Day 2 Redraw
1 009 entries
333.172€ prizepool

(mdp: poker)

The minute-by-minute report from Day 1B of the €400 Cup at the PokerStars Namur open... You can also follow us on Instagram in Story mode! 

75 qualifiers on Day 1B, Steinn Karlsson on pole

The Icelander is playing in the PokerStars Live League 2025, the leaderboard of PokerStars events, where he is runner-up to Monte-Carlo in the Low ranking, so he was motivated to come to Namur! The three-tiered leaderboard offers some nice bonuses for the best players, with the top 10 in each ranking eligible to audition for a €100,000 sponsorship deal with PokerStars! 

Full chipcount in the attached document

23:50: Bagging up with 75 survivors, bringing theprovisional attendance for Saturday's Day 2 to 105 players... Karlsson's Steinn (above) bagged 439,000 and the chiplead... good evening also for Manu Poznanski (240,000) or Manuel Neiva (266,000) and Jeff Kirsch (272,000). Stay tuned for the full chipcount! 

10.38pm: The last 4 hands are underway, the clock is stopped with 81 players in the running for 299 entries. Iceland's Steinn du Karlsson, who won a side at Campione on a PokerStars Open in March for just over €50,000, seems to be holding the upper hand with just over 300,000 in chips. Fabien Ayadi has just busted on a big flip with Aces Ten against 7s at Manuel Neiva de Sousa 's, who climbs to 250,000 chips... 

22:23: 17 minutes to go on the clock for the second day of the CUp, and only 85 players left. Ivan Kalac, Max Brescich, Chales Herman, Jean Gessis, Walter Buss or Navid Saberin 

10:06pm: 34 minutes left to play on Day 1B, the blinds go up to 1500 - 3000 (3000) for the final level, when the average will be 32 blinds with 93 players in the running for 299 entrants. Gilles Magny is in the driver's seat with just over 8 times the starting position and 250,000 chips. Samuel Tebege has tripled with the Ten to 95,000 chips... 

9.57pm: Only 100 players remain on the second opening day. Another 40 minutes of poker to get your chips in for Day 2, which resumes at 1 p.m. on Saturday on 2,000 - 4,000 (4,000) with 40-minute levels. Rui Da Costa, Lucas Derpin, Carmine Giordano, Raphael Muller or Samy Khaled will have to try their luck again... 

9:40 p.m.: The selection process continues, with just 110 players left in the field a few minutes before the switch to blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500). 84,000 pawn average without Bob Seelen, Ken Claessens, Nando D'alessio, Stéphane Monaco, Bilal Marzouk Patrick Prijot or Farid Azarkan and Rens Buijs... 

8:53pm: Only 130 players left on level 11, each opening day has 14 levels... 

8:40 pm: Resumption on 1000 - 1500 (1500) with 299 entries on Day 1B of the €400 PSO Namur Cup. That makes 453 entries before Friday's two sessions... 

7.30 p.m.: dinner break after 10 levels and 5 hours of poker, registrations closed when we resumed 70 minutes later... 134 players break for 289 entries! A Belgian in the lead... Winner of a Main Event here in Namur, Fabien Ayadi started his day by surviving a runner-runner all-in on the flop, and is now in the lead.

7 p.m.: 152 players for 283 entries... Cédric kedziora seems to be in the lead with 185,000 chips and an average of 56,000 chips on 6000 - 1200 (1200). Morgan Poisson is still in touch with Xavier Servais (125,000) and Mark O'Sullivan (130,000) just behind... 

6:43pm: 4 hours of poker, blinds are 600 - 1200 (1200) with 160 players in the running for 270 entrants... Dalil Masaud is through with the Cup, while Ferdinando D'Alesio gets back to 100,000 chips by doubling up with Aces against Jacks from the big blind...


6.23pm: Cédric Kedziora continues his fine day and is up to 160,000 chips, hot on the heels of Morgan Poisson, chipleader with 170,000 chips after almost 4 hours of effective poker. 

6 p.m. End of level 7 with 167 players in the running for 267 entries and an average of 48,000 chips. Gabin Euriat took the lead with 130,000 chips, while Frank Verdonk has finished with this tournament, he won't be able to return on Friday for the two starting days, which look set to be massive. It's the halfway point for this second flight of the Cup, which guarantees a €200,000 prizepool. 

5:30 p.m. : Xavier Servais (70,000) is in the right tempo but it's Claudio Guadagnino who passed the second (100,000) with an average of 43,000 chips just before the level doubled to 500 - 1000 (1000). The table shows 172 players for 247 entrants at the end of level 6... 

4.45pm: First break underway with 174 players in contention for 228 entrants... resuming on 400 - 800 (800) with an average of 40,000 chips. 

In addition to these top players, Claudio Guadagnino, Bob Seelen, Aleksander Boski, Arnaud Danes, Daniel Pirlot, Xavier Servais and Raphael Muller have around 60,000 in chips. It's Martin Schneiders (27,000), Manu Poznanski (23,0000), Samy Barka (26,000) or Jensen Bernard (25,000) who aren't getting off the ground...

16:22: Busto for Noah Alem after 2 hours and 22 minutes of play, the scoreboard shows 172 players in contention for 220 entrants, the first break is not far off...

3:57pm: The 200-entry mark is cleared with 174 players in contention, blinds will climb to 300 - 600 (600) and it's complicated for Noah Alem (20,000) or Sabrina Senden (17,000). Nando d'Alessio eliminated JS Denissa... JSD was playing 3 cards on the turn when he checked-raised all-in! Ferdinando climbs to 90,000 jeotns, in the lead. 

3.35pm: The blinds go up to 200 - 500 (500) with 167 players in the running for 187 entries. Nikolas Wicquart is here, as are Stéphane Monaco, JSDenissa and Martin Schneiders and his GRND team, streaming on Twitch for his 3rd blind. 

3:20pm: Nice turn with Vincent Gabel, Dalil Masaud, Yoann Ramaekers and Mehidi Sahli... but it's Germany's Jan Peters who takes the lead with 105,000 chips.

3.10pm: Poisson Volant! Morgan Poisson goes chipleader at 90,000 chips by making Full House with Ten and 2 of clubs... the board shows 153 players for 165 entries after 70 minutes of poker. 

2.56pm: It's climbing with 137 players for 146 entrants just before the third level of Day 1B. All the regulars are here, including soccer player Royston Drenthe. The Dutchman got off to a good start with 45,000 chips... 

2.45pm: Second batch of players with 115 in the running for 123 entrants...

14:40: Nathan Grossmann leads 1B. He's up to 85,000 chips after finding three of a kind 5 of 7 5 3 with two clubs. Joseph Fitoussi had Aces and David Osumba had 3s. A third club on the turn gave David a draw, but the river sent him into the rail... 

2:30 pm: Already 100 entrants at the end of the first level, with 99 survivors... Soufiane Dariji is the first to reach 60,000 by taking out Rui Da Costa. 

2 p.m.: Day 1A of the Cup brought together 154 entrants for 30 qualifiers for Saturday's Day 2, with 60 starting on Day 1B, which also features 14 levels of 30 minutes each, for a total of 7 effective hours of poker. Late reg' until the post-dinner resumption at 8.40pm...