Last Chance(s)

We've just kicked off the penultimate opening day of the €1,100-entry Belgian Poker Chalenge 2024. 103 players are already seated at the tables on Day 1F, a starting day featuring 11 50-minute levels for 50,000 starting chips. 

From 9 p.m. onwards, the final qualifying round takes place on Day 1G, with 11 25-minute levels. And for the unlucky and latecomers, there's still time to put in a final dumpling before the launch of Day 2 at 1 p.m. on Thursday, when registration closes for good. 

Shuffle up & deal ! 

Registered

Attendance continues to climb, with 125 entrants registered after just a few minutes of play, out of a total of 100 - 300... Registrants are enjoying the Namur sunshine and taking their time settling in, as many haven't taken their seats yet... 

With the turnout for this penultimate starting session, the prizepool continues to swell, and with €747,000 in the prize pool there's still work to be done to reach the tournament's €1 million guarantee. 

Among the contenders registered for Day 1F but not necessarily in the running are Pascal Honai, Reda Haidar, Laurent Barrague, Maradona Abaz, Robin Engelmann, Dany Livramento, Agim Gizmo, Claudio Guadagnino, Yannick Ansenne, Carlos Lopes and WSOP winner Romain le Dantec, Eric Goffin, Nicolas Kojovic, Aurelio Martin Garcia, Dalil Masaud, Morgan Poisson, Fabien Perrot, Sandro Pitzanti, Ludovic Poullet, Octavian Ripan, Yves Senterre and Mitch Vulperhorst...

Ca Monte

As the first level drew to a close, blinds climbed to 100 - 300 (300) with 177 players in the running for 180 entries and an average of 51,000 chips.

Giovanni Ventura, Nikola Wicquart, Franck Rene, Antonius Roberts, Yves Senterre, Axel Santoni, Pierre Tilmant, Floris Pop, Angelo Mancuso, Gaetan Lheureux, Antonino Manganino, TonyKiorpes, Francois Heine and Adrien Guyon have joined the list of entrants, and the prizepool now stands at €777,000.

853,000€ in the prizepool

The end of the second level of play is near, and a break is on its way. The field has grown to 251 entrants! There are still 245 in the running, with few outsiders at the moment, and the 1 million guarantee is getting closer. 

Samir Akhoullou, Abdessamad Ayyad, Tawfik Samrih, Andrea Caizzi, Abdel Chenoufi, Lucas Derpin, Mathieu Desmet, Morten Faas and François Grossmann have all paid to register... 

Nom de Diou de Nom de Diou

What a move! 5 players on the flop in a 3-bet pot and 4 players go all-in... with three outs once the river arrives and a huge chipleader on the break.

It all starts with Brya de Riddere's open under the gun... and a 1,900-chip 3-bet from his neighbor on the left, Harrie Snijders. The Dutchman doesn't scare off Mohamed Magroe, who calls in MP and Samir Boudeliou at the end of the hand.

The dealer unlocks a 6 7 9 rainbow flop and the fireworks begin with a 6,000-chip bet from Mangroe. Boudeliou pays and Adrien Guyon decides to send in 18,000.

All in for the equivalent at Bryan de Riddere... Harrie Snijders finds a fold with Kings... Mangroe goes all-in for the starting pot, which is paid by Boudeliou, and Guyon also pushes his entire stack.

There are 243,000 in the middle and a 4 player showdown !

Adrien Guyon reveals 7 and 8 of hearts. There's a pair of 9s from Mohamed Mangroe, 8s and tens of diamonds from Samir Boudeliou for the nuts and 9s of hearts from Bryan de Riddere.

Samir's big advantage was confirmed on a King of Spades turn that opened up a color draw that no one else had, with the river 3 of hearts granting him a massive chiplead for the first break.

Level 3 began a few minutes ago, and there are now 263 players in the running for 274 entries on Day 1F. The provisional BPC attendance climbs to 917 entrants... road to the million!

Checkpoint

It's time for a snack, and the report takes a break after this update on the stacks, with a reading taken at around 3.30pm... Time for lunch and a look at the 6-Max final, which began on Tuesday but ends today with JS Denissa in the mix...

272 players are in the game with 284 entrants and €880,000 in the prize pool. Titleholder Omar Lakhdari made an appearance... Micka Erbil and Matthias de Meulder have also signed up. 

