The comeback of Mike Niegho, 183 ITM players and Day 3 

With a further 36 players deciding to register at the end of the seven starting days, the Belgian Poker Challenge finally gathered 1,259 entrants to build up a prize pool of €1,194,791.

There were still 428 players at the start of Day 2 and it took 7 hours of play to get down to 183 players. Fabio Percio finished in worst place after a complicated day in which he played and lost a few key moves against Christian Alilovic. Miro Alilovic and his brother will be in action on Day 3, Friday from 1 p.m. for a shot at the €200,000 first prize! 

Belgian Mike Niegho (above) only has the second-largest stack of the 183 survivors of the Belgian Poker Challenge, but that's the story of Day 2. After bagging 50,000 chips, the starting stack on Day 1A, Mike had a dream day to bag 1,339,000 chips.

The final spot sums up his day... open, 3-bet from Mike, call from Miro Alilovic, all-in from the opener for 600,000 chips, all-in from Mike for the same amount and fold from Miro and his Jacks. Mike turns over the Aces, faces the Kings and stays ahead at the end of a table where Miro (with his brother Christian below) would have made three of a kind! 

Dutchman Raoul Kanme came out on top with 1,369,000 chips in a tournament that still features many of the top players from poker Belgium and Europe. WSOP Europe winner Romain le Dantec is in the provisional Top 5. Ludovic Ruperto and Mohamed Daher are in the Top 10.

Sandro Pitzanti, BPC 2022 winner Samy Barka, Yassine Romain and two-time BPC winner Arne Coulier are among the Top 30 survivors.

Tom Dingenen, Raphael Canta, Julien Duveau, Jean-Marie Vandeborne, Adrian Baltariu, Rico Roumen, Antoine Vranken, Robin Fournez, Abdessamad Ayyad, Xavier Dupuy, Reda Haidar, Team Pro Pokerstars Simon Wiciak, Davy Huyst, Artan Dedusha ,and Adrien Fraiture are in the top third. Enough to dream of a huge performance tonight!

Guy Goossens, Rayane Mokhtar, Mathieu Alciato, Daniel Tordjman, WSOP champion Tobias Peters, Eric Olausson, Jean Yip, Brandon Leetz and François Grossmann are also in the running. Samir Akhoullou, Mathias Moutaoukil, Moh Razab Sekh, Sandro Gangi, Miguel Coussement, Fabian Rolli, Slva Barone, Rachid Oufaska, Rami Awad or Adrien Di Grande also found a bag. 

Like Martin "felix" Schneiders, Antonio Cabanas, Frank Reichel, Farid Azarkan, Vincent Gabel, Damien Hupé or Slavatore, anything is possible. 133rd in the provisional rankings, Orhan Serbes packed in 20 blinds for the restart.

Denis Charlier, Pierre Neuville, François Heine, Freddy Godel, Jay Hoebe, Robert Seelen and Anthony Bui Ngoc can all dream of a Mike Niegho-style comeback... Guillaume Navaro is also in shorts, and he knows the recipe for success on the BPC, having already finished on the podium at this tournament!

Last in the class, Mallory Frere resumes with 3 blinds for 9 minutes... good luck and see you tomorrow. 

Chipcount Complete & Redraw

Shuffle Up & Deal

All Day 3 participants are in the money in this Belgian Poker Challenge 2024, which attracted 1,259 entries. There are 183 players on the starting line, and the aim is to get down to 3 or 4 tables of 8 players for Day 4.

With 9 minutes to play on 3000 - 6000 (6000), it's going to be a fast start to the day! 

Massacre

9 minutes of play, 8 outs... the blinds climbed to 4000 - 8000 (8000) and there were casualties. Mallory Frere had come back with 3.5 blinds, but jumped straight into Day 3.

173 players remain for an average of 363,000 chips... the levels now last 90 minutes, but it's all over for Freddy Godel, Fabri Cardenia, Pierre Henry, Denis Charlier, Cedric Schumacher, Florentin Barre, Henning Wendlandt, Floris Ten Cate and Mohamed Razab Sekh.

J3LLYF5SH on the Attack

50 minutes of play from the start... and 30 players down. There was damage, but not for everyone. Julien Duveau alias J3LLYF5sh is one of the millionaires... with 1.5 million in chips, he may even have moved into the lead with 40 minutes left to play on 4000 - 8000 (8000). "I didn't set this up by just passing buffs," confirms Julien at the table as he wins another move into position.

