Wamr-up kicks off at 4 p.m. (Day 1a)

Click here for live coverage of the first tournament on the Namur Classic's program. From March 28 to April 7, mama and Tapis_Volant are at the helm...

The Warm-up features three opening days with 30-minute levels for the duration of the tournament. Fin al Day on Saturday from 2 p.m.

View program and register online

Shuffle up & deal

The Namur Classics 2024 Warm-Up kicked off on time, with around forty players taking part.

Play began at blinds 100 - 100 for the tournament's only no-ante level, with participants receiving 20,000 starting chips...

Play will continue over 12 levels, with a first break at 6.30pm, after 5 levels. Dinner-break from 21:00 to 22:00, with the end of late registration at the post-dinner break...

End of day around 23:30 for this €50,000 prizepool tournament.

First Blood

All the mates were there, and there were almost all regulars, including Sandro Gangi, Gilles Magny and the titleholder Morgan Poisson.

It was Roger Edain who was the first executioner, Roger deciding to send out the couscous with 7s at the end of the hand after an early raise paid for by the whole table.

Alaatin Sulan had already lost half his stack since the start, he decided to pay with Ace Valet for his 15,000 after opening hostilities... nothing was going to save him for a direct re-entry.

55 players remain for 57 entries, with Roger Edain at 46,000 pawns for an average of 31,000. 

Quinte papa!

Limp is bad... Yves Senterre has just paid the price in the 100 - 200 (200) blinds of the €250 Namur Classics Event #1. Giovanni Ventura decided to limp under the gun, and just to his left Yves Senterre followed suit with 7 and 5 of clubs.

In MP, Pieter Stragier doesn't see it that way and tries isolation. The two partners pay without batting an eyelid, only to discover an 8 Ten 9 flop that paralyzes everyone. On turn 5, Giovanni Ventura comes out of the woodwork with a bet... paid by everyone.

The 3 of them discover the river Valet, which is checked by Ventura. Yves Senterre goes all-in for just under 8,000 chips. With Ace Dame in his hands, Pieter Stragier finds an easy call to raise to 47,000 and take out an opponent.

The table shows 63 players for 67 entrants on this second level... 

Damn then

Tino de Zutter is leading the pack with 93,000 chips with 2 minutes to go before the 3rd level and blinds 100 - 300 (300). Tino has taken the lead since, with 61 players for 68 entrants, the average is still only 33,000!

Denis Charlier, Vincent Gueneau and Tino de Zutter put their entire stacks on the turn of a 7 King 2 Ten board with a club draw on the flop and a diamond draw on the turn. In blinds, Tino turned over the 2s for three of a kind against two pairs King Ten hit on the turn for Denis and a 4 and 2 of diamonds for Vincent...

The river 4 allowed Zutter to dodge all the balls. "There were so many to dodge," laughs the Warm-Up boss once he's put his chips away... 

Big Field

There are now 62 players in the running for 73 entrants... the game is being played on blinds 100 - 300 (300) with a ton of Namur regulars.

Francesco Pillitteri, Daniel Pirlot, Daniel Domb, Arnaud Danes, Patrick Prijot, Marco Rebergen, Yannick Ansenne, Seb Hetzel, Fu Tao Huang, Jérôme Balthazar andPascal Honai are the regulars to fire up the poker room at Namur's Circus Casino Resort, and they're all already seated at the tables to try and follow in the footsteps of 2023 winner Morgan Poisson....

Reda Haidar, Pierre Neuville, Adrien Fraiture, Thomas Daix, Claudio Guadagnino, Fedele Ricotta, Ivo Schoofs, Jordan Shipman, Raphael Canta... they all came, they're all here! 

Hero to Zero

Finito for Roger Edain, who went from first to last in half an hour, thanks to a Jack 8 7 flop. "I've lost two moves and now I've got Valet Dame in a pot of 15,000 chips, so I'm sending my 22,000 with confidence," explains Roger, who is about to be paid off with Valet 4 by Pham Nguyen.

