Day 1B promises to be a busy one

After a Day 1A that generated 354 entries, with 83 qualified players, today sees Day 1B get off to a good start, with some 300 entries after 4 levels of play.

When you consider that tomorrow is the big day, with Day 1D, the 1E Turbo and the 1F Flip & Go, there's every reason to expect a huge turnout for this Main Event.

As a reminder, the record to beat is 990 players, the record set last year. We're confident that this record will be smashed, and we're already looking at 1,500 entries for this 2023 edition of the WaSOP.

On Day 1B, the Casino de Namur's regulars included Damien Hupé, Samuel Bovy, Ercan Atmaca, Moise Alloun, Djamal Boutaleb, Aurélie Dassi, Rudy Francis, Soufiane Gherbi, Ugo Faggioli, Guy Goosens, Sébastien Matrige, Dominique Potenza, Jean-Michel Texier and many others, who will be discovered later in this coverage. 

Already 327 entries for Day 1B dinner-break

Now that the Main Event players have gone on their dinner break, let's take a look at the numbers, with attendance already approaching 700 1A & 1B entrants combined.

To date, 327 entries have been recorded for Day 1B, and registrations and re-entries continue to flourish at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur.

Remember, here in Namur, re-entries are unlimited, and it's not uncommon for gamblers to drop a dozen or so bullets in the hope of winning a place on Day 2 of the Main Event.

At the time of writing, only 191 players are left on Day 1B, and more and more croupiers can be heard announcing "Out!" in the big room.

A brief overview of the cast on Day 1B:

357 entries on Day 1B of the Main Event

Day 1B of the Main Event took place alongside the High-Roller final table. Day 1B saw 357 entries, just a little more than the previous day's Day 1A (354 entries), but already more than 700 cumulative entries, with 4 more chances to qualify for Day 2.

At the end of the 11 levels contested on Day 1B, 82 players had managed to book their ticket for Day 2. Marten Bronger (photo) occupies the chipleader's seat with an impressive stack of 674,000 chips, ahead of his Dutch compatriot Ercan Atmaca, who is accustomed to building up his stack over the first few days.

Numerous players known to our services here in Namur managed to get over the hurdle, including Nicolas Mariscal (388k), Guy Goosens (325k), Damien Hupé (299k), Charly Mouline (262k) and Vincent Verdickt (200k).

While Day 1C Turbo comes to a close a little later tonight, with 71 new entries, it's tomorrow that promises to be the craziest yet.

Organizers will have to push back the walls to accommodate all players wishing to take part in Day 1D, scheduled for 14:00. Those eliminated prematurely will have the right to a second chance on Day 1E Turbo, and even a final chance on Day 1F Flip & Go where, in exchange for €550, players will have the chance to play a flash to raise 300k in one minute.

Chip-count complete at the end of Day 1B:

Position	First name	Name	Country	Chip-count
1	MARTEN	BRONGERS	Netherlands	674.000
2	ERCAN	ATMACA	Netherlands	645.000
3	HICHAM	AOURAGHE	Germany	464.000
4	NICOLAS	KOJOVIC	France	443.000
5	ROGER	SACRE	Belgium	437.000
6	AHMAD	NIAZI	Netherlands	433.000
7	JAVEY	TIMMER	Netherlands	429.000
8	CEDRIC	GLINEUR	Belgium	425.000
9	NICOLAS	MARISCAL Y CERBAN	Belgium	388.000
11	ANGELOS	VALILIS	Greece	374.000
10	ANDREI	TURCANU	Romania	374.000
12	PAUL	VAN OORT	Netherlands	370.000
13	IMAN	GHASHAYAR	Netherlands	347.000
14	DAVY	MAES	Belgium	342.000
15	DAVE	KROON	Netherlands	333.000
16	SERGIU	COVRIG	Romania	329.000
17	MEHIDI	SAHLI	Belgium	328.000
18	GUY	GOOSSENS	Belgium	325.000
19	MICHAL	GADZALA	Poland	309.000
20	SOUFIANE	GHERBI	Belgium	301.000
21	DAMIEN	HUPE	Belgium	299.000
22	BADRE	AL GHOUCH	Netherlands	296.000
23	MOHAMED	MANGROE	Netherlands	293.000
24	HAMOUN	HABIBI	Netherlands	286.000
25	TIM	VAN DE RIET	Netherlands	281.000
26	MISCHA	WIETEN	Netherlands	277.000
27	NILS	MALLON	Germany	271.000
28	CHARLY	MOULINE	France	262.000
29	VIOREL	MERISAN	Belgium	260.000
31	NATHANAEL	TILMONT	France	240.000
30	ALAIN	CALIBER	Belgium	240.000
32	DANIEL	DOMB	Belgium	239.000
33	THOMAS	DELATTRE	France	228.000
34	RICARDO	PIRES MOURONHO NOBREGA DE BARROS	Belgium	227.000
35	INGO KLAUS	PAULUS	Germany	226.000
36	MONCEF	KAROUI	Tunisia	214.000
37	LAURA	WAUTELET	Belgium	212.000
38	Max	Mad	Belgium	211.000
39	FABRIZIO	VOZZA	Belgium	204.000
40	MAXIME	DELHOMMEAU	France	203.000
41	VINCENT	VERDICKT	Belgium	200.000
42	MARTIN	PAAP	Netherlands	198.000
43	MICHEL	VAN OS	Netherlands	196.000
44	BARTJAN	VAN HEUGTEN	Belgium	193.000
45	SERGIO	BENSO	Italy	192.000
46	ROLF	WEIGHAUPT	Germany	180.000
47	CLAYDE	TERLAAN	Netherlands	162.000
48	THEO	MILIONI	France	158.000
49	Nasty	Nasty	Belgium	157.000
50	DOTAN	KELIJMAN	Belgium	154.000
51	BERTHOLD	WINZ	Germany	151.000
52	LEONARDO	ARMINO	Netherlands	149.000
53	BILLEL RAMDANE	ZANOUN	France	148.000
54	JOHANNES	VAN RIJN	Netherlands	143.000
55	FREDDY	GODEL	France	142.000
56	HENRIK	SYMKENS	Belgium	141.000
57	MORTEN	FAAS	Netherlands	137.000
58	MAXENCE	MELIN	France	136.000
59	GAETAN	LHEUREUX	Belgium	135.000
60	DENNETH	RODGERS	Netherlands	132.000
61	DUC QUY	NGUYEN	Netherlands	129.000
62	DJAMAL	BOUTALEB	France	128.000
63	LUDOVIC	ROPERTO	France	125.000
64	DANIEL	PIRLOT	Belgium	123.000
65	DYLAN	GESSEL	Netherlands	119.000
66	ENRICO	BUZZANCA	Italy	112.000
67	EDIRLEI	BATISTA DIAS	Brazil	107.000
68	MARC	GROBETY	Switzerland	101.000
69	GASTON	ONANA	Belgium	100.000
70	TAOUFIK	TALBI	Belgium	97.000
71	DAVID	DUQUESNE	France	96.000
72	PETRUS	ALI GEDI	Netherlands	91.000
73	RUURD THYS	NAUTA	Netherlands	91.000
74	MICHA	HOEDEMAKER	Netherlands	75.000
75	MARK	DE CLERCK	Belgium	62.000
76	JOSEPH	NOUJEIM	Germany	59.000
77	YANN	AUFFRET	France	57.000
78	BRUNO	WATRIN	Belgium	52.000
79	MARCO	BARLETTA	Italy	50.000
80	SACHA	DE MUYNCK	Belgium	49.000
81	MEDDI	FERRAH	France	48.000
82	JASPER	VAN LAETHEM	Belgium	47.000

Some of the players who made the most of Day 1B: