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

56 qualifiers on Day 1b, Sabri Philips crushes the competition


Day 1B of the €250 Warm Up Namur Classics drew 231 entries, with 56 players making it through the 12 30-minute levels. This provisionally brings the contingent of qualifiers for Day 2, which begins on Saturday at 2pm in blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000), to 82 survivors. This figure will change with the end of Day 1c Turbo, at around midnight 20...

The Sabri Philips (above) who widened the gap at the head of the field. The Dutchman has raised 441,500 chips, almost 15 times his starting stack, and will be the only player to return to Day 2 with more than 100 blinds. Despite a fine day, Benjamin Celaudoux, Lukas Trzcinski, Jackie Hu and Fatih Ozer finished well behind the tournament boss.

Titleholder, Morgan Poisson is still in the running, and will leave with 15 blinds on Day 2, still in the hunt for the back-to-back. He will be joined by David Ethuin, David Olurebi, Gaetano Moreci, Bernard Jensen and Taner Ayhan in the race for the money... the prize pool to be shared on Saturday will be over €85,000! 

This also applies to Ludovic Ingenito (below), Xavier Dupuy, Teddy Fortier, Adi Buhl, Marceau Dethiere and Tristan Karr... in an increasingly cosmopolitan field. The Germans were out in force today, but there was also a Scottish player, a Japanese player and a player from the United Arab Emirates.

Chipcount partial Day 1B
Sabri Philips 441,500
Fatih Ozer 271,000
David Olurebi 270,000
Lukas Trzcinski 262,500
gael Lesage 257,000
Jackie Hu 225,000
benjamin Celadoux 225 000
Ludovic Ingenito 217 000
Teddy Fortier 177 500
Xavier Dupuy 176 000
Gaetano Moreci 169 000
Tristan Karr 143 000
Polle Westbroek 141 000
Thorben Buehne 139 500
Claudio Guadgnino 139 500
Euan Ralston 137 000
Javier Poveda 130 000
Bogdan Petrascu 123 000
Adi Buhl 120 000
Dennis Jacobs 111 500
Dirk Brandt 103,500
David Ethuin 95,000
Michael Passy 93,000
Jonathan Hamon 92,000
Taner Ayhan 87,000
Marceau Dethiere 83,000
Dorian Liegeois 57,000
Bernard Jensen 47,500

The full chipcount and redraw in the Day 2 livecast as soon as possible...

22 qualifiers on Turbo 1c, 104 players on Final Day

22 players survived the 12 15-minute levels on Day 1C of the Warm Up Namur Classics, so there will be 104 in the running on Saturday from 2 p.m. on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) for the Final Day.

The conclusion of the tournament will be played on 30-minute levels, a leisurely pace for the qualifiers of the last of the three flights of a record-breaking tournament. The Warm Up attracted 428 entrants for a final prizepool of €86,199, a record at the Circus Casino Resort de Namur. 

Le Français Alain Buisson (above) was the most efficient on Day 1c, bagging 263,000 chips or nearly 9 times the starting stack for the restart. 

Stefaan Skippers, Ludovic Ruperto, Fabio Percio, Dove Monaco, Dominique Potenza, Valentin Bury or Viorel Merisan also joined the Final Day of this Day 1c... 

Full Chipcount Day 1c
Alain Buisson 263,000
Ludovic Ruperto 210,000
Michael Walfraevens 178,000
Dove Monaco 154,500
Stefaan Skippers 146,000
Valentin Bury 145,500
Didier Doijen 134,000
Vincent Paulissen 115,000
Lesley Ourdriz 104,000
Viorel Merisan 103 000
Wouter de Graaf 97 000
Alex Fries 95 000
Giuseppe Caria 86 500
Lionel de Hondt 78 500
Wim Verhaegen 71 500
Jhon Lienard 71 000
Dominique Potenza 60 000
Tetiana Kovalchuk 58 000
Fabio Percio 54 000
Arnold Chretien 52 000
Jonathan Bost 42 000
Bart Engbers 21 000

Redraw Final Day

Play resumes at 2pm on Saturday on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000) with 104 players out of 428 entrants. The €250 Namur Classics Warm Up Event #1 generated a prize pool of €86,199 for a €50,000 guarantee...




Redraw by Tables below

Redraw by Names

In the document below, the draw for the 8-Max seats at the start of the new season... 

Redraw by Chips

They are 104 to restart at 2pm on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000)... The full chipcount below with the Top 11 at restart too....


