Seatdraw Day 3

Julien Lauer in the lead ahead of Day 3

Aided by an Ace-Ace/King-King encounter, Julien Lauer has moved into the lead of the €250 Summer Main Event, where only 35 players will be in the running on Saturday for the 40,000-80,000 (80,000) buy-in. With the Frenchman now at 4.8 million and an average of 2.2 million, he's well on the way to Sunday's Final Day, when the battle for the top prize of over 45,000€ will be contested live in front of the cameras at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. 

Runner-up to KO Progressif at the start of the festival, Julien knows he still has a long way to go, as there are still plenty of customers in his wake. Between WSOPC winner Longmao Fan, the formidable Dutchman Paul van Oort, the experienced Gaetano Morecci, buddies Walid Belmessaoud and Ismael Boujahma, GG player Poker DavidOpdebeeck, Belgians Wesley Peinen and Guy Goossens, the discreet Lukas Trzcinski or Thomas Alarcon... there are still plenty of contenders. 

Paul Chum (below) will return with the 21st-lowest stack among the survivors... he had the smallest stack of the Day 3 qualifiers going into Day 2 at 2pm on Thursday, with 329 players out of the 1,524 Summer Festival entrants. It took just under three levels and two hours of play to reach 223 paid places. Players began to share in a prize pool of almost €307,000, with Day 3 participants securing a €930 payout...

One hour, eight departures

If the first 15 minutes of Day 3 of the Main Event saw no one join the rail, there was plenty of action afterwards. 

Last in the class going into this penultimate day of competition on 40,000 - 80,000 (80,000), Hamid Ben Charif (below) failed to reverse the trend, and was logically the first to give up the ghost. 

Bubble-boy of the Midnight Express he went on to contest after Day 2 of the Main Event, Stephan van den Berg bowed out in 32nd place to miss out on the 4-figure prize.

Luklas Trzcinski, Andrea Caizzi and Daniel Knapp made it this far, but I'm not sure that's much consolation... they were so close to that 5-figure prize!

Salut les Copains

Just before the break, Yves Senterre 3-bet shove Roi Dame dépareillé following an early position open from Sacha Gorle. The latter paid with 7 and 8 suit to hit an 8 river and climb to 5 million, on the right wagon on this Summer Main Event. 

The Belgian followed his compatriot Pierre Thomee (above) into the rail. WSOP Circuit winner Longmao Fan from China had no success on Saturday, and his aggressive style soon sent him into the rail despite the second stack at the start of Day 3. 

It's the end of the road for Belgian Gaetano Morecci, a regular deep-runner at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur...

Three Last Tables

Play is on pause on Day 3 of the Main Event, which is being played on 50-minute levels. Play will resume at 4.20pm on blinds 60,000 - 120,000 (120,000) with 23 players guaranteed a €1,415 prize. Yves Senterre jumped on a flip just before the first break of the day...

Play resumes with an average of 3.3 million... there are around 76 million in circulation with a much larger Table 16, with 32.4 million spread across the 8 players at this table.

Julien Lauer and Ismael Boujahma are ahead of the game!

Table 14 (in order of seats)
Walid Belmessaoud 1,300,000
David Opdebeeck 4,195,000
Maurice Lemson 1,990,000
Tony Joan 2,040,000
Sacha Gorle 4,975,000
Leopold Darcheville 2 755 000
Soufiane Messadek 4 350 000

Table 15 (in order of seating)
Shaft Bekale 1 145 000
Kevin Boel 1 795 000
Frank Richter 1 280 000
Wesley Peinen 4,950,000
Antoine Degris 5,810,000
Yusuf Yuzdzhan 1,850,000
Thomas Alarcon 1,055,000
Koen Casteleyn 4,270,000

Table 16 (in order of seating)
Hans Zarfl 1,365 000
Lennart Dijkkamp 1,210,000
Julien Lauer 9,295,000
Guy Goossens 2,750,000
Paul van Oort 3,405,000
Paul Chum 2,270,000
Cedric Kedziora 3,085,000
Ismael Boujahma 9,065,000

Sweet Sixteen

It's time for the last two tables of the Summer 2024 Main Event... Walid Messaoud didn't have the same run as his buddy Ismael Boujahma, but held on as long as he could before finally bowing out in 23rd place. 

Then Thomas Alarcon 3-bet shove ace-king suit after an open and saw Koen Casteeyn go all-in over the top with ace-king mismatch. Three spades on the flop, a spade on the turn and out went the Frenchman! Three tricolors surrendered in a row, allowing Shaft Bekel to win a few more euros. 

Then Germany's Hans Zarfl and Frank Richter, chipleader of Thursday night's Day 1H Turbo, missed the last two tables. In the end, it was Leopold Darcheville who missed out on the reunification on the last two tabls, going all-in for 15 blinds with the jacks.

Maurice Lemson wakes up in the big blind with the queens to reduce this field of 1,524 entrants to his last 16 competitors! 

