Shuffle up & deal

The second qualifying session of the Oktoberfest Main Event kicked off at 4pm at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. Play began on blinds 100 - 200 (200) with 50,000 chips for all candidates.

The game was played over 4 tables, with some familiar faces right from the start. Sébastien Hetzel, Nicolas Destercq, Guy Goossens, Younes Akbal, Ivo Hermans and Patrick Resseler all tried their luck early in the afternoon in this €350 Mystery Bounty format.

On Sunday's Day 1A, 52 players bagged chips for Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 2... The opening day features 10 30-minute levels, followed by 3 40-minute levels. There's always poker in Namur, even if there will be fewer players today than yesterday's 223 entries! 

No fire on the lake

Those present at the start and going all the way to the end of the day will have played 7 hours of poker... everyone has cleared the first-level hurdle, with 42 players in the running and blinds now at 100 - 300 (300)... 

Poker52

The third level of Day 1B of the €350 Oktoberfest has begun with 50 players in the running for 52 entries and an average of 52,000 chips.

Play is now at 200 - 400 (400) and has been running for just over an hour. Weekend contenders will have to clear 5 levels in a row before the first break of the day, between 6.30pm and 7pm...

It took 50 minutes of play to hold off the first outgoing player... Fabrice Borremans seems to have dealt to a number of players, as Guido Kinna has the most chips at his table, with 72,000...

Another fallen player was volunteer Harrie Snijders. The Dutchman (above) came up against Philippe da Silva (below), who had just sat down and opened UTG2. From the hijack, Harrie eventually put in 21,000 chips and all-in on a Jack King 2 3 King board with two hearts on the flop... unsuccessfully.

There were 20,000 in the middle... Philippe hesitated for a minute, saying "I can't see what I'm beating", before calling. Harrie revealed Ten and 7 of clubs for a missed river draw and appeared on the turn... heading for the rail. Da Silva climbs to 87,000 pawns, in the lead just before the second blind raise... 

Favourite?

Picture-taking jynx for Younes Akbal, who's no longer in his seat... Third in the BPC Cup 2024 for almost €30,000 (plus a €2,200 CPS ticket) in May, in the money on the SuperSide WaSOP during the summer, this regular of Namur's jousts will surely be back in the pot in a few minutes.

Only 57 players are left in the field for 61 entrants, with 5 minutes left to play on 200 - 400 (400)... it's been playing for 85 minutes with an average of 53,000 chips, plenty of time to get into the swing of things on a flight where registration will be open until 10.45pm.

Call Muck

With seven minutes left to play on 200 - 500 (500), Guy Goossens appears to be in the driver's seat with 130,000 chips in front of him as the fourth of 13 levels on Day 1B of the Oktoberfest gets underway.

Fedele Ricotta and Saman Ziarati arrived a short while ago and have more or less the same starting stack. Aurélie Dassi has just dropped back to 43,000 chips. From lowjack the most Belgian of the French bets 1,000 chips river on Valet Valet 3 Dame Roi and call-mucks on the 8,000-chip raise of button player Romain Dussart. The latter reveals Ace Ten and takes the opportunity to raise to 95,000 chips...

Things are also going well for Dylan Royer (117,000), tormentor of Younes Akbal who has since re-entered... enough to take the counter to 59 players in the running for 64 entrants... 

King Dylan

Two hours and 20 minutes from poker, the first break of Day 1B is approaching... ten minutes of play remain on 300 - 600 (600) with 55 players in for 67 entrants and an average of 61,000 pawns.

With 160,000 chips, Dylan Royer is in the lead. Dylan isolates at 2,200 chips after two limps and Armen Tamrazyan wakes up with 20,000 chips and the Jacks in position to go all in. Christian Tonnelier goes all-in when the call comes back to him with ace-queen... and Dylan hesitates before calling to put everyone at risk with ace-jack suit. Three clubs on the flop later, Dylan strikes for an extra starting bankroll.

In the process, Dylan opens under the gun and is paid off by his left-hand neighbor. Dylan bets on the turn of an Ace-Jack-Queen-King board and then bets another 5,000 on the river 5. It's paid and Royer reveals the tens for the straight that propels him to 160,000 chips... his opponent flasks King 5 suite! 

Program change

After a half-hour break, play resumed with 57 players for 69 entrants on Day 1B of the Oktoberfest.

Participants in this second opening session will play four 30-minute levels before taking a 75-minute dinner break, starting at 9pm.

When the session resumes at 10.15pm, there will be one half-hour level left to play, before the 40-minute levels and the end of late registration... With a nice stack at the start of level 6, Sébastien Hetzel hopes he won't have to go back into the pot! 

Chipcount
Dylan Royer 171,000
Guy Goossens 144,000
Serge Maturin 118,000
Patrick Resseler 118,000
Rolf Weighaupt 109,000
Christoph Hammerlitz 107,000
Sébastien Hetzel 104,000
Florence Ledent 87,000
Yves Senterre 80,000
Frank van Bragt 75,000
Baptiste Evrard 72,000
Younes Akbal 65,000
Saman Ziarati 57,000
Lucky Luciano 55,000
Philippe Da Silva 50,000
Aurélie Dassi 32,000
Harrie Snijders 24,000

Action

While Dylan Royer once again eliminated a player, with a pair of Jacks, and now stands at 225,000 in chips, Aurélie Dassi jumped on a flip before re-entering in the same place.

She returns with 50,000 chips as the blinds climb to 500 - 1000 (1000) in ten short minutes, and with an average of 65,000 chips. Dassi is resting at Sébastien Hetzel's table, relaxing on the circus-poker.com coverage, unless he's voting for himself at the Francophone Poker Awards. Yours truly is nominated too, as are BPC, Circus Casino Resort, in-house commentator Will Lion and Tournament Director Greg Puissant... go and click!

Sébastien is almost at 120,000 chips... "grind, little hits", he assures us. Sébastien opened under the gun and his continuation bet on 3 2 9 with a flush draw was enough to win... Easy poker ! 

Poker less easy for Harrie Snijders who has just made a complicated fold from big blind to blind fight. There are 9,000 chips in the middle on Ace 6 8 9 9 with two hearts on the turn and the Dutchman has raised to 11,000 chips after a 5,000 bet from Saman Ziarati. 

Ziarati considers his options and raises the stakes to 30,000 chips. Snijders hesitates for a long time before getting timed and folding face-up a 9 while leaving himself 30,000 chips. Ziarati is now up to 90,000! 

High Five

55 players for 75 entrants and 20 minutes on the blinds 500 - 1000 (1000) again... The average chip count climbed to 68,000, providing plenty of action and pleasure for old hands Guy Goossens and Patrick Resseler, with a stack more than twice their starting bankroll.

Grinding

With just under 20 minutes left to play on 600 - 1200 (1200), Patrick Resseler has given up the gauntlet, probably to Eddy Sebastianutti who now stands at 205,000 in chips. Patrick has been replaced by Lorenzo Furia (54,000).

Dylan Royer remains in front with 260,000 chips, whileAli Jabbar (170,000) and Shaft Bekale (150,000) have moved into second place... Nicolas Destercq is still on hold.

The entry counter has risen to 80 entries to push the Oktoberfest attendance above 300... with 50 players in the running, the average is already at 78,000 chips.

Aperitif

Dinner break is in 20 minutes, it's Oktoberfest and time for a Tripick! Time for a drink to your health, Vincent...

There are still 50 players in the running for 81 entries on blinds 800 - 1600 (1600) with an average of 81,000 chips.

Dylan Royer still has the Yellow Jersey with around 5 times the starting stack...

Dinner Break

The dinner break ends at 10.15 p.m. with another 30-minute level to enter or re-enter... Then the levels will increase to 40 minutes for another two hours of poker.

Play resumes on 1000 - 2000 (2000) after the dinner-break, with currently 47 players in the running for 82 entrants... and probably without Aurélie Dassi (below with Dylan Royer) who jumped when the break was already well underway. 

After an open hijack, Mohamed Razkou Allah complete to the cutoff and Aurélie Dassi also invites herself into the big blind to discover an Ace 7 5 rainbow board. The opener bets 4,000 chips in continuation and gets paid, but Aurélie chek-raises to 13,500 chips. 

The opener raises to 30,000, Mohamed calls again... and Aurelie 4-bets all-in for 68,000. This doesn't scare anyone away, call and call! 

So there's a ton in the middle and the dealer unlocks a 4 which also opens the diamonds on the turn. Check from the opener and snap carpet for 97,000 chips from Mohamed... which provokes a three-minute tank from the pot's initiator... who will finally fold what he'll say is Ace King. 

"Nuts", announces Mohamed as he turns over 8 and a mismatched 6... "The river 9 confirms the advantage of Mohamed Razkou Allah, chipleader at dinner with 310,000 pawns. 

Chipcount
Mohamed Razkou Allah 310 000
Dylan Royer 201 000
Baptiste Evrard 187 000
Sebastien Hetzel 174 000
Gianni Lodi 173 000
Guy Goossens 161 000
Ali Jabba 150 000
Ralf Weighaupt 123 000
Serge Maturin 121 000
Lorenzo Furia 121 000

Jordan Bechoux 114 000
Christoph Hammerlitz 101 000
Fedele Ricotta 101 000
Philippe Da Silva 92 000
Florence Ledent 90 000
Lucky Luciano 87 000
Saman Ziarati 80 000

Digestion

Back from the changing rooms and the restaurant after a 75-minute break... the game involves 46 players on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000).

The average is still comfortable at 44 blinds for this 10th level, the last level of late registration.


In 18 minutes, you'll have to take part in one of the 6 other qualifying sessions for Day 2 of the €350 Oktoberfest... 

82 entries on Day 1B

The blinds are up, registration is closed. The 11th level of Day 1B of the Oktoberfest is underway, with 42 players battling it out over blinds 1000 - 2500 (2500), and the entry counter will remain definitively stuck at 82 for this Monday.

Enzo Porceddu was the last to leave the game, just before the end of the 10th of the 13 levels on the day's program. At the start of the hand, Enzo put in 4.5 blinds with King 8 and was taken out by Ace Jack... Philippe Da Silva took advantage of the situation to stay just around the average at 97,000 chips.

While Mohamed Razkou Allah tops out at 300,000 chips, Sébastien Hetzel continues his grind. He's just taken two shots, the first in a blind battle where he check-calls river 21,000 chips on Ace 2 8 5 2. The Banker reveals Ace Ten after the big blind shows Ace 4... 

Behind, from the button, on the rise of the blinds, Hetzel places a 3-bet which makes everyone folder for 10,000 additional chips sucked in... towards 225,000 pawns. 

22 v'là Eddy

There was plenty of action on Day 1B, with just 35 players left in the field, with a quarter-hour to play over 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500) and an average of 120,000 chips.

Eddy Sebastianutti peaked at 430,000 chips after taking down Douglas Weymeersch (40th) and then winning a big pot against Guy Goossens. Exsanguinated, the latter doubled up behind at 50,000 chips with Ace 9 against Queens on 9 King 6... an Ace came to his temporary rescue on the river!

Behind, Lorenzo Furia took out Harrie Snijders (38th) in Bvb with a pair of 6s against the Dutchman's Ace-King... Lorenzo was now up to 180,000 chips.

At this table, the moves followed each other with a limp under the gun followed by a 7,000-chip isolation of a Nicolas Destercq with 25 blinds. Lorenzo Furia raises the stakes to 18,000 chips at the cutoff... a cold 4-bet paid cold by Eddy Sebastianutti in the small blind.

Nicolas Destercq is the only one to pay, and he folds on the flop to Furia's 18,000 continuation bet, falling back to the starting stack and 20 blinds. Eddy check-calls on Ten 4 3 and there's no action from the duo on turn 9.

On the 4 river double up, Eddy exits to the tune of 21,000 chips and can show no better than Ace Queen of Hearts when paid. Lorenzo Furia exits this orbit with 258,000 chips, while Eddy Sebastianutti (below) slips to 365,000.

Neck and neck with Mohamed Razkou Allah, who has the same stack...

Top 30

With 70 minutes left to play on Day 1B of the Okteberfest, the field is down to 30 players.

Alessandro Beneventi has just gone all-in under the gun for 38,500 chips. On Roi 8 5 he is paid by Roi 9 in the big blind. Alexandre Guerra is dominated by Alessandro's King Jack, but a double up on 5 turn and a Queen river lead to an unexpected split. "It's better to laugh about it," laughs Beneventi... "I'm doing fine," concludes Guerra for a draw!

Yves Senterre was more successful, going all-in with 8 and 5 of spades over Dame 7 6 with two spades. His dealer had a pair of 6s, but a red 9 on the turn, not followed by a double, kept him at 90,000 chips.

The average is 136,000 chips with just over half an hour to go on 1500 - 3000 3000), the penultimate level of the evening. Mohamed Razkou Allah has regained the lead with 410,000 chips, but Eddy Sebastianutti (365,000) is not far behind.

Lorenzo Furia (255,000, photo), Romain Dussart (270,000), Seb Hetzel (240,000) and Dylan Royer also have a good block...

The Last Hour

Ten minutes of madness on blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000) with a ton of outs. Alessandro Beneventi finally jumped, as did Guy Goossens, Nicolas Destercq, Ivo Hermans and Louca Menna...

Play is going on at three tables with 23 survivors with 20 minutes to go on the penultimate level of Day 1B... Mohamed Razkou Allah (470,000) has just joinedEddy Sebastianutti (370,000) and Lorenzo Furia (250,000), while Saman Ziarati (215,000) has benefited from the momentum of the last few minutes.

Fedele Ricotta (150,000 - photo) is also still in the hunt for a ticket to Saturday's Day 2... 

22 v'là le bagging

The final level of Day 1B of the Oktoberfest has begun, with 22 players battling it out for another 35 minutes on blinds 2000 - 4000 (4000)...

The average is 186,000 chips and Sylvere Paillot is the latest to join the rail. Florence Ledent (90,000) and Lucky Luciano (115,000) are still battling it out with no margin, while Johan Bechoux has finally given himself some breathing space to double up to 150,000.

Mohamed Razkou Allah has extended his lead to 582,000 chips, while no-one else has yet reached half a million... 

Mohamed Razkou-Allah chipleader, 20 qualifiers on Day 1B

It was time to call it a day for Mohamed Razkou-Allah, who 4-bet shove after opening early with 3 hands to go. Lucien Gueret had raised with two big blind Aces and accepted the invitation to double up to 418,000 chips in-extremis. Mohamed still managed to finish with 469,000 chips despite this latest setback.

The Belgian bagged the chiplead at the end of the 7 hours of play on the second of the eightOktoberfest opening days, a €350 Mystery Bounty that had qualified 52 players on its first flight. Eddy Sebastianutti completes the 100% Belgian top trio of the evening after having animated the day (397,000).

Dylan Royer, Saman Ziarati, Sebastien Hetzel, Yves Senterre, Lorenzo Furia and Fedele Ricotta also passed the hurdle in a tournament that provisionally counts 72 qualifiers for 305 entrants after a quarter of the starting days....

Rendezvous on Tuesday at 4pm to follow the 13 levels on the program for Day 1C... a €170 Big Tuesday (which also counts towards the ranking) will start at 7.30pm...

Chipcount complete Day 1B
Mohamed Razkou Allah 469,000
Lucien Gueret 418,000
Eddy Sebastianutti 397,000
Guillaum Otto 371,000
Philippe Da Silva 270,000
Dylan Royer 243,000
Saman Ziarati 222,000
Johan Bechoux 184,000
David Garcet 181,000
Christoph Hammerlitz 153,000

Sebastien Hetzel 153,000
Ali Jabbar 146,000
Lorenzo Furia 133,000
Fedele Ricotta 130,000
Rolg Weighhaupt 130,000
Florence Ledent 118,000
christophe Boutter 111,000
Gianni Lodi 102,000
Yves Senterre 94,000
Lucky Luciano 82,000