Shuffle Up & Deal

Monday is nice. The chockiest day of the BPC 2024 Main Event is set to take place this Monday... Day 1C kicked off at 1pm with 22 players in contention, they're 30 after 5 minutes of play but the turnout for the third of seven starting days isn't expected to be the biggest of the year.

Play began at blinds 100 - 200 for a hauffe round with no ante... players were given 50,000 chips to express themselves.

The star of the field for the moment is an EPT champion. Italy's Raffaele Sorrentino had hovered over the 2017 EPT Monte-Carlo and cashed for €466,714! Welcome to Namur...

End of warm-up

The first level is over, the antes are in and 41 players are battling it out over blinds 100 - 300 (300). Still no outsiders on this third day of the €1,100 Belgian Poker Challenge.

The field includes Daniel Pirlot, Agim Gizmo, Sandro Gangi, Vincent Gabel, Dalil Masaud, Yves Senterre, Chui Chi, Nathalie Gervais and Caroline Van Gorp. Erwin Vu Du is here too, as is Billy Tuaiva...

Hero Bust

The second level is still underway at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur, with the counter now reading 45 players in with 46 entrants... the star of the field has left us, probably temporarily.

From blinds 100 - 300 (300), Billy Tuaiva opens in MP and Raffaele Sorrentino raises to Hijack. The namur regular pays out of position for a duel which continues on Dame 3 6. Billy check-calls before checking-calling 3000 chips again on a turn Ten.

The river 2 provokes another check from Billy... and the Transalpine sends in his stack for just under 25,000 chips. Tuaiva thinks for a few seconds before paying out with his sweaty Queen Ten, enough to crack the Monaco winner's Aces. The Italian heads for the cashier, while Billy climbs to 85,000 in chips, top of the leaderboard on Day 1C.

Already the Break

Level 100 - 300 (300) comes to an end, and the first break of Day 1C arrives with 60 players seated for 62 entrants...

Raffaele Sorrentino has returned to sit at Christophe Colantoni and Anthony Bui Ngoc's table. Vincent Gabel, Gilles and Dalil Masaud have also arrived. Bryan de Riddere, Lukas Trzcinski, Wim Verhaegen, Saman Ziarati and Daniel Pirlot will also enjoy the traditional half-hour break...

Play resumes shortly after 3 p.m. on blinds 200 - 400 (400)... as a reminder, registration is open until Thursday 1 p.m. and the start of Day 2.

11 levels are on the program for each opening day, so we'll see you soon for the 3rd level of this BPC Main Event... 

Grind

Half an hour of play remains in blinds 200 - 400 (400) with 65 players in the running for 67 entrants.

Harrie Snijders is off to a good start, with 94,000 in chips, while Vincent Gabel has just climbed to 75,000 thanks to his big blind defense. Vincent checked-called the flop and bet turn then river on Ace Dame 6 4 8 and the opener ended up folding by showing a Dame river... Ludovic Poullet saved himself 85,000 pawns to confirm his good start too.

Among the players present were Poker One Damien Hupé and Yannick Ansenne. Abdel Chenoufi, Claudio Guadagnino, Fouad El Mouhmouh, Dovidio Monaco and Jérôme Balthazar were also seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur for this Day 1C of the BPC...

They arrive

Level 5 kicked off a few minutes ago, with 77 players seated at the tables at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 

Play is 300 - 600 (600) with an average of 55,000 chips and 84 entries... Farukh Tach is back to try his luck after a first dumpling on Day 1B, while Fabio d'Annolfo arrives for his first round. 

Mallory Frere, David Grilli, Nicolas Steils and Lukas Trzcinski also got in on the act... 

Reprise

Play resumed a few minutes ago in blinds 400 - 800 (800), with an average of 58,000 chips and 77 players in the running for 89 entries. Provisional tournament attendance has climbed to almost 400 entries, with registration open until Thursday 1pm and the start of Day 2.

Just before the break, Farukh Tach opened under the gun and got a call then a 3-bet from the cutoff... he responded with a 4-bet to 16,000 chips, his opponent tanked a ton before folding Ace King sweat showing (!). "I'll take it," laughed Farukh, confiding that he had it worse...

It's still going well for Billy Tuaiva, while Raffaele Sorrentino has passed the cutoff with now double the starting stack...

Chipcount
Wim Verhaegen 168 000
Joselito Nalinnes 130 000
Raffaele Sorrentino 107 000
Billy Tuaiva 105 000
Fabio d'Annolfo 105 000
Karol Bogusz 99 000
Anthony Bui Ngoc 98 000
Francis Neizen 97 000
Vincent Gabel 89 000
Lukas Trzcinski 89 000
Jerome Balthazar 86 000
Fabrice Muller 78 000
Yannick Ansenne 77 000
Christophe Colantoni 62 000
Saman Ziarati 61 000
Claudio Guadagnino 52 000
Bryan de Riddere 42 000
Dovidio Monaco 37 000
Dalil Masaud 24 000

Setup

Pierre Neuville has arrived and is up to 100,000 chips... Abdel Chenoufi heads for the cashier after being on the wrong side of an Ace-As-King-King encounter. Abdel had 42 blinds at this point, as the blinds had just climbed to 500 - 1000 (1000).