"I hesitated, but it's not that much compared to my stack," explains Pham after hitting a 4 to go ahead and eliminate his opponent. Heading for a stack of 85,000 chips, a ton when the average is 37,000 chips with 63 players in the running for 78 entrants! 

Pause Dîner

Manger c'est important... and the structure has changed a little, at least the sequence of levels.

Whereas the game had been broken down into 5 levels of play, a half-hour break, 4 levels of play, then a dinner break of an hour with the end of the recordings at the resumption and three levels to finish... the organization has decided to bring dinner forward to allow the dealers to eat a little earlier.

As a result, Day 1A of the Warm-Up will be played over three half-hour sessions of four levels. The first break will take place between 6 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., then the dinner break will run from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. (with another level of late check-ins NDLR) with two hours of poker afterwards.

The end of late registration remains unchanged, with unlimited re-entry until the first deal of level 10, at 10 p.m. 

Time is running out

The blinds are 200 - 400 (400) with now 63 players in the running for 81 entrants and an average of 38,000 chips. The first break is only a quarter of an hour away and there's already some damage... the half-hour break won't be too much for some.

Thomas Jansen, Luc Gillard, Angelo Aliberto (photo), Roger Sacre, Laurent Van den Eynde andJeremi Pillault are all in the thick of the action in this warm-up tournament for the Namur Classics... Morgan Poisson is here to defend his title.

Last year, the champion cashed in for €12,000 as the €250 Warm-Up attracted 399 entrants. The guarantee was again €50,000, and the players in the money shared €83,092... are we back for more? 

Break

It's time for the first break... 30-minute break after four levels and two hours of poker, as usual at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Resumption at 6:35 p.m. on blinds 300 - 600 (600) with currently 65 players in the running for 83 entrants.

The average is 38,000 chips, so we'll see you soon for a first chipcount... 

Restart

The game has resumed with 69 players (for 89 entrants) and blinds 300 - 600 (600). The average is 39,000 chips and some are already looking up!

Chips
Roger Sacre 98,000
Jerry Damez 92,000
Gunther van Driessche 82,000
Steven de Braeckener 72,000
Reda Haidar 71,000
Zakaria Ibrir 71,000
Remco Verbakel 67,000
Tino de Zutter 59,000
Adrien Fraiture 59,000
Thomas Daix 54,000
Pieter Stragier 54,000
Francois Heine 53 000
Jeremi Pillault 53 000
Raphael Canta (photo) 51 000
Mhilippe Merckx 48 000
Pascal Honai 47 000
Denis Charlier 46 000
Daniel Pirlot 45 000
Morgan Poisson 34 000
Daniel Domb 32 000
Yannick Ansenne 29 000
Sandro Gangi 26 000
Giovanni Ventura 15 000

Bluff

The end of the road for Sébastien Hetzel, who went all in after opening earlier in the game. Seb had 14,000 pawns at the start of the move, i.e. 24 blinds... he was replaced at the table by Sébastien Matrige.

Sébastien three-bet Ace 7 2 3 4 with a heart on the flop and a diamond on the turn in the river afterArnaud Danes defended in the big blind. "I pay dying," confirms the man who finished runner-up at Carnival 2023, but with ace-queen it was a win to get back up to 40,000 chips.

Séb is taking a break, but plans to return for the €80 satellite Main Event, which starts at 10pm and will be played over 15-minute levels... 

Re-Entry

Direction of the cashier for Daniel Pirlot, victim of a straight versus three of a kind encounter, who was down to a dozen blinds when he went all in on the next move with Ace Ten of Hearts.

A bad move for Daniel, who was up against Daniel Yildiz's Kings. The dealer flops an Ace... and a King right away to end the suspense, or almost.

Heading for 45,000 pawns for Daniel Yildiz as level 5 comes to an end... 

Say 100

Registration is open until 10.05pm and what should be the first hand of level 10... but the counter continues to rise.

There are 67 players left and 102 registered, for an average of 45,000 chips. The blinds are 400 - 800 for another 18 minutes...

Daniel Pirlot is back in the field, as is Walter van Camberg.Tony Kiorpes and Bryan de Ridder have also taken their seats. 

