Big Day

A quarter of an hour before the start of the seventh of eight starting days of the Main Event Holiday, the room is already starting to fill up nicely. The organization at Circus Casino Resort in Namur has already collected 125 entries, and there are still plenty of people at the cashier's desk... enough to push this €250,000 prizepool tournament past the 1,000-entry mark.

Day 1G offers 50,000 chips to build up over 15 half-hour levels, with entries all the way through to the first deal of level 10, around 9.15pm when dinner-break returns.

A 1H Turbo day with 9 full levels of late registration starts at 9 p.m. for a last chance to join Day 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m... 

149 players at kick-off

Friday's starting day is often the busiest of the week, and this Day 1G should be no exception, with 149 players seated at the tables in the poker room at Namur's Circus Casino Resort at shuffle up & deal time.

The game starts on 100 - 200 (200) with many regulars already in action. 

Hi, friends

Twenty minutes of play with only 204 players seated at the tables... and still no exit!

Yvan Marsus, Heidi Croone, Angelo Mancuso, Samuel Bovy, Greg Biermans, Pietro Amoruso, Jordan Verbraeken, Patrick Prijot, Eric Boge, David Ethuin, Eric Denizart are already here, as are Fathi Khalfaoui, Elie Hallousse, Stéphane Figoni, Donovan Kool, Aurelio Martin Garcia, David Opdebeeck, Denneth Rodgers, Walter van Cambeg and Giovanni Ventura.

The blinds will be increased to 100 - 300 (300) for the second of the 15 levels on the day's program, which is scheduled to finish just after half-past midnight...

300

The meter is running wild, with more than 300 entries already on Day 1G of the €250 Hoiday Main Event.

Samuel Bovy ran into William Leveque and is about to add to the crowd... Samul found As Roi suité in the small blind and 3-bet before seeing William Cold 4-bet just to his left. With just under the starting stack on 200 - 400 (400), Samuel put everything in to run into the Aces. Heading for the cashier as William points to 100,000.

Bryan de Riddere has arrived, while JS Denissa and Andrea Caizzi are on the road after their Barcelona adventures. Ingo Paulus, Xavier Salcede, Kevin Leite, Thomas Jansen, David Olurebi, Cem Muhtar, Mohamed Razab Sekh and Alexandre Quach are already on track.

They've all come, they're all here on the third of 15 levels on the penultimate day of teeing off. 

Warranty Exceeded

There are now 263,930€ to share between Holiday Festival winners at €250 per entry. The €250,000 guarantee is wiped out with 20 minutes left to play on level 4 of Day 1G, open entries until the end of level 9 and a Last Chance Turbo starting at 9pm! 

The penultimate qualifying session now takes place over 300 - 600 (600) and the first break is not far off. Alexandra Quach (110 000), Claus Spieckermann (114 000), Christoph Blumer (120,000) and especially Fabrizio Abbracciavento (162,000 - photo) got off to the best possible start.

Break

Two hours of poker and four levels of play, it's time for the traditional first half-hour break at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Play then resumes on 400 - 800 (800), with the very likely announcement of a dinner break split into two groups... as participation is exceptional on this Day 1G.

The seventh of the eight starting days has so far attracted 377 entrants, with 323 players taking the break. This brings the total number of entries to over 1,300 for a provisional prize pool of €268,787.

Resuming at 5.30pm with a first chipcount...

400 on the recovery! 

Play resumes on blinds 400 - 800 (800) with 342 players for 399 entries on Day 1G. Attendance continues to climb and there is now €272,835 in the prize pool! 

Chipcount
Ethan Bugan 174,000
Ludovic Mougenot 160,000
Fabrizio Abbracciavento 133,000
Fathi Khalfaoui 133,000
Christopher Blumer 127,000 (photo)
Boris Barkganas 126 000
Gianni Lodi 121 000
Jorg Wilms 118 000
Denneth Rodgers 113 000
Julien Evora 112 000
Claus Spieckermann 112 000
Danny van Dessel 111 000
Mickael Koop 109 000
Jens Mueller 108 000
Ivan Tappia 106 000
Hadi Zaiafoun 105 000
Thomas Ebrecht 104 000
Alexandra Quach 96 000
Aurelien Zavatierro 95 000
Simon Bouaska 85 000
Mustapha Ramoun 84 000
Mickael Tambute 79 000
Kevin Leite 63 000
David Olurebi 58 000
Yvan Marsus 26 000

Keep Growing

With Level 6 underway, attendance continues to climb as Day 1G has now gathered 441 entrants! Players everywhere in the Ocean Room, players everywhere in the cash-game area and players everywhere in the main room of the Circus Casino Resort de Namur, 349 unique players are currently on track on this penultimate day of the Holiday.