Chipcount
Samir Boudeliou 233,000 (above)
Emmanouilis Chalkiotis 110,000
Mathieu Desmet 100,000
Jay Hoebe 99,000
Eric Goffin 85,000
Younes Ouriaghli 84,000
Daniel Domb 76,000
Zakaria Azzouzi 67,000
Emile van Irsen 61,000
Davy Huyst 60,000 (below)below)
Oliver Hauck 56,500
Dalil Masaud 55,000
Mitch Vulperhorst 52,000
Carlos Lopes 51,000
Christian Alilovic 50,000
Samir Akhoullou 50,000
Sabare Atmani 50,000
Omar Lakhdari 33,000

Over 300 entries on 1F

Unsurprisingly, the final day of qualifying for the Belgian Poker Challenge 2024 was well attended. The counter now shows 284 players in the running for 314 entries!

The tournament's overall attendance now stands at 953 entries for a prizepool that has now reached €910,000. The guaranteed million mark is set to be surpassed once again at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur!

Theo Milioni also tries his luck again today after an unsuccessful first attempt... Quentin Thavisouk, Sébastien Guidez, Fred Blehaut and all the regulars are here...

4-digit attendance

With 25 minutes left to play on level 5, 289 players are competing in blinds 300 - 600 (600) with an average of 63,000 chips. Jacques Guenni, Will Kassouf, Jensen Barnard, Raynald Coppin have entered, as have Badr Al Ghouch and Antoine Vranken...

With 643 entries after 5 starting days and 365 entries on Day 1F, provisional attendance at BPC 2024 has passed the 1,000 mark and there's €960,000 in the prize pool.

Soon 400

The Day 1F entry counter continues to climb, and now stands at 384. There are still 288 players competing in the 400 - 800 blinds (800), and the organizers have just announced a two-part dinner-break.

Level 6 is underway, and at the end of this level the players at tables 18 to 44 will take a dinner break, from 6.45pm to 8pm. Meanwhile, players at tables 101 to 120 will play one level before heading off for a meal from 7.30 to 8.45 p.m.

In the second group's dinner-break, the first group will play level 7, with the tie-break taking place at around 9pm. Easier to play than to dine!

Chipcount

Jay Hoebe 230 000
Abdessamad Ayyad 195 000
Qurntin Thavisouk 157 000
Christian Alilovic 154 000
Ludovic Poullet 136 000
Ludovic Ruperto 125 000
Harrie Snijders 125 000
Romain le Dantec 110 000
Emile van Irsen 107 000
David Olurebi 105 000
Francois Grossmann 104 000
Sebastien Guidez 95 000
Andrea Caizzi 87 000
Younes Abkal 85 000
Badre Al Ghouch 80 000
Davy Huyst 76 000
Kamel Djemai 73 000
Michel Leibgorin 70 000
Françis Louis Vlassis 67 000

Dinner break (I)

Half the field is on dinner break... and the guarantee has been exceeded as there are now 412 entrants into Day 1F of the BPC 2024 Main Event! There's €1,004,150 in the prize pool for this €1 million guaranteed prizepool tournament.

The players seated at tables 18 to 45 are on dinner break after having played 6 levels, the second group is currently competing on blinds 500 - 1000 (1000), a level at the end of which it will be time to go on dinner break. During dinner-break 2, the first group will in turn play level 7 before joining up at 9 p.m. for level 8! 

Chipcount of players on dinner break
Samir Boudeliou 295,000
Abdessamad Ayyad 235,000 (above)above)
Jay Hoebe 212,000
Harrie Snijders 168,000
Ricardo Bonelli 164,000
Franck Tubiani 161,000
Ferny Irik 142,000
David Olurebi 141,000
Brandon Destiny 140,000
Franck Reichel 136,000
Emile van Irsen 135,000
Gianluca Bernardini 135,000
Will Kassouf 134,000
Emmanouilis Chalkiotis 134,000
Gaetano Ferrar 133,000
Nikolas Mastrantones 115,000
Lucas Derpin 110,000
Romain Le Dantec 107,000
Luis Rosero 104,000
Charlene Kals 79,000 (below)below)
Reda Haidar 77 000
Dominique Fassin 75 000

Dinner break (II)

The second group went on break after playing level 500 - 1000 (1000), a level which is currently playing the first group after having eaten.

The join-up will take place just before 9 p.m. for level 8, which will be played on blinds 500 - 1500 (1500). Everyone will have eaten and played 7 levels, leaving an effective 200 minutes of poker before joining Day 2. 

With entries open until the start of Day 2 at 1pm on Thursday in blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500), and Day 1G, which will be played over 11 levels of 25 minutes, starting at 9pm, there are currently 1,071 entries in this BPC 2024. That's down to 426 entries on Day 1F! 

With 257 players still in the running on this sixth and penultimate starting day, we take a look at the stacks in the second group, the one currently on break after 7 50-minute levls. This group includes defending champion Omar Lakhdari. 