152 players remain in the running on this Belgian Poker Challenge... Julien Duveau is up and running. The Frenchman has found the Aces, played three of a kind against three of a kind and has just made another trip to vaorise river... A perfect start to climb to almost three times the average.

Winner of the €3300 Super High Roller earlier in the week, Vincent de Neve is also in fine form. The German has 1.2 million chips and an average of 420,000...

But it's all over for a new cart. Finito for Samuel Bovy, Wim Verhaegen, Rami Awad (below with your favorite reporter), Jens Vanderbruggen, Adrian Baltariu, Francois Heine, Floris Pop, Mathias Moutaoukil and Lucas Derpin. Parisian Kostya Zaks also gave up the fight, as did Jean-Patrick Delorme and Maxime Robin...

Il est Bello mon million

Things are going well for Robin Fournez, who has almost a 7-figure stack with 20 minutes left to play on 4000 - 8000 (8000). With 980,000 counters, the Belgian is in a good position, while there are only 145 players left in the field, with an average of 433,000 chips.

After an open under the gun, Robin discovers Ace 5 of diamonds on the hijack and pays... which prompts the button to raise the stakes to 56,000 chips... which provokes a 3-shot on the flop. The UTG player regains the initiative on a 2 3 3 flop with a diamond and Robin pays the requested 70,000 chips for a duel. The dealer unlocks an Ace turn and the original opener sends in a second 65,000-chip pot.

Robin calls to see his opponent check-raise. The Belgian values to 120,000 chips and gets a call muck... soon the million! 

Live Streaming 

Martin Schneiders is still in the tournament, streaming his table live... and playing with Simon Wiciak, Anthony Bui Ngoc, Romain le Dantec, Mantas Urbonas, Adrien di Grande and Carlos Lopes.

Bustos

Play was paused after 100 minutes on Day 3. 139 players with €1,950 in prize money returned to blinds 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000) with an average of 45 blinds.

Just before the break, the play of Carlos Lopes and Pierre Neuville came to a halt. So did Christian Alilovic 's, leaving his brother Miro on his own in the hunt for the title and the €200,000 that goes with it. No new final either for the man who finished runner-up to Samy Barka in 2022 for a 6-figure payout. Exit Guillaume Navaro in 143rd place for €1,950... the Belgian scratched the first payout. 

Checkpoint

One hour of play remains on 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000) with 130 players in the field and an average of 49 blinds... The two former winners in the field are doing well, with Arne Coulier at 720,000 chips and Samy Barka in the millionaires' bracket.

Sandro Gangi, Jonathan de Schepper, Erwin Vu Duc, Johannes Roosen and Davide Marchi have all given up since the break...

Chipcount
Raoul Kanme 1,370,000
Yoann Ramaekers 1,175,000
Samir Boudeliou $1,150,000
Mike Niegho 1,100,000
Mohamed Daher 1,100,000
Julien Duveau 1,100,000
Samy Barka 1,100,000
Vincent de Neve 900,000
Tobias Peters 900,000
Ludovic Ruperto 800,000
Miro Alilovic 800,000
Arne Coulier 720,000
Romain le Dantec 200,000

Top 120

There are 120 players left in this Belgan Poker Challenge 2024 with 25 minutes to play before a break. The average is 52 blinds and Mohamed Daher has just joined the millionaires' club. 

Present in the Cup deal at the start of the festival for a 5-figure payout, mohamed opened under the gun and got paid three times. He sent in 45,000 chips on the Jack 9 5 flop with a spade draw and Brandon Leetz was the only one to call in position.

No action on turn 7, which brought a third spade on the board and Mohamed checked the river. There, Brandon sent 200,000 into 250,000 with 100,000 behind and Daher took his time to pay and uncover King of spades Queen of clubs for Air at his opponent's house.

Daher climbs to 1.1 million and over 100 blinds, while Leetz falls to 10bb at a table featuring Xavier Dupuy (620,000) and Adrien Fraiture (370,000).