American Airlines

There were 15 of them... and there could well have been 14, as two all-in shots were played simultaneously on the last two tables of this Summer Main Event.

First, Sacha Gorlé felt the pinch after 4-bet shove ace 5 of hearts from the cutoff. Sacha opened and moved all in after a 36bet from the button to 900,000 chips from Wesley Peinen. Wesley snapped with the Aces but the dealer unwrapped a 9 3 5 2 4 board for a spplit leaving Gorlé at 4 million for a 5 million average. Wesley (below) remains at 9.4 million but the gap to the tournament chipleader has widened. 

Ismael Boujahma is leading the Summer with 15 players left, and has just won the scalp of Soufiane Messadek, who was caught red-handed. Ismael opens Aces on the button and snaps when Soufiane sends 19 blinds to 75,000 - 150,000 (150,000). Messadek reveals a mismatched King Ten but hits three hearts on the flop to dream of a saving flush. The fourth heart will never save him!

There are still 7 Belgians in the running, but it's France's Ismael who's ahead with 16.6 million of the 76 outstanding... There will be a 15-minute break at the end of this level.

Table 14 (in seating order)
Sacha Gorle
Wesley Peinen
Cedric Kedziora
Yusuf Yusdzhan
David Opdebeeck
Koen Casteleyn
Kevin Boel
Lennart Djikkamp

Table 16 (in order of seating)
Ismael Bouhajma
Guy Goossens
Maurice Lemson
Paul Chum
Antoine Degris
Julien Lauer
Paul van Oort 

Lennart Dijkkamp bubbles up Summer final

The Dutchman held out for hours, but his elimination spelled the end of a Day 3 that spanned 5 levels of 50 minutes and 10 minutes of play on 125,000 - 250,000 (250,000). Lennart Dijkkamp finally jumped in a final blinds battle, covered by a chip from his tormentor.

Lennart went all-in with Ace 5 for 3.2 million and was paid in the big blind by Koen Casteleyn, who turned over Ace 2. A 4 4 2 flop gave the Belgian the lead. Two bricks later, the final table of this 1,524-strong event was set. 

Lennart will be consoling himself with €3,520, while participants in the Final Day, which kicks off at 2pm on Sunday with 39 minutes remaining on the current level, are guaranteed a €4,585 payout. The champion will take home €45,250 and a €2,200 CPS Main Event ticket! 

Well placed at the start of the semi-finals and chipleader going into Day 3, France's Julien Lauer was the big absentee in the final. He jumped after the death of his compatriot Paul Chum, who was always in good spirits during his deep-run.

No final either for Belgians Yusuf Yuzdzhan (above) and Kevin Boel. The same goes for Maurice Lemson, who took his cobra to the final table of this record-breaking Main Event...

Ismael Boujahma heads for the final

After a Day 3 that stretched over 4 hours and 20 minutes of poker action, the field for the €250 Summer Main Event has been whittled down to the final 9 players, all of whom are guaranteed €4,585 in prize money. The winner will take home €45,250 and a €2,200 CPS Main Event ticket, all live on open-card streaming!

Play resumes on Sunday at 2pm, with 39 minutes to go on the 125,000 - 250,000 blinds (250,000). Five Belgians will be pitted against one Dutchman and three Frenchmen... with one Frenchman in pole position.

Ismael Boujahma, who has been playing solidly for the past two days and is no stranger to the jousts of Namur, made the right decisions and had the success he needed to fight his way through a field of 1,524 entrants. Now the hard part begins, but the Frenchman will have 17.5 million of the 76 outstanding to try and seal the deal! 

The game is far from over, as the pressure of a nice 5-figure score is never out of the question. A discreet but effective compatriot like Cédric Kedziora could also outflank him on the left.

What's more, there are a few competitors accustomed to high-stakes games. Wesley Peinen will return with 13.3 million for what appears to be Belgium's best chance. Unless Guy Goossens alternates between madness and tightening the screws at just the right moment!

The only "foreigner" in the final, Paul van Oort is also experienced and technically gifted, and will be a formidable competitor in this final, which also features David Opdebeek.

Shortstack of the table, the "Brazilian" friend should be more on the solid side of Vincent Kompany than in unpredictable Eden Hazard mode.


The Final Table (in seat order)
Antoine Degris- France - 6,425,000 (26bb)
Sacha Gorle - Belgium - 4,750,000 (19bb)
Paul van Oort - Netherlands - 8,050,000 (32bb)
Ismael Boujahma - France - 17,525,000 (70bbb)
Guy Goossens - Belgium - 7,750,000 (31bbb)
Wesley Peinen - Belgium - 13,325,000 (53bbb)
Cedric Kedziora - 7,475,000 (30bbb)
Koen Casteleyn - 5,825,000 (23bbb)
David Opdebeeck - 4,075,000 (16bbb)