The 12th WaSOP kicks off

The Wallonie Series Of Poker kicked off on Wednesday evening with a satellite for the two tournaments that will attract the biggest crowds at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... now it's time for the real battle with the traditional €330 Super Side, an event featuring 30,000 starting chips and 50-minute levels.

The tournament features 6 starting days, with three poker days for those who make it to the end. The structure is designed to allow players to develop their best poker... the unlimited re-entries option also allows players to catch up in the event of a bad-beat.

SuperSide coverage
Live coverage of Day 1A (Thursday, July 27)
Live coverage of Day 1B (Friday, July 28)
Live coverage of Day 1C & 1D (Saturday, July 29)
Live report from Day 1E & 1F (Sunday July 30)
Live coverage of Day 2 (Monday, July 31)
Live coverage of Final Day (Tuesday, August 1)

Matthieu Sustrac and Victor Saumont will take turns from July 27 to August 6 to bring you a panorama of what's happening at the tables of Belgium's only resort.

The €1,100 High-Roller (July 31 to August 3) and the Mystery Bounty (August 5 and 6) will be a common thread running through the €550 WaSOP Main Event (50,000 chips - 50/60 minutes), which features 6 starting days. The main course of the event runs from Wednesday August 2 to Sunday August 6.


The Battle cash-game session with YoH_Viral (blinds €100-200, buy-in min. €20,000)

Start of the SuperSide

The rain is here, and so are the players. The €330 tournament that opens the Wallonie Series Of Poker is sure to appeal to fans of poker , with 50-minute levels right from the start. Look no further, there's no equivalent for hundreds of miles around!

Play began at blinds 100 - 200 for the only no-ante tournament level, with participants receiving 30,000 chips and competing over 10 levels, finishing around 1.30am.

The day is structured around a 70-minute dinner break, which begins at the end of level 6, at around 8.30pm.

The game starts with 3 levels and an initial half-hour break at 5.30 p.m.

Registrations/re-entries are permitted until the first hand of level 9, at around 11.40 p.m. 

Already over 100 entries


20 minutes of play and the 100-entrant mark has been passed. There are currently 100 entrants, still on the 100 - 200 level.

Fabien Perrot is around, but a nap is in order before thinking about poker... For Xavier Servais, Bruno Englebert, Leonardo Armino, Jorden Verbraeken, Benjamin Alalouf, David Masaud and Thierry Bay, it's off to the table - and fast! 

100 Blinds


The first level ends with 115 players in the running for 117 entrants. The explanation is done on the blinds 100 - 300 (300), the latecomers arrive with 100 blinds...

Morten Faas, Abdel Chenoufi, David Debue, Romain Becker, Angelo Aliberto and Anthony Bui Ngoc are seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... 

Keep Them Coming


The rain doesn't stop, and neither does the arrival of players. Level 3 gets underway, with 126 players in the running and 140 entrants. This SuperSide should reach its €250,000 guarantee without a moment's hesitation! 

Last year, for the 11th edition, the last three survivors of a field of 939 entrants dealt around €96,000, with Germany's Kevin Muders taking victory ahead of France's Aurélie Dassi and Belgium's Fawzi El Bachiri. 

The SuperSide saw 135 players enter the money, and here are the full results of the final... 


SuperSide WaSOP 2022
Champion KEVIN MUDERS Germany €35,000 *
2nd AURELIE DASSI Belgium €32,000 *
3rd FAWZI EL BACHIRI Belgium 29 120 € *
4th LAURENT BARRAGUE France €15,506
5th SALIM HAMZA SEFIAT France €12,060
6th ADRIEN VERHEE France €8,928
7th UGO FAGGIOLI France €6,393
8th KEVIN VAN VEEN Netherlands €4,555

Ils Sont Là


Winner of the BPC 2022 for a 6-figure payout, Samy Barka has just arrived on this SuperSide at €330 entry to the WaSOP festival. The Frenchman joins Yannick Ansenne, Cédric Huysmans, Djamal Boutaleb, Nicolas Coeman, Sandro Gangi, Ali Kaya, Yves Minkhorst, Rachid Oufaska, Carina Voncken, Jean-Michel Texier and Nikolas Wicquart in the tournament.

Half an hour of play remains on blinds 200 - 400 (400) then the survivors will break for the traditional 30-minute first break.

The current average is 35,000 chips, or 88 blinds... the table also shows 134 players seated at the tables for 157 entrants on Day 1a, the first of six starting days on the schedule for this WaSOP opening tournament. 