Toujours du Monde à Namur

The blinds are now 500 - 1000 (1000) or 30 blinds with the starting stack, and that's not enough for some... who are trying to double up straight away. As a result, there are still 67 players in the running, as there were half an hour ago... but the entry counter is rising!

The leaderboard now shows 113 entries for Day 1, which allows late registration right up to the first deal of the level (around 10.05pm), and the average has climbed to 51,000 chips with the arrival of Stefan Aerts and Baptiste Da Cunha. Pierre Neuville and Kazuya Ogino have just made another dumpling... 

Mort Ansenne

That's it for Day 1A for Yannick Ansenne, who may return on Day 1B of the Warm-Up, which starts on Friday at 4pm.

From the big blind, Yannick went all-in for 7,300 chips after a 2,500-chip open from Raphael Canta on the button paid for by Tino de Zutter in the small blind. Tino moved all in after the opener's snap and Raphael turned over King Jack...

Yannick Ansenne holds the 6s and is defeated by a King 5 Ten Ace 4 board. Canta is now up to 105,000 in chips, at the top of the Warm-Up table with 3 minutes to go before blinds 600 - 1200 (1200).

The average is 56,000 chips with 62 players in the running for 115 entrants.

Chips
Steven de Braeckenier 140,000
Gunther van Driessche 115,000
Roger Sacre 112,000
Raphael Canta 105,000
Maverick Verhoeven 103,000
Pierre Neuville 80,000
Bryan de Riddere 80,000

Ouste

BaptisteDa Cunha has just joined the rail. The fault lies with a pair of cracked kings. In a heads-up play, Baptiste raised on a 5 4 2 flop and everything went fast in the middle... his premium was no match for Kris Coeckelbergh's 5 4, who had been in good timing since the start of Day 1A.

Turn 5 confirms the momentum in favor of the big stack, with Coeckelbergh continuing his ascent to 85,000 chips with 20 minutes left to play in blinds 600 - 1200 (1200), with 60 players in contention for 116 entries.

The average chip count climbs to 58,000, with Marco Rebergen and Pascal Honai also joining the rail in the final minutes. 

Title vacant

Morgan Poisson is on the rail. After a lowjack open hand paid for by Gilles Magny' s hijack, the winner of the 2023 edition wakes up with King Queen of Diamonds in the big blind. Raise to 10,000 chips for Morgan, who smells a bad plan when the opener throws and Gilles Magny pushes all-in.

Morgan pays for 31,000 on blinds 600 - 1200 (1200) and reaches the rail without a miracle as Gilles reveals Ace King. Magny is up to 100,000 chips as the dinner break approaches.

There are still 55 players in the running for 117 entries. 

Dinner break

The dinner break began with 52 players in the running for 118 entrants and an average of 67,000 chips. Resumption at 9:35 pm on blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500). 

Chipcount
Steven de Braeckenier 163,000
Remi Verbakel 148,000
Gunther van Driessche 131,000
Pierre Neuville 128,000
Roger Sacre 111,000
Gilles Magny 109,000
Denis Charlier 108,000
Dominique Bruzzesse 108,000
Angelo Aliberto 107,000
Jerry Damez 104,000
Zakaria Ibrir 99,000
Sébastien Lecomte 97,000
Maverick Verhoeven 93,000
Jordan Shipman 88,000
jérôme Balthazar 86,000
Raphael Canta 84,000
Sebastien Matrige 78,000
Kris Coeckelebergh 76,000
Adrien Fraiture 68,000
Pieter Stragier 66,000
Francesco Pilliterri 64,000
Luc Gillard 50,000
Thomas Jansen 50,000
Vincent Robaye 31,000
Fedele Ricotta 27,000

Resume

The game resumed on 1000 - 1500 (1500) for the last level of late registrations. Late reg' ends at 22:02. Bryan de Riddere re-enters with 20 blinds after running intoPierre Neuville...

The counter now shows 52 players in the running for a total of 119 entrants on the first of the three opening days.

The average is 68,000 chips or 34 blinds.... 

