuskin, who calls almost instantly and returns Ace Jack for trips. With King-Queen mismatched, Christophe is in trouble and has to leave the play area with the last 5 hands in progress.

Breuskin (below) is not far from the million mark at the end of this snatch attempt! 

21 qualifiers on Day 1C, Breuskin on top

After 15 levels and 7 hours 30 minutes at poker, it was Richard Breuskin who came out on top on Day 1C of the €250,000 Holiday Festival Main Event. The Belgian bagged up 923,000 chips, or just over 18 times the starting stack... only a quiet Norwegian kept pace, with a more linear progression than the day's boss. Jon Present looks like a customer for the future...

On this flight, Namur regulars such as Daniel Dodet, Salvatore Allatta, Saman Ziarati, Salvatore Alessi and Emile Custinne cleared the hurdle. All these players will be on hand on Day 2, Saturday September 7, from 2 p.m. for 40-minute levels and blinds 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000).

Nadir Guendouze, Neven Papic, Ricardo de Rubeis, Benoit Mahout and Benoit Tombeur will also be playing. See you on Wednesday from 4 p.m. for the fourth of the tournament's eight starting days... The €400 Mystery Bounty starts at 7 p.m...

Chipcount complete Day 1C
Richard Breuskin 923,000
Jon Persent 782,000
Emile Custinne 625,000
Salvatore Alessi 607,000
Daniel Dodet 571,000
Salvatore Allatta 568,000
Yanis Senkevics 402,000
Nadi Guendouze 393,000
Benoit Tombeur 345,000
Saman Ziarati 343 000

Ricardo de Rubeis 290 000
Macho Jose 218 000
Giuseppe Farrugio 216 000
Benoit Mahoux 215 000
Neven Papic 193 000
Giuseppe Pollina 158 000
Stephane Ransy 157 000
Eddy Meyfroot 139 000
Romain Ott 108 000
Francesco Dispenza 86 000

Eric Mangeard 84 000