MegaSat

Wednesday evening, July 26, was dedicated to the opening of the 12th WaSOP festival... hostilities kicked off with a €110 satellite to qualify for the SuperSide and €550 Main Event.

Namur's Circus Casino Resort attracted 169 entrants to the tournament, which was played over 20-minute levels... the last 17 survivors walked away with two tickets worth €880, almost freerolling on the festival.

The players in the money shared a prize pool of €15,717 and Adrien Rami finished 18th for a €550 ticket with €38 left over... a nice consolation since Laura Watelet had left empty-handed forty minutes earlier.

Aliosha Staes, Isma Joly, Daniel Dodet or Jeff Hemmer won the two precious sesames...

Next satellite Thursday July 27 from 8pm with a €60 qualifier for the SuperSide (10,000 chips - 15 minutes)

First Break

Jeff Hemmer goes all-in late on a 3 6 3 Queen board with a spade draw on the flop that didn't come on the turn... The small blind and the big blind check-fold against this 3,000-card bet in 11,000 chips, allowing the qualifier from Thursday night's MegaSat to get back to 14,000 chips just seconds before the break. 

The table showed 132 players in contention for 170 entrants and the game has since resumed on 300 - 600 (600), here's a first round of the tables with the state of the forces present... 

Also qualifying on MegaSat, Dovidio Monaco took the lead with 128,000 pawns and more than 4 times the starting stack. 

Chipcount
Dovidio Monaco 128,000
Karen Harutyunyan 100,000
Steven Lempoels 89,000
Renaud Decloux 79,000
Antonino Mangano 69,000
Carina Voncken 52,000
Djamal Boutaleb 40,000
Jorden Verbraeken 35,000
Moundir Z. 34,000
David Debue 22,000
Jeff Hemmer 14,000

At L'Arrache

Level 4 has come to an end, with 128 players in the running for 191 entrants... the players on track for Day 1A of the SuperSide are now battling it out over blinds 400 - 800 (800).

Moundir Zoughari should be back in the field soon for his second blunder, most likely headed for the TV table.

Moundir pulled off one of his secret moves, as told to us by a player at his table. "He 3-bets in position to 4500 chips on the 300 - 600 (600) level, a player in the blinds pays before checking-raises on a King 6 9 flop with two diamonds," explains our anonymous source. "Moundir calls and the other goes all-in directly on a King double up, it's paid with 6 and 7 suited," continues our embedded reporter.

There are 8s and tens of diamonds in Hicham Aouaraghe's hand, who has fallen a little in love with his preflop hand but finds a 5 of diamonds river to kick-start his tournament and run the WiP.

Samy Barka bides his time at his table, where we play as we like. Karen Harutyunyan finds herself in a pot against Hicham.

Karen opens, Hicham 3-bets to 3,500 chips in the small blind. Barka drops his big blind and we have a head's up on a King 9 7 flop with two clubs. Hicham checke-calls 7,000 chips and there's no more action after a Queen of clubs turn and a Ten of clubs river.

Karen shows Ace-King with the Ace of Clubs to climb to 145,000 chips, probably leading the tournament, while Hicham announces that he had hit two pair on the turn... 

Gigap Go

Giuseppe aka Gigap Jo is no longer in the tournament. The fault of a Dame Huitre that didn't hold! 

"We were talking about Belgian players, and when I saw the hand I thought there was synchronicity," explains Gigap Jo after his elimination. One open, two calls, Giuseppe decides to call in the small blind with Queen 8... and he leads David Debue and his Queen 6 into the big blind. 

On the Queen 8 3 flop, Gigap Jo sends in his all-in for almost half the starting stack, and is paid by David Debue... but the opener reshoves for a 3-of-a-kind with Aces. 

A turn 3 puts David in agony (he'll jump two minutes later) and sends Gigap Jo into the rail... No re-entry for the duo, David will return while Gigap will concentrate on the PLO and then the WaSOP Main Event. 

Christophe Lecocq's stack now stands at 90,000. That's quite a sum with around twenty minutes left on the 400 - 800 blinds (800). 

The average is 54,000 chips...

Crazy move


Aziz Kendel got into the swing of things, deciding to go all-in after being the victim during the first level.

The gamble has paid off, as he's up to 170,000 chips with just under half an hour to go in the 400 - 8000 (800) level. Aziz is probably leading a tournament where the average is 54,000 chips.

