Main Event kicks off

The Belgian Poker Challenge 2024 promises a guarantee of 1 million euros... the quest began this Saturday at 2pm with Kenny Hallaert at the helm. The new PokerStars player and former member of the Namur staff kicked off the game.

Shuffle up and deal was launched with around 50 players in blinds 100 - 200. No ante to warm up, and there were still no outs after half an hour.

The structure is magnificent, with 50,000 starting chips and 11 50-minute levels to be played on Day 1A. The plan is to play two levels before a first break, with the dinner-break taking place from 7.30pm, at the end of the 7th level of play.

Registration is open until the first hand of Day 2, Thursday May 16 at 1pm. Between now and then, there are 7 opening days on the schedule... and live coverage from the Namur team.

First Break

The first break of the Main Event is underway after two 50-minute levels at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 75 of the 80 entrants to Day 1A of the BPC 2024 have reached this first 20-minute break, the game will then resume on blinds 200 - 400 (400) with an average of 53,000 chips... there's time!

Fred Blehaut is the first high-profile victim... The Belgian gleaned several entries, so he'll be back in the game very soon! Among those present were Carina Voncken, Tim Verheyen, Patrick Prijot, Anne Millot (above), Yves Sergeant, Angelo Mancuso, Mike Niegho, Quentin Thavisouk, Daniel Tordjman, Evert Rosseel, Tonio Ruggiu, Walter van Camberg and Fred Hebette. 

Michael Ender, Konstantin Faerber, Robin Fournez, Ken Claessens, Benjamin Celaudoux, Raphael Canta, Valentin Bury and Fabien Ayadi are already in the game too... 

Première Fournée

The opening day of the €1,100 Belgian Poker Challenge Main Event has come to an end.

Play is now underway in blinds 400 - 800 (800), with 90 players still in the running and 122 already entered. The average is 68,000 chips, and some of the regulars have already made a name for themselves. Robin Fournez got off to a great start with a full house on the 8-8-10 flop, resulting in a double-up and a board with a potential runner-runner flush. Facing two players Robin made a strike as both opponents had max flushes and trips. This gave him 176,000 chips at the second break of the day...

Chipcount BPC 2024
Reda Belkho 194 000
Robin Fournez 176 000
Rachid POufaska 174 000
Yoann Ramaekers 172 000
Frddy Godel 169 000
Baho Hosseini 151 000
Jonas Witdoek 138 000
Marco Meisser 131 000
Amaury Marichal 134 000
Thomas Janssen 119 000
Shahram Rastegani 117 000
Vasyl Lebediev 107 000
Mike Niegho 101 000
Cedric Roblain 97 000
Adrien Di Grande 97 000
Naim Bouhraoua 88 000
Yves Sergeant 88 000
Franklin Nurmohamed 87 000
Carina Voncken 87 000
Fred Hebette 44 000

Saturday Night

The dinner break ended at 9.50 p.m. on the BPC 2024 Main Event... play resumed on blinds 500 - 1500 (1500) with 68 players in contention for 125 entrants.

The average is 95,000 chips, while the main event of the Belgian Poker Challenge will play three more levels before the chips are packed away at around 1.30am.

Chipcount

Robin Fournez 257 000
Jonathan Sandlow 245 000
Baho Hosseini 243 000
Reda Belkhou 235 000
Yoann Ramaekers 217 000
Freddy Godel 195 000
Naim Bouhraoua 183 000
Carmine Giordano 179 000
Thomas Jansen 175 000
Adnan Ekeroglu 160 000
Mihai Stinca 145 000
Benjamin Celaudoux 130 000
Jonas Witoek 121 000
Yves Sergeant 117 000
Walter van Camberg 110 000
Evert Rosseel 105 000
Mike Niegho 100 000
Michael Ender 95 000
Patrick Prijot 80 000
Min Sung Lee 71 000
Carina Voncken 60 000
Rami Awad 60 000
Mehidi Sahli 56 000
Djamal Boutaleb 55 000
Anne Millot 50 000
Raane Mokhtar 46 000
Quentin Thavisouk 42 000

Jansen doesn't row

It's the end of the road for Rami Awad, who sends in 27 blinds from the button with ace-queen hearts after an open under the gun and a call from Thomas Jansen at the cutoff. If the opener gets out of the way, Thomas pays with the Jacks and will hold despite the appearance of a flush draw... enough to push Rami into the rail and climb to 270,000 chips, a fortune with 66 players left out of the 132 entrants on Day 1a of the BPC 2024 Main Event.