The 1,400 mark is approaching and the prize pool continues to climb, with the prizepool now approaching €282,000! 

Double Dinner

The dinner break has been split in two... two groups will alternately go on dinner break from the end of level 7. 

From 7 to 8:15 p.m.while one group will compete in levels 8 and 9, players at the Ocean Room tables (Tables 101 to 118) will be taking a dinner break. The players from tables 18 to 46, the players in the main hall, will go on break after playing 9 levels, from 8 p.m. to 9.15 p.m.. 

The first group will return to contest levels 8 and 9 from 8.15pm, and at the junction, at 9.15pm, registration will be closed for this penultimate starting day. 

Those who have not validated their ticket for Day 2, which begins on Saturday at 2pm in blinds 5000 - 10,000 (10,000), will have no choice but to take part in the Day 1H Turbo starts at 9pm with 15 quarter-hour levels on the program... 

1.400+

With just a few minutes left to play on blinds 600 - 1200 (1200), the shared dinner break begins... The table shows 346 players in the running for 455 entries, the 1,400-entry mark for the Holiday Festival Main Event has been passed!

The prizepool continues to soar, with over €285,000 now to be shared in the prize pool. With 190,000 chips and 4 times the starting price, Belgium's Chris Verbeeck got off to the right start to take his share... but there's still a long way to go!

Dinner Break (I)

The Salle Océan is on break as players in the main room of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur play two half-hour levels at the same time.

Players on break have played 7 levels and stopped after the level played on 600 - 1200 (1200)... but there are big stacks as there's action in this secondary room. "An outgoing every 10 seconds", says the floor with a laugh.

Chipcount
Christian Roelofs 253 000
Danny Ummels 227 000
Gregory Feyants 222 000
Gonne Wassenaar 222 000
Nessim Abitbol 196 000
Nicolas Steils 185 000
Mihai Stinca 171 000
Johann Owezarzat 165 000
Jorge Brito 153 000
Manuela Wilmshoever 146 000
Romain Guillemin 134 000
Knut Bersen 131 000
Walter van Camberg 120 000
Salvatore Cicarelli 117 000
Cedrik Domingos 115 000
Reda Haidar 100 000
Samir Bou Dahdir 92 000
Gilles Huet 74 000
Greg van der Wecken 71 000
Vanessa Arnold 71 000
JS Denissa 47 000

Keep Going

Play continues for the half of the field currently contesting level 9. This is the last level before the dinner break for the second group, where the game is played over 1000 - 2000 (2000).

Registration is open until 9.15pm and the start of the 10th level as well as the post-dinner junction, so Norman Bultot or Morgan Poisson will have to put in another round before they can hope to go any further.

Morgan made two pair against three of a kind, while Norman found himself putting in fifteen blinds with ace-queen... Céline Diot was even shorter and went all in with Jacks... while Germany's Philipp Drell continued his good run by waking up with Ace King. A King on the flop allowed him to strike and climb to 230,000 chips.

All this as the 500-entry mark was crossed for Day 1G! The table shows 306 players in the running for 503 entries... enough to boost the prize pool to €295,000!

The average is 82,000 chips... 

Dinner Break (II)

As play resumes in the Salle Océan on blinds 800 - 1600 (1600) and two half-hour levels, players in the main room of Namur's Circus Casino Resort head off for dinner after having already played 9 levels. At the junction at 9.15pm, registration will be closed for this jam-packed Day 1G.

The table currently shows 293 players on track for 519 entrants, a figure which is set to rise even further and which has, above all, enabled the prizepool to reach €299,754. And Day 1H Turbo kicks off at 9pm!

We take a look at the stacks of returning players in Level 10 and blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500). The average is currently 88,000 chips...