Top 50

12 minutes left on 1000 - 1500 (1500), the final minutes to enter Day 1a of the Warm-Up. The counter shows 50 players for 120 entries, a fine start to this Namur Classics opening tournament guaranteeing a €50,000 prizepool.

The average is 72,000 and Tino de Zutter has just moved back above it. Three of them discover the river of a 2 8 Jack Ten 7 board with a heart on the flop, a heart on the turn and a heart on the river... Sébastien Matrige takes the initiative from the small blind for 6,500, Tino de Zutter raises to 25,000 and the button runs away.

Matrige pays rather quickly for a call-muck against Zutter's Queen 8 of hearts, which climbs to 110,000. The 7Bello falls to 40,000 and the table asks him again if he has Queen 9...

120 entries on opening day

Registration is closed for Day 1A of the €250 Namur Classics Warm-Up. The board at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur shows 47 survivors for 120 entrants on the first of three starting days for Event #1 of the Easter festival.

The average is 76,000 chips with 22 minutes to play on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000). We're going to use a dirty word here: this level 10 is already the ante-penultimate level of the day.

Steven de Braeckeniere hasn't put on the brakes and continues his headlong rush. Steven is up to 215,000 chips, more than 7 times his starting stack... He's ahead of Roger Sacre (125,000), for example.

Sandro Gangi is looking more in the mirror... he's down to 32,000 chips after 3-bet shove from the big blind following an open from Denis Charlier on the button. Charlie tanks before keeping his chips warm. 

Ship it! 

"That pair of 9s... they're out front" as Gaston "Justice" Onana would say. For Jordan Shipman (pictured), who just survived a triple all-in to preflop all-in with the worst hand, the adage held true. 

Open under the gun, Arnaud Danes sent in 20,000 UTG2 and Jordan 4-bet shove 30,500 chips with 9's. On the button, Raphael Canta went all-in for 100,000 and caused the opener to fold. Arnaud Danes pushes 45,000 with Aces, a bet paid by Canta with Jacks. 

At the end of a 2 8 9 Dame Dame table, Shipman takes off at 100,000 chips for an average of 81,000 pawns. Arnaud Danes takes the outside to fall to 27,000 chips, while Canta drops to 55,000. 

There are 44 players and 5 minutes to go before the 1000 - 2500 blinds (2500). Sandro Gangi has just tripled to 70,000 after squeezing all-in under the eyes of Gilles Magny. 

Magnificent

The final hour of play has begun, with 43 players now battling it out over blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500) with an average of 83,000 chips. Without Arnaud Danes, who hasn't recovered from his cracked Aces.

Gilles Magny has just played a nasty trick on Sandro Gangi. Sandro had just tripled up with Ace Jack against King 9... he 3-bet from the small blind to 14,500 chips after an open to Gilles' hijack. In the big blind, Daniel Pirlot raises to 5,000 and goes all-in.

Gilles completes and a trio of players discover a Queen 9 Queen flop. Sandro checks and Gilles retakes the lead for 7,000 chips. It's paid by Sandro who checks again on a turn 7... and takes a 25,000-chip bet.

Daniel Pirlot watches the show, Sandro pays rather quickly to discover a double of 7 and check a third time. Gilles covers Sandro and his remaining 47,000 chips.

After a long thought, Sandro passes to be shown ten spade jacks. Gilles Magny climbs to 150,000 chips with 25 minutes left on this penultimate level of Day 1A of this €250 Warm Up...

Daniel Pirlot is still alive, having tripled up with Dame 4 off! 

Coin Toss

Vincent Robaye played the flip, he won. Tony Kiorpes has played the flip, he's in the rail.

Open 6000 chips under Tony's twice-paid gun, Vincent wakes up with ace-king in the small blind and pushes 60,000. Tony pushes 65,000 in return for a duel with the Jacks.

At the end of a 6 As As Queen King board, Tony falls to 3,000, joining the rail on the next move... Vincent Robaye climbs to almost 140,000 chips. A ton with 7 minutes to go before the final blinds go up.

There are 36 players left for 120 entrants, with Giovanni Ventura, Reda Haidar, Walter van Camberg, Stefan Aerts, Marco Rebergen and Sébastien Matrige all skipping out and having to try their luck again on Friday, for example on Day 1B from 4pm. The Turbo will be played from 9 p.m. with 15-minute levels...

