Kick-off at 4 p.m.

Ils Sont Tous Là

It's a busy day at the cash desk, and at the entrance to the hall, staff members are busy getting ready for a big day at poker at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

There are already over 150 registrations before the start of the penultimate day of the Oktoberfest. On the program: 50,000 chips, 9 levels of 30 minutes and 3 levels of 45 minutes before possibly joining Day 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m...

Last chance from 10 p.m. on the ultimate flight, in Turbo mode (15 then 20 minutes)...

170 players at the Entame

Blindes 100 - 200, let's go for the only ante-free level of this €330 Oktoberfest. Each player has a bounty of €100 on his head, you take it out you collect €50 directly and the other €50 is added to your personal bounty... Shuffle up and deal !

Participants will play 4 levels and two hours of poker before an initial half-hour break. Then it's back to the dinner break for 4 levels... with half an hour to register until around 10.15pm. After that, to take part in the weekend, you'll have to go to the Last Chance Turbo!

The 1,000 barrier

Less than 10 minutes into the game, 200 players are seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur! The milestone of 1,000 Oktoberfest entries is passed...

First Out

The first level ended with 251 players in the running for 252 entries. Peyman Moradi couldn't resist a 3-way all-in. 

After two limps, Laurent Vancampen (photo) raises to 1,500 chips in the small blind with two kings and nobody outs. Flop Dame Dix 2 with two spades and Laurent's continuation bet of 2500 is paid once by Thierry Douyere but reraised all-in by Peyman Moradi. 

Again, no one folds... Laurent faces Ace-Queen and Ace-5 of Spades, he'll hold and take Peyman's bounty to raise to 140,000 chips. Douyere finds himself crippled.



There's plenty of action at this table as in the wake of the blinds going up, Arturo Paduano and Adrianus Cozijn are going to heat things up. There's 15,000 in the middle on a 2 6 Queen 8 board with two clubs on the flop and Arturo comes out with an 18,000 bet. Big tank across the table, followed by an all-in for 39,500 chips. 

Arturo calls. "Wow" goes his opponent as he uncovers 8 and 9 off... while returning Ace 7 of clubs. The river King of clubs brings a "sorry" from the winner and Arturo drops to 14,000 chips. 

Next hand, at the button Arturo goes all-in 11,000... all-in in the small blind from Thierry Douyere and all-in covering everyone at Dang Nguyen, hot to strike. 

Arturo returns ace-2, Thierry ace-king and Nguyen ace-2 suit in the big blind. Thierry triples to 12,000, Arturo drops to 10,000, and it's all for naught for our Dutch friend! 

Arturo isn't satisfied and wants to double up or leave... he'll 3-bet shove in the wake of an UTG open from Saman Ziarati and a call. Saman pays with the Aces to uncover 8 and 4 off Arturo, who reraises to 21,000 after a 5 3 6 3 2 board. Daddy's straight! 

By the time this little sequence was over, after 40 minutes of play, the field had grown to 269 players for 271 entrants. It promises to be a busy day... 

Big Day 


I'm told that things have calmed down at the cash desk and at the Resort reception desk... The table now shows 307 players in the running for 317 entrants! 

The 1,200-entry mark for the Oktoberfest is not far off, and the prizepool has swelled. There's €194,000 up for grabs for players in the money, while the KO prize pool has climbed to €113,000!

An Ocean of Players

The Ocean Room has opened for Day 1G of the Main Event... players continue to arrive. 

After 80 minutes of play, the counter now reads 318 players in contention for 332 entrants, with the average having climbed to 53,000 chips in blinds 200 - 400 (400). 

The overall prizepool has passed the €312,000 mark, and the €250,000 guarantee has obviously been exceeded. 

Say 350

With 20 minutes left to play before the first break, the blinds have risen to 200 - 500 (500) and the board now shows 318 players for 352 entrants!



The average is 55,000 chips, and we're going to have to make our way through this level to go on break. For everyone's comfort, the dinner break has been split. 