Chipcount
Ludovic Mougenat 405 000
Mickael Tambute 312 000
Paul Verheul 305 000
Amber de Visser 260 000
Chris Verbeeck 255 000
Philipp Drell 240 000
Julien Evora 235 000
Michael Kopp 226 000
Gianni Lodi 222 000
Manuel Alt 207 000
Giovanni Ventura 197 000
Donovan Kool 195 000
Igoris Barkaganas 193 000
Thomas Ebrecht 192 000
Finn Saul 186 000
Fred Heyvaert 170 000
Matthias van der Perre 165 000
Elmar Shulet 158 000
Eric BOge 154 000
Fathi Khalfaoui 153 000
Pierre Le Moing 151 000
Lukas Trzcinski 146 000
Andreas Gondrom 143 000
Jean-Pierre Cruccas 141 000
Mohamed Daher 134 000
Alex Boezman 132 000
Pieter Stragier 126 000
Daniel Tordjman 120 000
Poriya Mostafa 118 000
Arnoldus Thomassen 117 000
Thomas Denzl 116 000
Ruben Steenhuis 114 000
Norman Bultot 101 000
Gregory Biermans 100 000
Arnaud Danes 100 000
Lukasz Ciechanowicz 84 000
Stephane Figoni 57 000
Christoph bulmer 51 000

535 Entrants on Day 1G

Finito registrations for the seventh of eight starting days of the €250 Holiday Main Event were closed. 535 entries were recorded at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Level 11 of Day 1G has just begun, with 222 players competing in blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000). The final break will take place at the end of level 12, followed by 3 levels and the last 90 minutes of poker... 

On Day 1H, entries are permitted until 11:35 pm. This should further boost participation and the prize pool, which currently stands at €324,245! 

Top 200

One minute to go before the switch to blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000) and the start of level 12. There will be a break at the end of this level, and 200 players remain in the running to secure their place on Day 2 of this 1G.

The average is 133,000 chips, and Ingo Paulus, Guillaume Fontaine, Olivier Hegy, Elie Hallouss, Bryan de Riddere, Dominique Potenza, David Opdebeeck, Lorenzo Furia and Reda Haidar have no alternative after jumping out in the final minutes. They will have to go through to Day 1H Turbo to contest the weekend and try to take a share of the prize pool, which currently stands at €330,114.

Last Break

The final break of Day 1G was lengthened a little to get rid of the 500 chips, and now 172 are back in action at 11.15pm in blinds 2000 - 5000 (5000), with an average of 31 blinds. We're starting to see things a little more clearly, with 3 of the 15 levels remaining on this penultimate starting day. 

Chipcount
Paul Verheul 440,000
Alex Bozeman 385,000
Yi Hu 372,000
Daniel Tordjman 360,000
Claus Spieckermann 352,000
Ludovic Mougenot 350,000
Ludovic Ruperto 330,000
Ali Chaieb 330,000
Djamel Rezai 327,000
Chris Verbeeck 320 000

julien Evora 318 000
Renaud Obez 311 000
Danny Ummels 310 000 (photo)
Marcelus Van deWolf
Clayde Terlaan 305 000
Dylan Noel 300 000
Fred Davidts 300 000
Finn Saul 278 000
Manuel Alt 275 000
Mickael Tambule 267,000

Arnoldus Thomassen 265,000
Knut Berntsen 261,000
Mischa Wieten 250,000
Marcel Diel 250,000
Richard Teulings 232,000
Pasquale Amato 231,000
Fred Heyvaert 226,000
Mihai Stinca 220,000
Danny Ehrenberger 220 000
Samir Nasri 214 000

Johan Owezarzak 205 000
Poriya Mostafa 205 000
Walid Belmessaoud 200 000
Elmar Schuetti 190 000
Giovanni Ventura 180 000
Vanessa Arnold 165 000
Edwige Lesage 142 000
Charlotte Wilmshoever 100 000

The Last Hour

Two levels and one hour remain on poker on Day 1G. The blinds are 3000 - 6000 (6000) and Ruben Steenhuis, Julien Laniez, Jerome Balthazar, Denneth Rodgers, Samuel Bovy, or Gianni Lodi have disappeared from circulation. Some of them took advantage of the final minutes of late reg' to make it to the last-chance 1H Turbo!

There are 148 players in the running to join the 158 who have already validated their ticket for Day 2 during the first 6 starting sessions. The average is still 30 blinds... 

1,697 entries for the Holiday Main Event 

Level 11 begins on Day 1H Turbo, with the game now running on 1500 - 3000 (3000) with an average of 86,000 chips. 125 players remain in the running, while 213 entries have been counted on this flight of 15 quarter-hour levels - the last chance to reach Day 2. 