The average has just risen to 100,000 chips, i.e. two starting stacks, with time still to run on the 1000 - 1500 (1500) blinds...

Top 50

Only 53 players remain in the running on Day 1A of the BPC 2024 Main Event. With half an hour left to play in the penultimate level of the evening, the blinds are now 1000 - 2000 (2000) with 65 blinds on average. Baho Hosseini continues to pile up the chips... the player finds herself at a table where there's nobody with more than 50 blinds apart from herself.

Chips
Jonathan Sandlow 315 000
Baho Hosseini 295 000
Carmine Giordano 285 000
Robin Fournez 280 000
Thomas Jansen 275 000
Toyser 265 000
Freddy Godel 220 000
Yoann Ramaekers 200 000
Benjamin Celaudoux 180 000
Yves Sergeant 170 000
Mihai Stinca 165 000
Walter van Camberg 165 000
Mike Niegho 120 000
Patrick Prijot 115 000
Anne Millot 93 000
Evert Rosseel 65 000
Min Sung Lee 65 000
Michael Ender 55 000
Adnan Ekeroglu 55 000

39 qualifiers on 1A, one Frenchman in the lead

The opening day of the Belgian Poker Challenge 2024 Main Event attracted 137 entrants, a good start to erase the 1 million euro guarantee present on this event organized by Circus Casino Resort Namur with PokerStars.

After 11 levels of 50 minutes each, 39 players validated their ticket for Day 2 at 1pm on Thursday. Registration remains open until the first deal of the day... to build up a stack there are also 6 other starting days. 

Day 1A proved profitable for Reda Belkhou. "A great day," finished the Frenchman as he captured Benjamin Celaudoux's stack of 12 blinds on the final hand. Belkhou took advantage of this to grab a few more chips and move ahead of Carmine Giordano, who also made a perfect start with a starting stack multiplied by almost 7.

Yves Sergeant, Evert Rosseel, Djamal Boutaleb, Robin Fournez, Walter Van Camberg and Patrick Prijot also got off to a good start. Adrien Di Grande, Thomas Jansen, Carina Voncken and Baho Hosseini also passed the hurdle.

Mihaita Georgita, Mihai Stinca, Min Sung Lee and Mike Niegho also made it through to Day 23... with the starting stack but no re-entry!


Full chipcount Day 1A BPC Main Event 2024
Reda Belkhou 345,000
Carmine Giordano 343,000
Yves Sergeant 329,000
Jonathan Swerdlow 313,000
Mosjin El Yakoubi 301,500
Evert Rosseel 297,000
Djamal Boutaleb 288,000
Robin Fournez 275 000
Walter van Camberg 259 500
Yoann Ramaekers 244 000

Patrick Prijot 233 000
Adrien Di Grande 225 000
Thomas Jansen 215 000
Baho Hosseini 214 500
Toyser 202 500
Carina Voncken 189 000
Levent Efe 175 000
Freddy Godel 175 000
Kevin Leite 175 000
Jens Vanderbruggen 159 500

Mihaita Georgita 156 000
Pakyr van Ngan 155 000
Konstantin Faerber 150 000
Salvatore Alessi 145 000
Naim Bouhraoua 143 000
Ken Claessens 124 500
Tonio Ruggiu 121 000
Vasyl Lebediev 118,500
Marco Meisser 99,000
Mihai Stinca 96,500

Ercan Mandrake 88,000
Brian Vangoetsenhoven 87,000
Henryk Symkens 80,000
Eufrasio Piano 75,000
Richard pols 69,000
Min Sung Lee 56,500
Jort Hagedoorn 52,000
Mike Niegho 50,000