The first group (players on tables 18 to 39) will take a break from 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., at the end of level 6. 

In the meantime, players at tables 40 to 113 will play two levels and then take a break from 8:30 pm to 9:45 pm. 

Junction for level 9, the last one allowing re-entry or registration. If you want to play this weekend, you'll have to go through the 1H Turbo, which starts at 10 p.m. tonight... 

Break 

For the first time on Day 1G, 324 players took a break after two hours at poker. 

The table shows 376 entries for this 7th of 8 starting sessions! 

Resumption at 6:35 p.m... time for players to use their Tripick token at the casino bar. 

Restart

Resume on 300 - 600 (600), for two levels for members of the first group who will be taking a dinner break at the end of level 6. 

The field continues to grow, with 342 players returning for 394 entries on Day 1G Oktoberfest. 

Vanessa Arnold, Yves Sergeant, Saman Ziarati, Sergio Benso, Charly Calfelis are in the zone... here's a small chipcount to see who's there on this huge day. 

Chips
Laurent van Campen 196,000
Fabio Percio 135,000
Kyle Kierzyk 132,000
Arnoldus Thomassen 127,000
Florian Wollek 120,000
Maverick Verhoeven $105,000
Wouter de Graaf 104,000
Andrianus Cozjin 97,000
Andrei Turcanu 93,000
Jorden Verbraeken 70,000
Riad Ben Farhat 65,000
Jeff Hemmer 48,000
Romain Becker 47,000
Koraly Kinect 44,000
bart Lybaert 40,000
Muriel Gomez Aragon 30,000

New Level

Level 6 has begun, with 340 players battling it out over blinds of 400 - 800 (800)... for half the field it's the last level before heading off for a 75-minute dinner break. 

The other half will move on to levels 7 and 8 before joining level 9, the last level to enter or re-enter this 7th qualifying session. 

The table shows 421 entries... Road to 500! 

Dinner break

While the second group is competing in Level 7 at blinds 500 - 1000 (1000), the first group is taking a dinner break.

Here's a look at the stacks of those who are currently eating and will return at 8.45pm...

Chips
Laurent van Campen 228,000
Ruben Steenhuis 218,000
Kyle Kierzyk 195,000
Frank Debusscher 177,000
Mike Nevens 175,000
Julien Gramlich 162 000
Florian Wollek 141 000
Fabio Percio 135 000
Jay Hoebe 125 000
Andy Cremmer 118 000
Maverick Verhoeven 117 000
GenzoVlaemynck 107 000
Julien Lahou 108 000
Yves Sergeant 100 000
Charly Calfelis 100 000
Jeff Hemmer 98 000
Carina Voncken 97 000
Kim Pauwels 93 000
Nicky Roeg 77 000
Farukh Tach 60 000
Pasquale d'Amato 60 000
Koraly Kinect 51 000
Riad Ben Farhat 38 000
Fabien Perrot 38 000
Muriel Gomez Aragon 

Dinner break (Part II)

While the first group settled back to play the 7th level on blinds 500 - 1000 (1000), the second group took a dinner break until 9.45pm. 

13 tables in the Salle Océan, the secondary room, and 5 tables in the main room, which contested 8 levels and 4 hours of poker , went on break. Among them was Mohamed Sahli, who raised 315,000 chips, six times his starting stack, and has a €400 bonus in front of him. A very, very good start. 



Chipcount dinner break
Mohamed Sahli 315,000
Uwe Matthias 219,000
Antonius S 205,000
Jerzy Berezowski 193,000
Tom van Der Eecken 181,000
Eliot Hirn 173,000
Nicolai Verbiest 168,000
Steven Osepa 166,000
Dieter Victor 162,000
Bhaa Clark 161,000
Eric Goffin 155,000
Olivier Lleu 155,000
Pierre Berniere 147,000
Zakaria El Khattal 144,000
Dao Nguyen 140,000
Cyril Quioc 131,000
Paul Muller 129,000
Pierre Tilmant 126,000
Anh Hoang 124,000
Bram Aukersmit 124,000
Kamil Szewczyk 110,000
Roy van Hoeck 101,000
Pascal Libert 68,000

Already 500 entries on Day 1G, over 1,300 Oktoberfest entrants

The junction on level 9 will take place in 20 minutes, and the prizepool has just exceeded €350,000 (€227,000 prizepool and €132,000 prizepool KO) as registrations/re-entries remain open until 10.15pm. The counter shows 500 players on this penultimate flight of the Oktoberfest.