Sabri Philips 441,500 (chipleader 1b)
Jerry Damez 361,500 (chipleader 1a)
Fatih Ozer 271,500
David Olurebi 270,000
Alain Buisson 263,000 (chipleader 1c)
Lukas Trzcinski 262,500
Gael Lesage 257,000
Steven de Baraeckenier 254,000
Pierre Neuville 252,000
Benjamin Celaudoux 225,000
Jackie Hu 225,000

Shuffle up & deal


Play resumed with 104 players for 63 paid seats and a €360 min-cash. Stefaan Skippers is running late, he didn't have time to see the early exits of Raphael Canta and Jhon Lienard. 


The blinds are 2000 - 4000 (4000) with an average of 32 blinds...

86,199€ in the prize pool, €16,144 in the jackpot

The payout for Event #1 of the Namur Classics has been revealed, with a handsome jackpot. There were 428 players on the starting line, and the last man standing will collect €16,144!

Before that, you'll need to reach 63 paid places to collect a €360 min-cash. After 25 minutes of play on this Final Day, only 98 players remain in the running...

The game is played on 30-minute levels until its end...

Warm-Up Classic Event #1 Namur Classics at €250 (428 entries - €86,199 prizepool)
Champion - €16,144
Runner Up - €10,540
3e - 7 525€
4e - 5 790€
5e - 4 455€
6e - 3 440€
7e - 2 650€
8e - 2 200€
9e - 1 840€

10th and 11th - €1,540
12th and 13th - €1,280
14th and 15th - €1,065
16th and 17th - €920
18th to 20th - €810
21st to 23rd - €705
24th to 27th - €610
28th to 31st - €535
32 to 39e - €460
40 to 55e - €395
56 to 63e - €360

First Round

There were only 7 outs in the first half-hour, the blinds climbed to 2500 - 5000 (5000) and there are only 97 players left in this Warm-Up which will reward its last 63 players.

Thomas Jansen, Benjamin Mordan, Didier Doijen and Wim Verhaegen all failed to get back on track... Their deep-run project on this Warm-Up falls through. 

Acceleration

After a timid first level, there were 12 outs in just 15 minutes on the second part of the second level of this Final Day.

The blinds go up to 3000 - 6000 (6000) in 5 minutes and Bart Engbers, Scotland's Euan Ralston, Michael Passy, Jorge Da Silva, Raf Ielegems, Steven de Braeckenier have lost their last hopes... FInito also for Salvatore Alessi, Fabius Lari and Ataman Okuklu.

The average is still 31 blinds. 

En Vrac

A few more players joined the rail in the final minutes. Finito for Dominique Potenza who went all-in with 7 and 8 of clubs on 4 Jack 3 with two clubs... Fatih Ozer had Ace 3 of clubs and stayed ahead to continue stacking, Fatih is up to 330,000 chips for an average of 177,000 on blinds 3000 - 6000 (6000).

There are only 72 left after Wouter de Graaf's exit... the Belgian has 4-bet shove from the cutoff with Ace King and Jérôme Balthazar has 3-bet big blind call with Queens to hold and go up to 400,000 chips. Just to Jérôme's left is Pierre Neuville with 270,000 chips.

Ludovic Ruperto had a very good start to the day, taking the lead with 570,000 in chips. At his table, Tino de Zutter is in survival mode (60,000) and has just 3-bet shove with no takers...

Meanwhile, at the table of defending champion Morgan Poisson (pictured), who is surviving by being card-dead, Stefaan Skippers is having a ball. He's up to 470,000 chips after an Ace Queen of Diamonds against Jack Ten of Diamonds on Jack Jack Jack 8 with two diamonds. Stefaan found a Queen turn and a Queen river for the perfect cooler... Bogdan Petrascu is crippled after this cooler.

David Ethuin and Viorel Merisan joined the rai l as the first spark flew between the two biggest stacks of the tournament at the start of the Final Day. Jerry Damez opened with 5,000 chips in lowjack and 4-bet to 42,000 with just over 300,000 behind him when Sabri Philips 3-bet to 17,000 from the cutoff.

Philips will call in position and this will check all the way on a 7 4 4 8 King board with a clover on the flop, a clover turn and a clover river... Sabri will muck to keep his 350,000 chips when Jerry returns Ace-King. Jerry wins the first duel and is now up to 400,000.

In 5 minutes, the blinds climb to 4,000 - 8,000 (8,000), and the money approaches. 