There are 115 players in the running for a provisional attendance of 206. So Aziz made a mess of things, but he was playing two preflop color draws! Here's a look back at his stroke of luck, an early open from Javier Rodriguez to 2000 chips... 3-bet to 5000 chips from a player in position.

Aziz decides to call with 6 and 3 mismatched... the call goes back to Javier who sends 15,000 chips. 5-bet all-in for 30,000 chips from the 3rd player... Aziz decides to call with a starting bankroll behind, Javier completes with money too.

No action on flop 5 Queen 2 with a club draw... and on turn 4 Javier sends the couscous. It's paid by Aziz with his straight to uncover three of a kind in Javier's house, so he's not dead, the third player revealing Ace-King for a trip to the rail.

The river 7 provokes a near-strike, and Aziz flies to the top. Serious now?! 

Dinner-Break approaching

Barely back from Las Vegas, where his WSOP was less than stellar, Bart Lybaert came to play this SuperSide event with his buddies. Nothing to report for the 6th on the Belgian All Time Money List (with 3.6 million dollars in winnings) who took a few chips at a difficult table, Bart is at almost 100,000 chips.

Dovidio Monaco jumped, but Abdel Chenoufi, Fabien Perrot, Yves Senterre and Barbara Gleissner aren't here to make up the numbers.

There are 101 players still in the running with a quarter of an hour to go before the dinner break and the end of Level 6... Morten Faas, Djamal Boutaleb and Salvatore Alessi left for dinner-break early, and can re-enter if they wish until 11.40pm. 

Dinner break

Players are on break until 9.40pm, when play resumes at blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500). The table showed 95 players in contention for 224 entrants at the start of the dinner-break, but registration/re-entries are open until around 11.40pm and the start of level 9.

Several players have built up large stacks, with Nikolas Wicquart moving up in the final hour to 100,000 chips - just over three times the starting stack... Sandro Gangi, who trapped Karen Harutyunyan to take the lead at the break with almost ten times the starting stack, was a long way behind!

Min Sung Lee and Alessandro Farina gave up just before the break, as did Renaud Decloux.

Chips
Sandro Gangi 290,000
Vincent Robaye 190,000
Jeroen Leuver 180,000
Jean Ruche 165,000
Xavier Servais 162,000
François Thurion 160,000
Aziz Kendel 145,000
Bart Lybaert 116,000
Jeff Kirsch 114,000
Nicolas Coeman 112 000
Nikolas Wicquart 100 000
Davy Huyst 100 000
Abdel Lamrani 92 000
Stefan Skippers 90 000
Toon Carpentier 96 000
Yannick Ansenne 81 000
Abdel Chenoufi 42 000
Fabien Perrot 38 000
Djamal Boutaleb 31 000

Reprise

20 minutes of play since the return of the dinner break, with 92 players now in contention for 229 entries on Day 1A of the SuperSide WaSOP 2023. 

On the €60 satellite, there's still a break and 20 minutes left to sign up... so far there seems to be enough to give away 7 tickets at €330. 

Gang of Sharks

Sandro Gangi still holds the rope as Level 8 gets underway. 83 players are competing in blinds 1,000 - 1,500 (1,500), with an average of 85,000 chips, and the chipleader now reigns supreme with a stack of 320,000.

Behind him, Bart Lybaert (200,000), Nikolas Wicquart (150,000) and Samy Barka (120,000) are doing the job. With 70,000 in chips, and despite a raise-fold on the final deal of level 7, Jorden Verbraeken is still far from giving up.

There will be a 20-minute break at the end of this level, and registration will be closed when it resumes. To date, Day 1A of the SuperSide WaSOP has attracted 235 entries. 

C'est Perdu

Fabien Perrot joins the rail with 20 minutes to go. No re-entry on Day 1A for the coach, who had just lost the Aces to the pre-flop all-in tens to get back to 35-40 blinds. His opponent finished with a straight...

With 76 players left, Salvatore Alessi and David Janssen may just make another dumpling... 

Last Break

The final break of Day 1A is underway, with at least 66 players returning for the start of Level 9, which marks the end of late registration.

Bruno Englebert jumped on the last hand before the break. Open at 3,000 from Renaud Hennes at the start of play, Bruno sent 26,500 chips and all-in just to his left. In the blinds, Vincent Ostyn reshoves 36,500... Renaud tells Bruno that he'll give him a chance by returning the 7s face-up.