It was the last level before the dinner break and Mohamed Daher also made an appearance after finishing in the 4-way Deal on Sunday at the Cup. Yannick Ansenne also got off to a good start with a big 3-bet from the small blind after an open 4x on the button from Guy Goossens. Yannick is up to 100,000, while Guy kept 60,000 after his fold....

The 400-entry mark has been passed on the Belgian Poker Challenge, as the table now shows 93 entrants for this Day 1C of the BPC 2024. 77 players are seated at the Circus Casino Resort tables for this aperitif... Mallory Frere and Andreas van Deycke will have to go through the re-entry process to continue their BPC journey. 

For the road

20 minutes before the dinner break and the counter reads 73 players on track for 97 entrants to the BPC 202 Main Event...

Mohamed Daher just 4-bet all-in to raise to 37,000 pawns. In the final deal on the Cup, Daher opened to the hijack, Rayane Mohktar 3-bet to the button and got paid by the small blind... provoking a shove in response from the opener. Christian van der Haegen is doing very well at this table with 175,000 chips in front of him.

Jean-Patrick Delorme has just won the scalp of Dovidio Monaco to confirm his good start and climb to 110,000 chips.

We meet again a few minutes after the start of the 75-minute dinner break for a full round... 

Dinner break

Play is paused until 8.50pm on Day 1C of the Belgian Poker Challenge Main Event. 70 players are in the dinner-break, with an average of 70,000 chips at the resumption on blinds 500 - 1500 (1500).

The counter shows 98 entrants and Yannick Ansenne will be able to take his time. The Belgian was trapped twice and gave up just before the break. Ansenne first doubled Guy Goossens.

Open to Guy's right, he paid with queens and dragged Yannick to his left. A call behind and they're a smorgasbord to discover a 9 6 5 flop on which Guy regains the lead before being the only one to pay Yannick's raise. Guy checks-calls again on the turn 5 before checking in the dark before the river... which will also be a 5. Yannick goes all-in with Ace 9 and discovers the bad news when he gets paid. 

A few minutes later, Guy limps to the button and drags in Yannick from the small blind, as well as Karol Bogusz, who checks his suitered Dame 2 in the big blind. On the Dame 2 5 flop with a flush draw, Guy regains the initiative and is paid off by Yannick. When Karol raises to 6,000 chips, Guy pays and Yannick goes 28,000 and all-in with Jack 4 from the flush draw. Karol pays, Guy discards and two bricks later, Karol's two pairs give him 130,000 chips.

Goossens reaches the dinner break with 110,000 counters... slightly more than Agim Gizmo. Agim is very happy even though he's only got 65,000 in front of him: he's just made the flip of survival, his Ace-King passing the opponent's 9-9 on a river-hit Ace!

Chips

Time for a chipcount, and play resumes just before 9 p.m., with Wim Verhaegen currently in the lead. The Belgian has almost gone times 4 and will be in the lead at 192,000 chips going into the 8th of 11 levels on Day 1C...

Chipcount
Wim Verhaegen 192,000
Daniel Tordjman 168,000
Christian van der haegen 168,000
Manu Murgia 150,000
Pierre Neuville 127,000
Guy Goossens 106,000
Tom Kollee 103,000
Anthony Bui Ngoc 96,000
Fabio d'Annolfo 95,000
Nathalie Gervais 91,000
Christophe Colantoni 86,000
Daniel Pirlot 86,000
Claudio Guadagnino 82,000
Ludovic Poullet 79,000
Jerome Balthazar 75,000
Erwin Vu Duc 71,000
Andreas van Deyck 68,000
Abdel Chenoufi 66,000
Matthias van Der Perre 62,000
Patrick Hutsch 59,000
Rayane Mokhtar 55,000
Joselito Nalinnes 49,000
Gilles Masaud 47,000
Lukas Trzcinski 44,000
Farukh Tach 41,000
Billy Tuaiva 35,000
Vincent Gabel 35,000
Harrie Snijders 20,000
Dalil Masaud 20,000

Poum Poum

There are 2 effective hours left of poker on Day 1C of the Belgian Poker Challenge 2024 Main Event. Level 9 has begun, with 60 players competing in blinds 1,000 - 1,500 (1,500), averaging 85,000 chips. 

Since the return from dinner-break, Damien Hupé, Abdel Chenoufi, Vincent Thys, Simon Vitali and Mallory Frere have given up the ghost. The same goes for Agim Gizmo... these players can try their luck again until Thursday 1pm and the start of Day 2. 

As for Guy Goossens, he continued to suck up the chips, playing numerous moves... Well placed at the dinner break, Daniel Tordjman also played a huge pot. 