The Turbo at 10 p.m. will further boost the numbers!

Junction

Level 9 has begun, with 308 players in two poker rooms at the Circus Casino Resort on blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500).

The counter shows 515 entrants now, the prizepool has swelled to €365,000!

The average is 83,000 chips, with new WSOP Circuit winner Tawfik Samih (60,000), Jorden Verbraeken (65,000) or Ruben Tach (70,000) on schedule but not ahead.

Farukh Tach (235,000), Jay Hoebe (240,000), Oksana Gerasymenko (225,000) and Rico Roumen (285,000) are doing better.

For Laurent Vancampen, the return from the break didn't go as hoped. In a duel against Adrianus Cozijn, the fight got out of hand... everything went to the middle on 3 7 4 7. Cozijn called with his queens, the next best thing to Laurent.

The river Aces changed nothing, Laurent slipped to 80,000 while Adrianus climbed to 250,000 chips... more than three times the average.

514 entries on Day 1G

Level 10 has begun, with blinds now at 40 minutes on Day 1G of the Oktoberfest Main Event. The table shows 514 entries for the 8th starting session of this €330 PKO tournament.

The prize pool has reached €372,000 and will climb until midnight 45 with late entries still open on Day 1H Turbo, the last chance to qualify for Day 2 at 2pm on Saturday.

270 players are currently still in the running on 1G, with an average of 95,000 chips in blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000).

Sprint

After a 20-minute break, play resumed with 228 players in the 1,000 - 2,500 blinds (2,500) and an average of 112,000 chips.

The survivors of this 514-strong field now face the final two 40-minute levels before packing up for Day 2, which starts at 2pm on Saturday.

There are still 70 minutes of effective play left, and in the ten minutes since this post was written, 15 players have jumped to bring the field down to 213 survivors...

Chipcount
Dovidio Monaco 455,000
Lovier Lleu 404,000
Fred Slechten 381,000
Mohamed Sahli 325,000
Ivar Butter 275,000
Artan Harizaj 270,000
Jean-Pierre Peiffer 270 000
Emeric Gilmont 270 000
Tom van der Eecken 250 000
Nicolas Escudier 241 000
Ruben Steenhuis 240 000
Zakaria el Khattal 240 000
Audrey Grau 237 000
Farukh Tach 235 000
Aurel do Rego 230 000
Santi Sungkapas 223 000
Cyril Quioc 220 000
Danique Dumitru 206 000
Uwe Matthias 204 000
Servane Barrault 200 000
Oksana Gerasymenko 195 000
Thanh Nguyen 195 000
Fabien Nguyen 190 000
Adrianus Cozijn 171 000
Luc Viry 154 000
Franck Debusscher 152 000
Tristan Karr 132 000
Salvatore Alessi 132 000
Wesley Peinen 122 000
Patrice Libert 110 000
Dave Kroon 83 000
Koraly Kinect 36 000

The Last Hour

20 minutes to play on blinds 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500) and it's time for the final blinds to be raised on Day 1G. There are 60 minutes of poker remaining on this penultimate flight, with 202 players still in the running.

There are 7 tables left in the secondary room, with an average of 127,000 chips for this event, which has brought together 19 different nationalities. 

Last Level

The blinds just went up to 1500 - 3000 (3000) for the last level of the day. 40 minutes to chip wrap and 187 players remain on Day 1G.

The average is 137,000 chips, with Dove Monaco still holding the line at just over 400,000.