Break is coming

With 67 players left for 63 paid seats, you can hardly hear a fly fly anymore... There are ten minutes left on 4000 - 8000 (8000) and there will be a break at the end of this level. A number of players will be taking a very short break, as it's not expected to blow up before the first break of the Final Day.

Polle Westbroek, titleholder Morgan Poisson, Remy Florean, Tino de Zutter, Joao Faria, Danyel Yildiz, Laurent van den Eynde and Bogdan Petrascu have all given up just a few minutes before the ITM.

The average is 191,000, with play resuming at 4.30pm on blinds 5000 - 10,000 (10,000). 

Break

The first break of the Final Day is underway, resuming at 4:30 p.m. on blinds 5000 - 10,000 (10,000) with 65 players for 63 paid seats and 20 average blinds. Heading for the €360 min-cash!

Just before the break, Benjamin Celaudoux doubled up with As 9 against As 5 at Pierre Neuville' s blind battle. Benjamin climbs to 320,000 chips, while the WSOP Main Event finalist slips to 120,000.

Just before the break, Fatih Ozer tried to abuse with a huge shove after a 16,000 open from Tristan Karr paid once. Tristan pays for his survival with kings, everyone steps aside and Fatih reveals ten and three suit... he drops back to 70,000 chips one 6 6 3 8 4 board later. Tristant climbs to just under 40 blinds. Plenty to play for when the action resumes!

Here are the players in danger with a cheapcount... Luc Gillard will be in the big blind when the action resumes, and with two folds can he secure the money?

Sylvain Dubus 82,000
Hernan Benito 74,000
Alexandre Wastiau 74,000
Jonathan Shipman 71,000
Fatih Ozer 70,000
Jonathan Derpion 67,000
Tetiana Kovalchuk 67 000
Dovidio Monaco 63 000
Jonathan Bost 63 000
Giuseppe Caria 61 000
Stefan Aerts 52 000
Roger Sacre 49 000
Marceau Dethiere 48 000
Luc Gillard 41 000

No Money For Monaco

They were 65 to return for 63 paid seats and the first post-resume hand saw Marceau Dethière fall with the best hand. Fabio Percio's open, 3-bet shove from Marceau with the Jacks for 5 blinds, Fabio pays with the 8s and hits a King 8 5 5 8 board to precipitate a clock stop. 

Play is paused to regroup the last 64 survivors on the last 8 tables, and hand-by-hand play begins. Almost nothing happens in the first three hands, with almost no river and, above all, no "Tap-Pay". 

It's on the 4th hand-to-hand that things start to unravel. First, the Melih Kocagoz opened with hijack and 3-barrels on 3 8 As 7 8... river he bet enough to put Claudio Guadagnino all-in... the latter calls with Ace Dame to discover Ace Dame in his opponent's house! 

It's at another table that the decision will be made on the same hand. Open de Ludovic Ingenito per 20,000, call de Jonathan Hamon in small blinds and Dovidio Monaco completes in the big blind with 27,000 behind. 

Dovidio goes all-in when the call comes on 3 4 7 and Ludovic quickly craps. Jonathan snaps and returns the Aces before the floor can ask him to cover his hand. "Too bad you lost," laughs Dovidio. 

"Really?" replies Jonathan. "You'll see," laughs Dovidio, who finally shows 7 and 5 mismatched for less after a few minutes of waiting, just long enough for the Perci oand Guadagnino move to finish. Behind at the showdown, Dovidio saw a 3 and an 8 fall on the turn and river, heading for the rail empty-handed.

The bubble burst ten minutes ago, and since then there have been only 55 players left, averaging 23 blinds. The survivors are guaranteed a €395 payout, as the first level has been reached! 

They cashed in €360


There are still 53 players guaranteed a €395 payout, while the blinds are now 6,000 - 12,000 (12,000) with an average of 242,000 chips. An opportunity to salute the ITM of the first batch of bustos.

With the next stage at 40 players left, there should be plenty of movement to get in the right places...

56th - Tetiana Kovalchuk (photo above)
57th - Luc Gillard (photo below)
58th - Hernan Benito
59th - Jonathan Bost
60th - Giuseppe Caria
61st - Roger Sacre
62nd - Jonathan Derpion
63rd - Dorian Liegeois

Streaming

The Final Table of the Namur Classics Warm-Up Event #1 will be broadcast on the Circus Casino Resort de Namur networks.

The cards will be revealed and there will be a security delay, kicking off when it's down to 9 with Will Lion on commentary.

At the moment, there are 42 players still in the running, while the 8,000 - 16,000 (16,000) level has begun. There will be a break at the end of this level...

The average has dropped to 19 blinds...

They collect €395

There are still a few minutes left to play in blinds 8,000 - 16,000 (16,000), and the survivors will break for a few minutes at the end of this level. Play resumes at 6:35pm on blinds 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000).

The field is down to 36 players with a guaranteed payout of €460. Let's take a look at the eliminated players from the previous level...

40th - Rudolf van Mol
41st - Dennis Jacobs
42nd - Javier Poveda
43rd - Fabio Percio
44th - Claudio Guadagnino
45th - Stefan Aerts
46th - Zakaria Ibrir
47th - Vincent Paulissen
48th - Denis Charlier
49th - Jensen Bernard
50th - Sabri Philips
51st - Maverick Verhoeven
52nd - David Janssen
53rd - Pierre Neuville
54th - Jordan Shipman
55th - Arnaud Chretien

They collected €460

As everyone took a break, Gaetano Moreci sent in 4 blinds from the cutoff with Ace 7 of diamonds. In the small blind Gianni Vandyck paid with King 9 suited to hit two pair on the flop and send Gaetano into the rail for €460.

Christian Dhoker jumped two seconds later to also miss the cutoff at €535, a sure win for the 31 players who will return at 6:35pm...

32nd - Christian Dhoker
33rd - Gaetano Moreci
34th - Gilles Magny (below)
35th - Alexander Watiaux
36th - Tristan Karr
37th - Michael Walraevens
38th - Philippe Dosogne
39th - Stefaan Skippers 

On their 31

Play resumed with 31 players on blinds 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000) with an average of 21 blinds. The 31 survivors are guaranteed a €535 payout, a nice eggplant!

Here's an almost-complete chipcount from the last break... Three levels are scheduled, followed by a dinner break from 8:05pm to 9:05pm...

Chipcount
Alain Buisson 900,000
Gianni Vandyck 645,000
Melih Kocagoz 600,000
Adrien Fraiture 600,000
Aldabert Buhl 580,000
Valentin Bury 550 000
Ludovic Ruperto 525 000
Jérôme Balthazar 490 000
Laurent de Greef 450 000
Francois Heine 440 000
Jerry Damez 410 000
Remco Verbakel 405 000
Angelo Aliberto 400 000
Dominique Bruzzese 370 000
Mister X 350 000
Rudi Teger 335 000
Jonathan Hamon 325 000
Olivier Giulia 300 000
Xavier Dupuy 280 000
Lesley van Overdijk 250 000
Lukas Trzcinski 250 000
Teddy Fortier 210 000
David Olurebi 200 000
Fatih Ozer 190 000
Benjamin Celaudoux 150 000

535€ in your pocket

Well placed at the start, Jérôme Balthazar came up against Gianni Vandyck's rush... the latter went from 645,000 to 1.6 million chips in 23 minutes! 23 players remain, with an average of 556,000 chips over 10,000 - 20,000 (20,000), and in a few minutes the blinds will rise to 10,000 - 25,000 (25,000). 



28th - Sylvain Dubus
29th - Cyril Jacquin
30th - David Olurebi
31st - Jerome Balthazar (above)

Dessert Deprived

With half an hour of play remaining before the dinner break, the final level has seen many players abandon their hopes of cashing for €16,144 in the evening, live streaming from the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... 20 players battle it out over 15,000 - 30,000 (30,000) with an average of 22 blinds now. 


They collect €705
21st - François Heine
22nd - Lesley van overdijk
23rd - Benjamin Celaudoux 

They collect €610
24th - Olivier Guyard
25th - Rudi Steger
26th - Ludovic Ruperto (photo)
27th - Dominique Bruzzese

It's too much!


There are only 15 in the dinner break, due to a huge encounter 30 seconds before the break. Lukas Trzcinski takes advantage of this to take the lead with 2 million and an average of 854,000 chips.

On the previous move, Fatih Ozer opens and pays out Takahiro Kanai's stack to bring the Japanese back into the mix.

Then Fatih Ozer decides to limp as play continues at 3 tables, in the small blind Xavier Dupuy pushes his stack. In the big blind, Lukas opens the Aces and goes all in... Fatih snaps with the queens!

Dupuy turns over the 5s and can believe it after a 6 7 9 flop, the Ace turn doesn't change the order of things, nor does a final river brick. Strike!