Finito for Simon Wiciak, Ludovic Ruperto, Salva Barone, Sandro Pitzani and Abdessamad Ayyad (below)... Quentin Hupliez's 14 blinds mean that the BKOPB player is still in with a chance, as is Baho Hosseini's 40 blinds. Tobias Peters (1,200,000) and Julien Duveau (1,600,000) continue to look up.

Explosion before the break, Miro at the controls

105 players are on break and will be back at 5 p.m. to battle it out over 5,000 - 15,000(15,000), a rise in blinds that will hurt the shorts.

The average is 600,000 chips, and some of them have passed the second in the 15 minutes before the break. Antoine Vranken won a huge move preflop with tens against ace-valets and 89 suit... enough to take the Dutchman to 1.7 million.

Vranken is not in charge of the tournament, the boss must be Miro Alilovic! The Frenchman went from 1 million to 2.2 million in the space of an hour. He first won a small flip to suck up 20 blinds or 200,000 chips. Then he 3-bet King 7 of diamonds to see his opponent pay out of position and donk-bet 3-barrels all-in for a total of half a million in pure bluffing. Miro had hit a flush draw on the flop which went in on the turn!

With 1.7 million in front of him, the rush didn't stop for the tricolor who then opened a pair of 8s, found an Ace 8 9 flop to send 3-barrels and get a river call-muck! On to the Yellow Jersey for the Frenchman. 

The other Frenchman who took off was Mokhtar Rayane aka Moktavarium. Just before the break he was well helped by Robin Fournez... The 7Bello opened to 20,000 on the last hand before the break, and 4-bet to 220,000 chips when Mokta sent in 90,000 from the big blind.

Fournez doesn't back down and pays almost instantly with Ace Dame when Rayane pushes his stack up to nearly 700,000 chips. Fournez flips ace-queen and stays behind the kings of the Frenchman, who joins the break with 1.4 million. Robin resumes with 100,000! 

The players still in the running are guaranteed a €2,205 payout, but it's all over for Kostya Zaks, Jay Hoebe (below) or Yi Lin and Stéphane Vincent, runner-up of a festival here in Namur a few weeks ago to turn €250 into €55,000 at the Winter Festival! 

Breakdown

There are 75 minutes left to play in blinds 5000 - 15,000 (15,000) with 93 players in contention and an average of 677,000 chips... Here are a few stacks of the players still in the game.

Chipcount
Miro Alilovic 2 225 000
Raoul Kanme 1 700 000
Julien Duveau 1 600 000
Mike Niegho 1 600 000
Antoine Vranken 1 600 000
Samir Boudeliou 1 570 000
Vincent de Neve 1,500,000
Rayane Mokhtar 1,450,000
Yoann Ramaekers 1,350,000
Thijs Dirkzwager 1,300,000
Tobias Peters 1,250,000
Reda Belkhou 1,150,000
Eric Olausson 1,100,000
Samy Barka 1 000 000
Mantas Urbonas 975 000
Guy Goossens 800 000
Arne Coulier 705 000
Adrien Di Grande 700 000
Vincent Gabel 600 000
Baho Hosseini 500 000
Miguel Coussement 450 000
Raphael Canta 450 000
Tom Dingenen 400 000
Martin Schneiders 350 000
Damien Hupe 300 000
Antonio Cabanas 260 000
Jean Yip 250 000
Charlene Kals 200 000
Quentin Hupliez 160 000

Ranking

There are still 89 players in the running and one hour of play left on 5000 - 15000 (15000) with an average of 707,000, i.e. still a ton of depth! 

Arne Coulé

With 35 minutes left to play in blinds 5,000 - 15,000 (15,000), Samy Barka is the latest winner. The Frenchman has 600,000 chips, still better than Arne Coulier...

The Belgian won't be making the pass of 3, having first lost a big blind battle where he went all in with a pair and a flushdraw. Caught red-handed, Arne then put his two blinds in the middle of the small blind.

Dutchman Rik van Etten opened UTG and got paid by Dmytro Ryliakov... Rik went 3-barrel all-in and Dmytro finally hesitated before calling with Ace Ten for Top Pair and uncovering a total Queen Jack bluff from the opener. "I was hoping his bluff would go through"; laughs Arne, who would indeed have tripled with his 5 2 of hearts. Crippled, Rik van Etten goes all-in from... almost every hand, while Ryliakov heads a 7-figure stack.