Vincent reveals the 8s and wins against Bruno's Ace-King in a 3 4 Jack 7 4 table that makes Renaud laugh (yellow). Will Bruno cash out during the break?

While Sandro Gangi still dominates proceedings with 340,000 chips, Xavier Servais (250,000) has closed in. Hendrikus van der Heijden (235,000) is also in touch with the leaders.

Jorden Verbraeken (125,000), Samy Barka (70,000), Yves Senterre (115,000), David Masaud (125,000), and Nikola Wicquart (80,000) are still on track... as is Aziz Kendel, who is in the wheel of the boss.

Aziz hits and manages to make a profit, as on this shot where he defends in the small blind after an open button from Jeroen Leuver. The big blind completes and the trio discover a Ten 5 and 3 board with a heart draw.

Aziz check-calls 4,500 on the flop before checking on turn 4. Jeroen Leuver checks-back before betting 15,000 on a river Ace. Azizi check-raises to 30,000 chips and announces "good fold" to his opponent when he returns his cards. "I'm giving the reporter some material," he says, showing 6 and 7 for the straight that takes him up to 300,000.

Chips
Sandro Gangi 340,000
Aziz Kendel 300,000
Xavier Servais 250,000
Hendrikus van der Heijden 235,000
David Masaud 125,000
Jorden Verbraeken 125,000
Yves Senterre 115,000
Jeroen Leuver 95,000
Nikola Wicquart 80,000
Samy Barka 70,000
Pierre Neuville 30,000

237 entrants on the opening day of the SuperSide WaSOP 2023

68 players are still in the money on Day 1A, with an average of 52 blinds in the 1000 - 2000 blinds (2000). Pierre Neuville won a move just after the break to climb to 45,000 chips, enough to believe in a comeback for the final WSOP Main Event.

Bart Lybaert (205,000) and his neighbor to the left Ali Kaya (195,000) are also on the pace, with only one 50-minute level left to play at the end of this level. Things are also going well for Yannick Ansenne (170,000)

Tawfik Samih (80,000), Antonino Mangano (60,000) and Abdel Chenoufi (70,000) have some time to spare before the final wrap-up...

Aziz speeds up

There are 70 minutes left to play and 15 minutes to go before the final blinds are raised on Day 1A. The table shows 58 survivors for 238 entrants as one player has re-entered in-extremis.

Players are competing in blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) with an average of 62 blinds and it's all over for Abdel Chenoufi, who fell with the Aces...

No success for Antonino Mangano, who went all in with a 3-shot on Jack 2 Ace Ten... The opener had put in an all-in banderilla on the flop and Antonino went all-in with a 70,000-chip check-raise on the turn after a 13,500-chip bet from Aziz Kendel. Aziz called with ace-ten, ahead of Antonino's ace-two, heading for the chiplead and 420,000 chips after an unchanging river.

Flush Draw

Nicolas Coeman gambled... without success. It all started with a limp from Abdel Lamrani under the old gun, which provoked an automatic 7,000 bet from Bart Lybaert from the button.

Coeman calls in the big blind, Lamrani raises to 21,500... which causes Lybaert to fold and smile automatically. Nicolas hesitates a little before completing... then donk 24,000 chips on a King 7 3 flop with two diamonds.

Lamrani responds by going all-in almost instantly. "I'm playing diamonds, should I pay or not?" questions his opponent before snap-calling when Lamrani replies "do what you want".

Lamrani returns Ace-King for Top pair and has to dodge balls against his opponent's suitered Queen-2. The dealer unwraps a turn 7 of hearts, a river 5 of spades and Lamrani climbs to 305,000 pawns, at the top of the leaderboard.

A losing draw for Coeman, who slips to 30,000 chips - still 15 blinds for a few minutes.

With 5 minutes to go before the 1000 - 2500 blinds (2500), 57 players remain in the running for a provisional average of 63 blinds.

Samy Barka has jumped under unknown circumstances, as has Wim Verhaegen...

Top 50

There are 20 minutes left to play on level 10 and blinds 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500). 50 players can aim to bag up chips.

Jeff Kirsch is in the rail after 4-bet shove all-in for 30 blinds. Enough to scare off the opener, but not Tawfik Samih, who had 3-bet with queens. The Luxembourger turned over Kings but a flop containing a Queen put an end to his run.

The same goes for Billy Tuaiva, Nicolas Coeman and Nicolas Mariscal. For Yannick Ansenne, it's a new beginning as the Poker One player has managed to monetize a Full House with a nice river bet, enough to climb to 150,000 pawns at the right moment. Kristof Everaerts dropped to 100,000 chips after this call-muck...