At the end of the previous level, Daniel paid a raise from his neighbor under the gun, Francis Neizen. One player paid, then the button put his 6,000-chip stack in the middle. Neizen called, and Tordjman sent in 30,000 chips. The Luxembourger then decided to send in his stack for 150,000. 

Tank from the Frenchman, who ends up calling with Ace Dame to discover Jacks in both all-in players. The dealer unlocks a flop with 3 clubs and it's Daniel who has the redraw... in addition to having hit Top Pair on Queen 8 6. Two bricks later, Tordjmann settles into the lead of the tournament with over 300,000 chips! 

The Frenchman is down to 310,000 chips after a run to 350,000, but he paid two alleyways before folder river against Patrick Hutsch... 

Top 60

Level 10 has begun, with 40 minutes of play remaining in this penultimate level of Day 1C. Play is going on at blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) with an average of 103,000 chips.

There are still 62 players in the running after the exits of Joselito Nalinnes, Saman Ziarati and Mark Roovers. Tom Kollee (on the right below) gave himself a reprieve by sending in 15 blinds with King-Queen MP. Paid by two Aces in the big blind, Tom made a straight on the turn. "Lucky," said his victim. "You need it," replies the Luxembourger, back at 60,000 chips.

For Rayane Mokhtar, it's time to double up. The Frenchman 3-bets shove 26,000 small blind chips after a min-raise from Daniel Tordjman's button (left below). Poum Poum hesitates a little before calling Ace 6... and Moktavarium returns Ace 6 too. "That's good, we split every time and I get 2,000 every time," laughs Rayane before picking up his mace again. A move for nothing!

Daniel still has a big stack, but with 260,000 chips, he's been overtaken by Wim Verhaegen, who was at 285,000 five minutes ago...

Last Level

With 39 minutes left on the clock on Day 1C of the BPC 2024 Main Event... Pierre Neuville is coming out of the woodwork. The WSOP Main Event finalist has moved back into the lead and is up to 260,000 chips in the final straight, with Wim Verhaegen in his sights.

With 43 players remaining and an average of 125,000 in chips, Claudio Guadagnino, Lukas Trzcinski, David Grilli, Nathalie Gervais and Billy Tuiava all joined the rail in the final minutes...

Daher's Rush

In the 4-way Deal of the BPC Cup, where he pocketed €24,465, Mohamed Daher continues his magnificent run at the Belgian Poker Championship. Daher topped the third opening day of the €1,100 BPC Main Event. 

Mohamed made a big chunk of his stack by opening with Ace Dame before calling out of position on a 3-bet from Christophe Colantoni. Christophe c-bet small on 776 then sent a cinderblock on the turn 7 before tank-call on Mohamed's 100,000 stack on a river 7. Daher returned ace-queen, which was enough against Colantoni's queens! Daher ended the day with 325,000 in chips, almost 7 times his starting stack. Daniel Tordjman was ahead until the last three hands of the day, when he lost 100,000 chips to drop down the rankings...

39 players have qualified for Day 1C, the third of seven starting sessions in a tournament that will be open until the start of Day 2 at 1pm on Thursday at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. With 93 players already qualified for the first two sessions, the number of players who have already qualified is now 132 with a place on Day 2 of this event organized in partnership with PokerStars. 

Daniel Pirlot, Pierre Neuville, EPT winner Raffaele Sorrentino, Fabio d'Annolfo, Guy Goossens, Wim Verhaege and Sandro Gangi have already booked their places. 

The fourth day of the Main Event kicks off on Tuesday at 1pm, with Day 1D expected to be a little busier, and should enable the tournament to break the 500-entry barrier! 






Chipcount complete 1C
Mohamed Daher 325,000
Arno Thuy 306,000
Daniel Tordjman 295,000
Jalmer Schuurmans 269,000
Ricardo de Rubeis 262,500
Guy Goossens 230,000
Dennis Gerschengoren 220 00
Erwin Vu Duc 197,000
Fabio d'Annolfo 197,000
Wim Verhaegen 190,500

Pierre Neuville 181,500
Luca Beretta 150,000
Karol Bogusz 143,000
Rene Keller 143,500
Sandro Gangi 129,000
Fabri Cardenia 127,000
Jean Patrick Delorme 126,000
Yves Pirson 126,000
Francis Neizen 124,000
Sidney Felstead 121,500

Christian van der Haegen 121,000
Patrick Hutsch 108,000
Robert Mauro 106 00
Manu Murgia 105,000
Mathias van Der Perre 103,500
Do Tran 102,000
Brian Rausens 100,000
Raffele Sorrentino 95,000
Michele Ferro 93,000
Dogan 89,000

Francois Del Peso 88,000
Daniel Pirlot 77,500
Alexander Ovechkin 70,000
Andreas van Deyck 65,500
Lukas Trzcinski 59,000
Fabrice Muller 58,000
Christophe Colantoni 49,500
Anthony Bui Ngoc 42,000
Vincent Gabel 41,000