Steven de Braeckenier (photo) is looking ahead with 250,000 chips with half an hour to go before the end of the day, and Steven is likely to lead the opening day of this €250 entry tournament. 

Last Level

With 24 minutes left to play on Day 1a, 34 players battle it out over blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000) for the final deals of the evening.

Finito for Maxime Dufrene, Pieter Stragier, Zakaria Ibrir, Sébastien Lecomte and Simon de Maertelaere...

Sprint

With 16 minutes left on the clock, play will soon come to a halt before the last hands are drawn... that'll be 3, 4, 5 or 6 more deals to play.

For Fedele Ricotta, it will be zero, since after opening-shove 20 blinds with Ace-King, he came up against the Ten of a Roger who was in great shape. Roger Sacre held on to a baby flop to climb to 185,000 chips.

A nice stack with an average of 112,000 chips and a resumption on 2000 - 4000 (4000), Saturday at 2pm. There are 32 players in the final table. Tino de Zutter fights for the chiplead with 250,000 chips...

Jerry Dame the pawn, Pierre Neuville in the ryhtm

Day 1a of the €250 Warm-Up Namur Classics finally drew 120 entrants and 26 players cleared the hurdle. At the end of the 12 half-hour levels and 6 effective hours of poker, it was Jerry Damez who wrapped up the chiplead.

The Frenchman raised 361,500 chips, most of them in the last 6 hands. Damez already had some chips, but he first took advantage of Francesco Pillitteri 's crack and then magnificently monetized a Full House on the final hand.

After losing a pot representing 20 blinds on the reraise to 2000 - 4000 (4000) on Saturday at 2 p.m., Francesco open-shoved in the dark of frsutration. The moment chosen by Jerry Damez to wake up with Ace-King and striker Pillitteri, but also Daniel Domb to climb to 280,000 chips.

Then, just as the majority of the 26 Day 1a qualifiers had left the room, Jerry Damez (photo) played a final button pot with the queens. There, on a 2 6 Dame 6 4 board, he saw his neighbor on the left bet 20,000 in 40,000 river... and call-muck his raise to 70,000 chips. Enough to wrap up the chiplead with 361,500 chips - 12 times the starting stack! 

It was also a good day for Pierre Neuville, who ran out atSide Event #2 Mix Game, where so nstack was running on empty... Pierre has already tripled up to play the paid seats and consolidate his place on the 2024 leaderboard. An example of resilience and gniaque for the WSOP Main Event finalist who will be here on Saturday with over 60 blinds at the restart.


Still at the top of the leaderboard,Roger Sacre qualified with a good stack, as did Gilles Magny and Angelo Aliberto. Denis Charlier, Raphael Canta and Thomas Jansen, who had a grind day... but is still there with just over 7 blinds for Day 2.

Title-holder Morgan Poisson is one of the many players who have tried their luck and will have to try again to take part in the weekend... Second session on Friday at 4 p.m. for 12 30-minute levels, last chance at 9 p.m. for a Turbo 1c contested over quarter-hour levels...

Full Chipcount Day 1a Warm-up (26 players out of 120 entries)
Jerry Damez (pictured) 361,500
Steven de Braeckenier 254,500
Pierre Neuville 252,000
Dominique Bruzzes 222,000
Taleb Mouad 220,000
Roger Sacre 184,500
Maverick Verhoeven 153,500
Gilles Magny 152,000
Remco Verbakel 141,000
Angelo Aliberto 138,000

Skoronek 123,500
Raphael Canta 123,500
Pham Nguyen 117,000
Tino de Zutter 113,000
Denis Charlier 110,500
Laurent van den Eynde 108,500
Jordan Shipman 103,500
Fabius Lari 103,500
Francois Heine 86,500
Jérôme Balthazar 78,500

Adrien Fraiture 75,500
Pierre Pacino 73,500
Rudi Sfeger 63,500
Daniel Yildiz 59,500
Luc Gillard 40,000
Thomas Jansen 32,000