The whole package

"Too many outs," slipped Martin Schneiders to Anthony Bui Ngoc as the latter had just bowed out in 87th place for €2,530 The Frenchman 3-bet shove 13 blinds after an open from Baho Hosseini at the Cutoff. The player paid with 8s to discover Ace 7 of hearts from the man who also finished 24th in the previous edition of the BPC.

Anthony vibrates along a Ten Jack King Jack board as a heart draw appears on the turn... but it's a 5 of diamonds that precipitates him into the river rail. What a shame! 

Not the same run for Raoul Kanme, who was at the same table and won a big pot against Mohamed Daher in the process. Raoul opens in EP and sends in 450,000 chips for the pot on a 9-high board... From the big blind, Mohamed Daher calls-mucks when he sees three of a kind hitting the Dutchman's river! Kanme climbs to 2.6 million chips following this move, while Mohamed falls to 900,000, far from being in danger yet in this Belgian Poker Challenge 2024. 

Top 80 

With 10 minutes to go before another break, the field has shrunk to 79 players. There were 183 at the start of the day at 1 p.m. for a game played over 90-minute levels!

The average chip count climbed to 797,000 with the elimination of Arne Coulier (85th) and Robin Fournez (82nd)...

Aperitif

Play has just resumed with 76 players in the 10,000-15,000 blinds (15,000) and an average of 828,000 chips... 90 minutes to go, before the dinner break and a PokerStars pot for the players. Quentin Hupliez finished his mission of resistance just after the break, losing in 75E position for €2,530...

Chipcount
Raoul Kanme 3,470,000
Miro Alilovic $2,200,000
Samir Boudeliou $2,050,000
Artan Dedusha 1,900,000
Konstantin Faerber 1,850,000
Antoine Vranken 1,500,000
Rayane Mokhtar $1,400,000
Xavier Duuy 1,400,000
Vincent de Neve 1,345,000
Julien Duveau $1,200,000
Miguel Coussement 1,130,000
Jean Marie Vandeborne 1,130,000
Tobias Peters 930,000
Samir Akhoullou 875,000
Mike Niegho 800,000
Adrien Di Grande 765,000
Samy Barka 750,000
Matnas Urbonas 715,000
Adrien Fraiture 650,000
Raphael Canta 650,000
Jean Yip 600,000
Rico Roumen 570,000
Baho Hosseini 500,000 (photo)
Rene Franck 490 00
Martin Schneiders 475,000
Fabian Rolli 460,000
Damien Hupe 340,000
Antonio Cabanas 200,000

Skimming

"I'm losing every shot," Julien Duveau told ClubPoker's cover guy... the Frenchman is down to 750,000 chips with 67 players and 45 minutes to go before the dinner break.

The game is being played over 10,000 - 15,000 (15,000) with an average of 926,000 chips, and we've lost Luca Delfino, an Italian who likes big fields, having turned €550 into €121,000 in San Marino in 2020... We also lost Tom Dingenen (69th for €2,910) and Rico Roumen (68th for €2,910).

Top 65

Antonio Cabanas will be enjoying a slightly longer dinner break than the candidates for the €200,000 first prize in this Belgian Poker Challenge. This Namur regular has posted his last 14 blinds with King-Queen... heading for the stack of Louis Marchandise, who wakes up with Ace-Queen and climbs to 1,100,000 a board later.

Another Belgian on a roll is Raphael Canta (above), who has just passed the million-chip mark by helping himself to the chips of Dutchman Antoine Vranken. With the average at 968,000 or 64 blinds, we're going to have to play a lot more hands before we're down to 4 tables... Yves Pirson, Berthold Winz and Levent Efe (below) have also recently joined the rail.

The dinner break is imminent, and we'll catch up with you during the break, which will last until just after 9 p.m. for a more precise chipcount...

Miss Nothing

Clubpoker for the French-speaking, PokerCity for the Northerners... you can follow the Belgian Poker Challenge Main Event in depth on the web...

As long as Martin Schneiders is in the game, you can also follow the PokerStars player's progress on his stream. It's in German, but his team sometimes wander between the tables to show the rest of the action. 

Dinner break

The 64 survivors of the Belgian Poker Challenge are on a break until 9:35pm with a restart on 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000) with 49 blinds on average. Samy Barka has repositioned himself with a hero-call height Dame... a more complete chipcount arrives a little later. 