And as you can see from the photo above, the €1 million guarantee has been wiped out, leaving €1,025,000 in the pot... and growing ! 

Chipcount
Miguel Tavares 258 000
Simone Demasi 220 000
Adi Neigauz 210 000
Pavel Heger 204 000
Dalil Masaud 179 000
Francois Louis Vlassis 145 000
Ludovic Ruperto 145 00
Ruben Tach 137 000
Nicolas Kojovic 135 000
Davy Huyst 135 000
Omar Lakhdari 118 000
Jeffrey Sauren 112 000
Salva Barone 106 000
Quentin Thavisouk 105 000
Mickael Erbil 100 000
Damien Hupe 93 000
Jiyayu Zhong 78 000
Bram Berkens 59 000

Namur Junction

Namur regulars will be familiar with the Confluence traffic circle, where the Sambre and Meuse rivers meet... Belgian Poker Challenge players will be discovering the shared lunch break! It's time for level 8 to get underway, and all Day 1F participants are in action.

The table shows 249 players for 434 entries on Day 1F, with 20 minutes left to play in level 8... with 1,086 entries the prize pool has climbed to €1,031,000!

There's plenty of action too, as Reda Haidar (below) has just returned a 240,000-chip hit. "Pot 3-bet, flop 2 3 5 with a flush draw, one checked-shove 130,000 chips with Ace Jack and the draw... it was expected by the Kings who held, one player (Harrie Snijders) who hesitated to pay the raise to 6500 preflop had the 3s and would have taken it all," confides Reda Haidar.

The player with the kings was Lagdar Sadoudi, now well placed to offer himself a deep-run on this BPC...

In My Benz

The tournament boss is German... his name is Sebastian Benz and he's up to 425,000 chips. All aboard, Simone!

Sebastian doesn't know NTM, but he does know the success of the player in the middle of a rush. While he had Top Set on the turn, a player put in over 100,000 chips with gutshot and flush draw - just under an 18% chance of chatting. One brick later, Sebastian was gone.

Having just arrived at the table of Axel Santoni (below with a comforting reporter), Mitch Vulperhorst and Morgan Poisson, Sebastian took another 80,000 chips from a "short" who put it all in with Kings. Sebastian had Ace-Kings and didn't back down to hit an Ace and suck in a new stack. He has more than 4 times the average of 99,000 chips!

Axel Santoni was less successful, falling at the heads-up with King Jack against Ace 8 all-in preflop to get back to 20 blinds...

Level 9 of the Belgian Poker Challenge Day 1F has begun, with 220 players competing in blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500). The table shows 447 entrants and a total of 1,129 entries for this tournament, with the prize pool climbing to €1,072,550! 

Omarus on a mission

He wants to keep a low profile, but his results speak for themselves, as does his flamboyant style. Omar Lakhdari is all about action, and he's often on the right side at showdown... exiled in the Salle Océan, the defending champions got their back-to-back off to a good start.

The Parisian, who cashed for €206,000 in Namur last year (his biggest win in a rich career, editor's note), is up to 325,000 pawns with 25 minutes left to play in level 9. The blinds are 1000 - 1500 (1500) with the final break of Day 1F approaching... Omar's got plenty of depth to go around, as Damien Hupé looks on, at the show for a €1,100 buy-in on this BPC 2024.

The table shows 217 players in the running for 449 entrants on this sixth starting day. That's enough to boost attendance to 1,136 and the prize pool to €1,079,200... because the seventh and final starting day has begun. On the "Turbo" 1G, participants will compete in 11 25-minute levels, wrapping up just after 1.30am.

Top 200

The final break of the sixth and penultimate opening day of the BPC 2024 Main Event has come to an end. Play resumed a few minutes ago on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) for the penultimate level of Day 1G.

200 players are seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... for a day which has gathered 454 entrants so far. With Day 1F now underway, tournament attendance has now reached 1,162 entrants with a prize pool of €1,103,000.

Roman le Dantec 's moment to build his stack. The WSOP champion was down to 100,000 chips two hours ago, and tells us about his ascent. "I had two interesting moves... the first one I got the big blind Aces against a guy who was a bit ticked off at me because I was aggressive," details Romain who 3-bet 14,000 chips out of position and got paid before continuing-betting 10,000 on 5 5 3. His opponent paid before raising to 75,000 chips with 30,000 behind on the Frenchman's 28,000 second barrel. Le Dantec pushes and gets paid by Roi Dame to raise to 250,000 chips one river later.

Just before the break and at the end of level 8, Romain found a new spot. "A move against a degen, we're playing the same stack... a crazy move," Romain laughs before recounting. "He's on the button and I've got the 9s in the big blind, he opens 4 and I raise 15,500 because we're deep... he makes 35,000 and I pay," continues the Frenchman.