Turbo 1H has attracted 114 entrants with almost 45 minutes left to register... so the overall prize pool has swelled to €392,000. Road to €400,000?!

If you want to get in on the action over the weekend, you'll have to Turbo Adrien Guyader, Peter Coomans, Tawfik Samih, Mihaita Georgita, David Ethuin, Charly Calfelis, Robert Seelen, Badre Al Ghouch, Ruben Tack or Dominique Potenza, all of whom were eliminated in the final minutes...

Szabo reading

There are 20 minutes left to play on Day 1G, 175 players are still in the ring on blinds 1500 - 3000 (3000) and Joszef Szabo has just posted in the retro of Dove Monaco (506,000).

Nicolas Plassier open under the 9,000-chip gun. Just to his left, and already with almost 300,000 chips, Joszef places a 3-bet to 24,000 chips. The call comes to the big blind, who announces "call" before realizing that it's 8 times the blind.

Forced to pay, our distracted friend then sees Nicolas go all-in. No time to count the shove as Joszef has already called for a shodown.

Szabo turns over Kings, Plassier Queen Jack of Diamonds... and he's already exulting on a Queen Jack 2 flop all in clubs. The 5 of clubs on the turn gives Joszef a direct win with his King of clubs. Heading for 490,000 chips with 20 minutes to go.

Three Last Hands

The clock is running down with 166 players in the running on Day 1G. The last three hands have been announced without Vanessa Arnold, Bilal Atila, Michael Tenner, Bayer Demirci or Roy van Hoek... 

Monaco takes the lead, already 383 qualifiers for Day 2

While registration is still open for 5 minutes on Day 1H Turbo, provisional attendance after Day 1G stands at 1,331 entrants. The Oktoberfest will have just under 1,500 entrants... at the last edition in 2019 there were 513 for a tournament paying just €50,000. Here, there's €398,000 to share between the prizepool and the KO prize pool!

152 players made it through the seventh starting session, the biggest of the week, to form a contingent of 383 players for Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 2... before the Turbo concludes at 2 a.m.

It was Dovidio Monaco who put together the biggest stack on Day 1G. With 632,000 chips and 12 times the starting stack on 2000 - 4000 (4000) when he resumes on Saturday, this Namur cash-game regular will have plenty to do. 



Bart Lybaert, Franck Cartigny, Danique Dimitru, Farukh Tach, Artan Harizaj, Marc Hanssens , Mohammed Boudaznit, Salvatore Alessi, Rico Roumen or Luc Viry have all passed the hurdle, and many regulars will be there tomorrow for the rest of this tournament contested in the Progressive KO format. 

Chipcount partial Day 1G 
D. Monaco 632,000
Joszef Szabo 451,000
Kevin Poel 377,000
Mohamed Sahli 360,000
Job Adrianus Cozijn 357,000
Fabien Nguyen 344,000
Santi Sungkapaas 302,000
Paolo Lopes 292,000
Danique Dumitru 287,000
Ben Mohamed Rayane 261,000
Pierre Tilmant 226,000
Cyril Quioc 195,000
Victor Dieter 190,000
Mohammed Boudaznit 189,000
Luc Viry 178,000
Artan Harizaj 177,000
Kais Ghidaoui 174,000
Giulio Ghisletti 171,000
Greg Biermans 170,000
Ruben Steenhuis 169,000
Dejan Bralo 168,000
Salvatore Alessi 148,000
Rico Roumen 145,000
Farukh Tach 122,000
Marc Hanssens 120,000
Koraly Kinect 101,000
Andrei Turcanu 100,000
Eliot Hirn 100,000
Jorden Verbraeken 100,000
Ugo Faggioli 100,000
Bart Lybaert 99,000
Franck Cartigny 98,000
Johann Compagnon 82,000

Chipcount complete in the document below as soon as possible...

1,467 Oktoberfest entrants

Generating a prizepool of €251,444 to be shared between the players entering the money. The PKO prize pool is €146,700 for this tournament, eliminating one player from the prize pool as the competition progresses.