The figures aren't official yet, but it looks like the players in the money will share €343,473 in prizepool prize money, starting Saturday at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 

On Day 1G, 140 players and 23 minutes of play remain on 3000 - 6000 (6000), the penultimate level of the evening... 

Last Level

Finito in the final minutes for Andreas Grondom or Ludovic Ruperto, leaving just 120 in the running at the start of the final level of Day 1G. End of the evening on 4000 - 8000 (8000), it's off to the hunt for the chipleader...

For Mischa Wieten, Walid Belmessaoud, Lukas Trzcinski, Chris Verbeeck, Martin Aurelio Garcia, Dana Kolatka or Pieter Stragier, this Main Event is also over... but on Saturday 6pm, there's the festival's €600 High Roller (50,000 chips - 30 min.).

45 final flight qualifiers, 302 Day 2 qualifiers

After 15 levels of 15 minutes each, 45 players packed in chips for Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 2. This brings the provisional attendance for Day 2 to 302 players, a figure which could fall as some players have brought in chips after several flights and will only be able to keep the largest stack when the 5000- 10,000 (10,000) resumes. 

Cristinel Grecinc (pictured) did the best work on Day 1H Turbo, finally bagging up 634,000 chips for a superb stack at the restart. Cristinel is freerolling in this tournament, having participated in Day 1E and taken his share of the badbeat jackpot by witnessing a heads-up heads-up battle. 

Omar Lakhdari, Gilles Masaud, Somsong Intharanop, Leandro Gaone, Dominique Potenza, Gregory Biermans and Heidi Croonenbergh have also cleared the hurdle and will be taking part this weekend. A prizepool of over €343,000 will be up for grabs, and should be shared between the last 255 survivors. 

Partial chipcount Day 1H (full chipcount and redraw in the documentbelow as soon as possible & Day 2)
Cristinel Grecinc 634 000
Dominique Potenza 615 000
Rachid Hakimi 574 000
Leandro Gaone 417 000
Mitchell Thomassen 415 000
Gregory Biermans 409 000
Negming Wang 368 000
Omar Lakhdari 296 000
Gianni Lodi 265 000
Somsong Intharanop 127 000
Heidi Croone 113 000
Gilles Masaud 102 000

102 qualifiers close to the money

What a day! The seventh of eight starting days for the €250 Holiday Main Event brought together 535 entrants to swell the tournament field to 1,697 entrants and the prizepool to €341,776. The Circus Casino Resort in Namur is always busy.

Namur usually pays 15% of the field and 255 players should more or less enter the money to share this huge prizepool. With the 155 qualifiers from the first 6 sessions, the 102 qualifiers from Day 1G and a Day 1H at the end with around 60 players... that's less than 300 players... the ITM won't be far away when the action resumes on Saturday in blinds 5000 - 10 000 (10 000). 

Among the 102 survivors of this huge starting day, it was Knut Berntsen (photo) who proved the most efficient. The Norwegian bagged up 704,000 chips, a fortune as the game is set to be punctuated by the approach of the bubble right from the start on Saturday.

Morten Faas, Gilles Frère, Fred Davidts, Danny Ehrenberger, Danny Ummels, Parkas Somer, Clauss Spieckrmann, Bertrand Lucas, Andres de Bruin, Marcel Diel, Paul Verhuel, Richard Teulings and Daniel Tordjman have also booked their tickets for the rest of the competition...



Chipcount Day 1G (full details as soon as possible in the document below)below)
Knut Berntsen 704,000
Danny Ummels 690,000
Danny Ehrenberger 586,000
Bertrand Lucas 537,000
Mickael Tamble 502,000
Manuel Alt 499,000
Andres de Bruin 498,000
Daniel Tordjman 491,000
Saul Finn 446,000
Arnaud Danes 405,000
Amber de Visser 403,000
Marcel Diel 390 000
Djamel Rezai 355 000
Julien Evora 350 000
Paul Verhuel 312 000
Dieter Lorna 312 000
Richard Teulings 307 000
Nicolas Steils 292 000
Fred Davidts 280 000
Morten Faas 268 000
Parkas Somer 257 000
Ludovid Mougenot 221 000
Giovanni Ventura 160 000
Clauss Spieckermann 117 000