Romain Le Dantec check-calls 20,000 chips on Ten 6 6 then another 80,000 on a King turn. No action on a river 8 and when Romain shows his hand, it's mucke on the other side. Heading for 330,000 chips as Romain offered himself a respected small blind 3-bet a few minutes after the restart following this last break. 

Chipcount
Sebastian Benz 390,000
Romain le Dantec 330,000
Andrea Cardinali 290,000
Abdessamad Ayyad 256,000
Floris Pop 210,000
Ludovic Poullet 200,000
Samir Boudeliou 188,500
Dalil Masaud 170,000
Pascal Honai 165,000
Theo Milioni 154,000
Ludovic Ruperto 153,000
Michel Leibgorin 150,000
Fred Blehaut 150,000
Jay Hoebe 147,000
Lucas Derpin 146,000
Ruben Tack 146,000
Omar Lakhdari 120,000

The Last Hour

There's an effective hour left of poker on the sixth and penultimate starting day of the Belgian Poker Challenge. The blinds are still on 1000 - 2000 (2000) for ten minutes, irection the last blind increase and this doubled level which will also be the first of Day 2.

The opening days end on 1000 - 2500 (2500) and the first level will be the same on Thursday from 1pm. Except that the duration of the levels will have increased to 70 minutes and registration will be closed.

With 60 minutes left to play on Day 1F, the general table shows 1,182 entries for 172 players in the running and 457 registered! The prize pool is now close to €1,125,000... and Octavian Ripan (below), David Kahan, Harrie Snijders, Mehdi Violleau and Franck René will have to re-enter. These players have no choice but to continue their journey on this massive BPC as expected! 

Top 150

The number of players at the table has just fallen to 150 survivors on the sixth of the seven starting days of the BPC 2024. There are 20 minutes left on the clock for level 11, the last of the evening, and the floors will be announcing the number of last hands in ten minutes' time...

Omar Lakhdari is chipleader of the Ocean Room with 320,000 chips, but a few players seem to have a bit more in the main room... Others have decided to late reg' in-extremis, Giacomo Grossi having just arrived in the main room a few minutes before bagging!

The counter has climbed to 1,197 entrants for a prizepool of €1,137,000! 

138 Qualifiers on one massive Day

The biggest day in the history of the BPC has just come to an end. With 459 entrants on the sixth of seven starting days, the Belgian Poker Challenge 2024 has entered another dimension, heading for4-figure attendance and a 1 million euro guarantee surpassed.

138 players made it through Day 1F to bring the contingent of qualifiers to 343 survivors, while Day 1G continues until 1.30 a.m. and it will be possible to enter the tournament right up to the shuffle up & deal on Day 2, Thursday at 1 p.m. for a doubled level and blinds again of 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500).

On the poker side, Frank Reichel (below) finished top of this starting day. The German's main achievement was to turn $600 into over $185,000 by finishing runner-up in WSOP Event #57 of the 2022 edition. An amateur live player, Frank confessed to a linear day. "Long way to go" he concluded, bagging 456,500 chips and 9 times the starting stack.

He beat WSOP champion Romain le Dantec, who came 17th last year, but also BPC 2023 winner Omar Lakhdari, Floris Pop, Matteo Zanardi and Abdessamad Ayyad. Theo Milioni, Mitch Vulperhorst, Pascal Honai and Carlos Lopes also won... while JS Denissa jumped on the final hand with a flush draw that didn't go in.

With 20 minutes to go, Giacomo Grossi increased his stack to 56,000 chips. Grind express or what?!

Partial Chipcount Day 1F
Frank Reichel 456,500
Matteo Zanardi 431 00
Luca Delfino 390,000
Samir Boudeliou 375,500
Ikinik Ferry 344,000
Romain Le Dantec 321,000
Sam Tropez 307 
Floris Pop 290,000
Omar Lakhdari 273,000
Abdessmad Ayyad 260,000
Guillaume Navarro 258,000
Nico de Cleen 229,000

Francois Louis Vlassis 229 000
Yassine Romain 207 000
Laurent van den Eynde 202 000
Logdan Sadoudi 202 000
Alexis Longae 195 000
Matei Lupascu 194 000
Pascal Honai 187 000
Sebastian Ben 171 000
Jay Hoebe 170 000
Charlene Kals 156 000
Fred Blehaut 143 000
Francois Heine 129 000
Julien Duveau 122 000
Ludovic Poullet 117 000
Mitch Vulperhorst 115 000
Reda Haidar 91 000
Theo Milioni 87 000
Carlos Lopes 55 000



The complete chipcount in the document belowbelow