Chipcount
Raoul Kanme 3 800 000
Samiyel Duezgven 2 800 000
Miro Alilovic 2 100 000
Yoann Ramaekers 1 950 000
Bram Berkers 1 850 000
Rayane Mokhtar 1 800 000
François Grossmann 1 500 000
Samy Barka 1 150 000
Samir Akhoullou 470 000
Guy Goossens 210 000

Friday Night

The game resumed with 64 players and the chopper came very close for Martin Schneiders. Martin went all in with a mismatched ace-queen and was impaled on the aces of his compatriot Giovanni Camardella. 

The German flushed a one-card club to raise to 650,000 chips! Camardella is crippled as play continues on 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000). 

This is the penultimate level of this Friday evening, at the end of which there will be a 15-minute break, followed by a final 90-minute round. 





Chipcount

Raoul Kanme 3 800 000
Samiyel Duezguen 2 800 000
Mathias Henin 2 700 000
Konstantin Faerber 2 550 000
Miro Alilovic 2 000 000
Samir Boudeliou 1 950 000
Vincent de Neve 1 900 000
Xavier Dupuy 1 725 000
Marc Gets 1 485 000
Artan Dedusha 1 475 000
David Beaune 1 290 000
Samir Bou Dahdir 1 185 000
Samy Barka 1 170,000
Henrik Symkems 1,115,000
Fabian Rolli 1,000,000
Louis Marchandise 1,000,000
Adrien Fraiture 800,000
Mantas Urbonas 775,000
Rik van Etten 565,000
Rob Hendrikx 525 000
Mohamed Daher 520 000
Franck Rene 400 000
Leandro Dirlewanger 395 000
Mike Niegho 345 000
Alexander Ovechkin 260 000
Damien Hupe 240 000

Top 60

With 45 minutes left to play on the penultimate level of the evening, 59 players were competing in blinds 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000), with an average of 1 million or 50 blinds.

Guy Goossens gave up the ghost by sending in just under 9 blinds with King Ten in an unopened pot... Miguel Coussement woke up with queens in the big blind to up 1.7 million chips.

Frenchman Franck Rene put his last 6 blinds in the middle after an open from Yoann Ramaekers... Yoann called with his Jack 6 suiter to hit a 6 and beat the opponent's Ace Jack - this one's for Belgium! Ramaekers climbs to 1.6 million following this scalp. 

The tournament took on a human dimension with only 8 tables remaining on Day 3 of the Belgian Poker Challenge 2024... The survivors secured a €2,910 payout and Miro Alilovic continues to look upwards.

The Frenchman opens the Ten under the gun and sees Xavier Dupuy defend. No action on a Ten 6 4 flop with two diamonds and the Belgian donk on a diamond 9 turn. Miro pays to uncover the last Ten river... and sees Xavier overbet to 350,000 chips.

Alilovic will size up to 850,000 chips and get a call-muck to climb to 2.9 million! Xavier's margin, which had most likely been flush, was now slightly reduced... 

Two hours before Day 4

There are still a good 15 minutes left to play on 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000) with 51 players in the running, meaning just under two hours of effective play from poker before the chips are bagged up for the survivors.

The average was 57 blinds, and Vincent Gabel (56th) gave up on a flip to get back to 1.2 million against Konstantin Faerber. The German saw the coin fall the right way up to 3.4 million... 5 minutes later he 3-bet an open under the gun of Takushi Shiratori. The Japanese puts in 575,000 and goes all-in with the queens, only to be snapped up by the aces. Faerber falls back to 2.8 million when a Queen pops up on the turn... The Japanese is back to the mean! 

At the next table, Miro Alilovic kept up the good work by eliminating Reda Belkhou (55th) on a Two versus King Jack flip... at the end of a Ten Ten Ten Queen Ace table where Reda made an unnecessary straight. The Frenchman climbs to 3.4 million, leading the tournament as Raoul Kanme has "plunged" to just under 3 million.

It was also the end of the road for Samir Akhoullou, who contested a flip in a blind battle against Mokhtar. Rayane alias Moktavarium climbed to 2.9 million after sucking up the Belgian's stack (53rd).

Also of note was Damien Hupé's double-up, when he went all-in unpaid before winning a move with postflop Aces against Julien Duveau. Damien is now up to 515,000 chips, while the Frenchman is at risk with 300,000.