The only woman in the running at the end of the evening, Andreina van Workum looks set to validate her ticket for Day 2 with 120,000 chips just before the bell. 

6 Last Hands wake everyone up

The clock was paused with 12 minutes left to play on level 10... and the florr then drew the last deals for an extra 6 hands.

This was enough to completely change the face of Day 1A. Renaud Hennes finished strong... finding two Jacks in-extremis. With a paid raise, Renaud raised the stakes to 15,000 pawns. It's paid everywhere and 4 of them discover a 6 2 2 flop!

The small blind sends his stack of 32,000 to the flop, it's called by the original opener and Renaud pushes 90,000 chips from the cutoff. Fold from the button and overcall by the opener, who returns Ace-King while the shorts are in the pampas with 6 and 3. Two bricks later, Renaud hits the strike to wrap up 100 blinds for Day 2, which starts on Monday at 2pm.

It's a nice stack, but Aziz Kendel will pack 426,000 chips at this table a few minutes later. Chipleader for many minutes, Aziz was nevertheless overtaken at the end.

At his table, the one that had been playing the longest, one last move saw Stefaan Skippers take off after a big flip. Renaud Hennes opens to 5,000 chips, Stefaan 3-bets to 18,000 and Dimitri Verez wakes up in the big blind to 4-bet all-in to 140,000. Stefaan hesitates and responds with Ace-King for a coin toss.

Verez's Queens shattered on a Ten Ten King Jack 4 board, Stefaan bagged 347,000 pawns with this final sprint!

Five minutes earlier, halfway through the last 6 deals, a huge encounter led to a change of boss!

Open under the gun from Bart Lybaert to 5,000 chips, 3-bet from Ali Kaya to 16,000 just to his left... call from Abdel Lamrani a notch to the left then quick fold from Lybaert. The duo discover a Queen Jack 4 flop with a flush draw and there's going to be some action.

Continuation bet to 21,000 chips from Kaya, raise to 63,000 chips from Lamrani... who is greeted by a 3-bet to 163,000 chips! Abdel is not serene when he goes all-in, and is effectively called in the second.

Kaya turns over the queens for the top set, and all he has to do is avoid the last jack in the pack as Lamrani turns over the jacks. Two bricks later, Ali is up to 460,000 chips! Abdel falls back into the pack...

45 players have bagged up chips, so we'll see you soon for the chipcount...

Ali Kaya SuperSide chipleader, 238 entries on Day 1A

Great turnout for the first of six opening days of the €330 SuperSide at the 12th WaSOP. Day 1A brought together 238 entrants, and 45 of them bagged chips. after 10 levels and just over 8 hours of poker . These qualifiers will return on Monday at 2pm for Day 2, which will again feature 50-minute levels and a start at blinds 1,500 - 3,000 (3,000). 

With 460,000 in chips, 15 times the starting stack and plenty of depth on the restart, Ali Kaya will have plenty of time to look forward to another huge prizepool tournament. 



Ali Kaya was ahead of Sandro Gangi and Aziz Kendel, with the duo neck-and-neck in the lead throughout Thursday's opening day. Sandro finished with 444,000 and Aziz with 426,000, in touch with the Day 1A chipleader. 

It was also a good day for Stefaan Skippers, Yannick Ansenne, Bart Lybaert, Xavier Servais, Djamal Boutaleb, Moundir Zoughari and Jorden Verbraeken, although only one player made the cut. Andriina van Workum also did well, returning with over 50 blinds... 

Partial Chipcount 1A
Ali Kaya 460,000
Sandro Gangi 444,000
Aziz Kendel 426,000
Stefaan Skippers 390,000
Renaud Hennes 290,000
Bart Lybaert 260,000
Xavier Servais 218,000
Yannick Ansenne 217,000
Hendrikus van der Heijden 214,500
Tawfik Samih 201,000
Djamal Boutaleb 196,000
Davy Huyst 183,000
Kevin Laurenco 172,000
Abel Layoun 164,000
Angelo ALiberto $160,000
Andriina van Workum 157,000
Moundir Zoughari 141,000
Jean Ruche 140,000
Jorden Verbraeken 131,000
Kristof Everaerts 115,000
Steven Kronzkalla 86,000
Kjelle Baillieu 85,500 
Nikolas Wicquart 58,000