Play resumes at 9.15pm on blinds 20,000 - 40,000 (40,000) with an average of 21 blinds, the redraw is underway and the game will be streamed as soon as it resumes. The last 15 players in the running are guaranteed a 4-figure payout of €1,065.

They collect €920
16th - Fatih Ozer (photo above)
17th - Xavier Dupuy 

They collect €810
18th - Gael Lesage
19th - Angelo Aliberto (below)
20th - Melih Kocagoz

Redraw

Play resumes at 9:15pm with the semi-finals to be streamed from 9:30pm on the Circus Casino Resort de Namur networks.

They will return to 15 assured of a €1,055 payout, with an average of 21 blinds on 20,000 - 40,000 (40,000)...

Table 50 is the televised table... Six Belgians, four French, three Germans, one Japanese and one Dutch player remain in the running for the €16,144 first prize...

Streaming Warm-Up Namur Classics 2024

Warm-Up Final Table

GianniVandyck fell to 2 blinds at the outside table before doubling up twice... so he left the final table bubble to Takahiro Kanai, the Japanese player falling live on the televised table.

Play will now resume, with 9 players guaranteed a €1,840 prize in this Namur Classics Event #1 Warm-Up. There are 26 minutes left to play on blinds 40,000 - 80,000 (80,000)...

The Final Table (in seating order)
Teddy Fortier 595,000
Laurent de Greef 680,000
Remco Verbakel 2,650,000
Gianni Vandyck 560,000
Lukas Trzcinski $2,445,000
Aldabert Buhl 1,060,000
Alain Buisson 1,310,000
Ludovic Ingenito 810,000
Valentin Bury 2,695,000



Warm-Up Classic Event #1 Namur Classics at €250 (428 entries - €86,199 prizepool)
Champion - €16,144
Runner Up - €10,540
3e - 7 525€
4e - 5 790€
5e - 4 455€
6e - 3 440€
7e - 2 650€
8e - 2 200€
9e - 1 840€



10th - Kanai Takahiro (above) €1,540
11th - Adrien Fraiture €1,540
12th - Jackie Hu €1,280
13th - Ralf Werner (below) €1,280
14th - Jonathan Hamon €1,065 
15th - Jerry Damez €1,065

First Triumph for Lukas Trzcinski (€16,144)


After a Final Day that lasted over 14 hours, Germany triumphed at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. Lukas Trzcinski scored his first live win and biggest payout of the €250 Warm-Up Event #1 Namur Classics. "I feel very lucky, I hope I can do it again on the Main Event," confided the champion seconds after his victory.

"I feel tired but I really wanted the trophy, it went really fast at the end but I really wanted to win. The money is nice too, but it's a nice step to win, I want more now", concluded Lukas before heading off to strike a pose. 

The German beats 5 Belgian players, including the runner-up Alain de Greef who also converted his buy-in into a 5-figure payout. Remco Verbakel completes the podium and turns €250 into a €7,525 ticket. 

Held over two days with half-hour levels, Event #1 of the Namur Classics attracted a record number of 428 participants generated a prize pool of over €86,000. After three opening days, there were still 102 at the start of the Final Day... and 63 players shared the jackpot. 

Titleholder Morgan Poisson, who was present on Day 2, failed to win the ITM. In the end, it was Dove Monaco (64th) who came away empty-handed. 

Dorian Liegeois (63rd), Luc Gillard (57th), Tetiana Kovalchuk (56th) and Pierre Neuville (53rd) soon gave up, as did Stefan Aerts (45th), Gilles Magny (34th), Gaetano Moreci (33rd), Jerome Balthazar (31st) and David Olurebi (30th).

Ludovic Ruperto (26th), Francois Heine (21st) and Angelo Aliberto (18th) were a little more hopeful. In the end, it was Adrien Fraiture (11th) and Japan's Takahiro Kanai (10th) who missed out on the final... Kanai nevertheless lost out at the TV table, as the game was streamed with the cards revealed from the semi-finals... 

Final Warm-Up Event #1

Champion - Lukas Trczinski €16,144
Runner Up - Laurent de Greef €10,540
3rd - Remco Verbakel €7,525
4th - Valentin Bury €5,790
5th - Ludovic Ingenito €4,455
6th - Gianni Vandyck €3,440
7th - Teddy Fortier €2,650
8th - Adambert Buhl €2,200
9th - Alain Buisson €1,840