J3llYF5SH then tried to steal by opening on the button, but in the big blind François Grossmann called all-in for a quick fold. François Grossmann repositioned to 2.3 million by eliminating Iman Ghashayar (53rd). The Dutchman went all-in river over an opponent's bet on a board with a flop containing an Ace and three diamonds. The Swiss tanked before calling with 9 and 5 of diamonds to flush, Iman could only show King Ten for Air on the river, heading for the door.

FPS Paris 2024 finalist Julien Duveau (below) couldn't resist much longer (52nd). As a result, Damien Hupé keeps on scratching. A monster of resilience on this afternoon, he took another step up. 3,345€ for the boss of Poker One! 

Fifty Fifty

With 75 minutes left to play on Day 3, the game is being played over 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000) with an average of 50 blinds and 50 players in contention. Antoine Vranken (51st in photo) is the latest to give up... Miro Alilovic is leading the Belgian Poker Challenge just a few days before Day 4 of the Belgian Poker Challenge. PokerStars player Martin Schneiders went 10-up on the final level and hasn't looked back since he cracked the Aces! 

Chipcount
Miro Alilovic 3,300,000
Raoul Kanme 3,300,000
Mathias Henin 3,225,000
Martin Schneiders 2,670,000
Konstantin Faerber 2,600,000
Francois Grossmann 2,400,000
Samir Boudeliou 2,000,000
Miguel Coussement 1,840,000
Rayane Mokhtar 1,800,000
Louis Marchandise 1,700,000 000
Vincent de Neve 1 650 000
Artan Dedusha 1 650 000
Mantas Urbonas 1 550 000
Samy Barka 1 300 000
Adrien Di Grande 1 300 000
Fabian Rolli 1 300 000
Adrien Fraiture 1 200 000
Arno Thuy 1 200 000
Raphael Canta 1 000 000
Tobias Peters 1 000 000
Baho Hosseini 950 000
Jean-Marie Vandeborne 780,000
Xavier Dupuy 770,000
Mathieu Alciato 580,000
Damien Hupe 480,000
Mike Niegho 300,000

It's a man's man's man's world

There are no women left in the tournament. Germany's Baho Hosseini bowed out in 48th place with an hour of play left in the 10,000 - 25,000 blinds (25,000) before Day 4 of the BPC 2024. 

Averaging 1,338,000 chips, Baho first lost a big pot to Naim Bouhraoua, who went full house on a board with two deuces and managed to get paid on several value alleys. Crippled after this move, Baho all-ined with As Valet only to run into As Roi, heading for the rail for €3,345.

Just before that, Xavier Dupuy (49th) paid covered with Queens after an open-shove from Adrien di Grande under the gun. Adrien turned over As Roi and won despite a Queen on the flop, the Namur Classics 2023 winner finishing in a straight river to come home with a block of over 30 blinds and 800,000 chips. 

Sprint

Mixed fortunes for the Belgians in the last few minutes. Carmine Giordano has just 3-bet shove with Ace-King and doubled up against Marc Gets' Ace-Queen... Carmine returns to 700,000 while his compatriot falls to 300,000 chips with less than 15 minutes to play on 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000), the final level of Day 3 of the BPC 2024.

Jean-Marie Vandeborne is the one who's in the doldrums. Jean-Marie was pouting a little after his exit in 45th position... he took a risk with Ace King and was picked off by an old fox, Tobias Peters. The Dutchman opened and called a 3-bet out of position before checking call on 5 Jack 4 and then check-calling again on a Queen turn where JMV put it all in. Vandeborne had 700,000 to start the hand... Tobias climbs to 2.1 million with the Aces, and the WSOP champion doesn't stop there as on the next move, he opens and his 4-bet snap-folds Martin Schneiders! Tobias Peters raises to 2.4 million, while the average is 1,460,000 chips at 43 left.

Mohamed Daher came to a halt in 47th place, the man who had climbed into the Cup deal which brought together 1,033 entrants this time offering himself a nice deep-run on a field of 1,259 entrants. Daher went all in with ace-king suit and impaled himself on the aces of Vincent de Neve, who came in just under 3 million after sucking up half a million on this move....

Also in Belgium, Donato Sparavilla doubled up in a blinds battle against François Grossmann. Donato went all in with King 5 suited, only to be paid off by Ace 4... After hitting, Donato raised to 900,000 while the Swiss fell to 2.3 million. A few minutes earlier Donato had shoved and shown 5 and 7 suit after nobody had paid... 

But the big move of the last few minutes went to a Frenchman. Rayane Mokhtar defends in the grose blind after Raoul Kanme's open under the gun. Moktavarium check-raises to 210,000 on a Jack 9 6 flop with a heart draw and the duo discover a Queen of Spades on the turn.

There, the Dutchman sends in 235,000 and Mokhtar check-calls to check again on a river 4 of diamonds. Raoul takes his time and ends up betting 675,000 chips. This bet is paid on reflection by Moktavarium, who waits for Raoul to show Ace 5 of hearts before revealing his Jack 6 of clubs... Raoul's call puts him at 3.5 million, hot on the heels of Miro Alilovic's 3.6 million.

Raoul Kanme drops to 2,450,000 chips with just a few minutes to go before the end of the day, and we meet again for the conclusion of Day 3 as soon as possible. There are still 42 players in the game on this BPC! 

40 qualifiers and 17 Belgians on Day 2 4, Moktavarium in the lead

End of Day 3 of the €1,100 Belgian Poker Challenge after 6 levels of 90 minutes, with 183 to 40 players. Play resumes on Saturday at 1pm on blinds 15,000 - 30,000 (30,000) with Rayane Mokhtar in the lead. The Frenchman has already won in Namur, having won the WaSOP SuperSide for €50,000 a few years ago...

The end of the day was marked by the exits of Ukrainian Ryliakov and Rik van Etten. It was also the end of the road for Belgium's Henrik Symkens and Max Imus, the final eliminated of the evening after a blind battle in which Raoul Kanme open-pushed Roi 2 suité in the small blind. Max paid with King-Queen, but a 2 ended his run for €3,345.

Two Frenchmen in the lead, Barka aims for the double

The 40 survivors of the Belgian Poker Challenge have secured a prize of €3,345, a sum that only the first eliminated on Day 4 will pocket, as the Top 39 will secure at least €3,840... So close and yet so far from a €200,000 prize accompanied by a €2,200 CPS Main Event ticket!

The only one who knows the way is Samy Barka. The 2022 winner is still out there, ahead of Day 4, which will determine the finalists in this streamed final event... The Frenchman played a final hand against François Grossmann on Day 3.

After opening at the end of the hand, Samy called the Swiss's 3-bet to almost 10x before calling 275,000 on a Queen Ten 6 flop. On a King tournament, Samy raised the second barrel to half a million and Grossmann got out of the way... Enough for Samy to slip into the provisional Top 10...

Full chipcount at the end of Day 3 BPC 2024 (1,259 entries - €1,194,791 prizepool)
Rayane Mokhtar $4,525,000
Miro Alilovic 4,370,000
Vincent de Neve 3,385,000
Mathias Henin 3,270,000
Konstantin Faerber 3,100,000
Samir Boudeliou $2,865,000
Raoul Kanme 2,765,000
Samy Barka $2,500,000
Martin Schneiders $2,465,000
François Grossmann 2,435,000

Tobias Peters 1 915 000
Mosjin El Yakoubi 1 850 000
Artan Dedusha 1 730 000
Bram Berkvens 1 710 000
Miguel Coussement 1 640 000
Naim Bouhraoura 1 515 000
Takushi Shiratori 1 485 000
Yoann Ramaekers 1 455 000
Mantas Urbonas 1 455 000
Louis Marchandise 1 420 000

Fabian Rolli 1 360 000
Rob Hendrikx 1 300 000
Raphael Canta 1 075 000
Samir Bou Dahdir 1 030 000
David Beaune 860 000
Adrien Fraiture 855 000
Mthieu Alciato 845 000
Yassine Temsamani 725 000
Carmine Giordano 665 000
Roberto Mauro 640 000

Marc Gets 605 000
Adrien Di Grande 600 000
Pascal van Bouwel 570 000
Nico de Cleen 565 000
Mike Niegho 510 000
Samiyel Duezguen 495 000
Donato Sparavilla 445 000
Damie Hupe 445 000
Eric Olausson 380 000
Arno Thuy 175 000