11 players for one title

On Day 3 of the WaSOP High-Roller event, only 11 players remain from a starting field of 257.

As soon as two players are eliminated, the last 9 survivors of this High-Roller will be sent to the televised table.

The winner will walk away with a cool €50,000.

Player	Country	Chipcount
Aksel Aygun		5.750.000
Bryan de Riddere		3.605.000
Leroy de Bruijn		3.140.000
Tonnie Krijn		2.600.000
Cyril De Changy		2.155.000
Quinten Spyckerelle		2.075.000
Kevin Fluegel		1.885.000
Pierre Neuville		1.550.000
Sihao Zhang		1.020.000
Francesco Lauria		960.000
Jorden Verbraeken		940.000

The scale of remaining earnings to be distributed :

Carpentier comes out of the woodwork

Starting at 2pm with 11 players remaining, Day 3 of the High-Roller could very quickly have resulted in the final table. And yet, an hour later, not a single player had been eliminated.

The player who benefited most from the first level of the day was young Cyril Carpentier, who notably took a big pot at the expense of Tonnie Krijn.

After Aksel Aygun opened to 180,000 (on 40/80) at the end of the floor, Cyril Carpentier was content to pay from the small blind, as was Tonnie Krijn.

All three players check on the 8c-2d-5c flop.

It was on the Jd turn that Cyril Carpentier came out of the woodwork with a 450,000 bet, paid only by Tonnie Krijn.

On the 7d river, Cyril Carpentier continues his story and places a bet of 850,000 in front of him. His opponent takes a good minute before paying... only to be shown T-9 of diamonds for flush backdoor.

A little disgusted, he returns his cards to the dealer and disposes of precious chips, which land directly in the young grinder's stack.

Cyril Carpentier now has more than 4 million chips and looks confident in this WaSOP High-Roller, signing his biggest ever live performance.  

Hurrah Lauria

Short-stacked with around 15 blinds at the start of the day, Francesco Lauria has just doubled his stack against Bryan de Riddere.

The carpets fly preflop between the two men, with As-Dame for Francesco and As-Valet for Bryan; logic is respected on the board and Francesco Lauria climbs to 2.3 million, while Bryan de Riddere suffers his first setback on Day 3, finding himself among the short-stacks.

We then lost Quinten Spyckerelle in 11th place.

Short-stacked, he tried to stayal with A-2 hearts after an open from Bryan de Riddere. Unfortunately for him, the Team Poker One player was armed with Jacks in his hand and ended his run at the end of an uneventful table.

Quinten Spyckerelle, 11th in the High-Roller

Pierre Neuville bubble-boy of the final table

In the end, it's the biggest winner in the remaining field who makes the official bubble at the WaSOP High-Roller final table.

Indeed, Pierre Neuville, November Nine on the WSOP Main Event in 2015 and with nearly 5 million in winnings on the live circuit, failed to reach the final table of the biggest side event of these WaSOPs.

The fatal blow came against Aksel Aygun, the chipleader at the start of the day.

In a single-raise pot, Aksel Aygun finds himself with a pair of tens on a 6-8-T flop with a spade. He decides to simply pay Pierre Neuville's 400,000 bet.

On the Queen of Spades at the turn, Aksel opts to donk-bet to 1,150,000. Pierre Neuville then chose the worst possible moment to announce "I'm all-in!" for 1,500,00 with As-Dix in hand, already drawing dead in the face of his opponent's flopped three-of-a-kind.

Pierre Neuville wins €5,005 for his 10th place finish in the WaSOP High-Roller.

As for Aksel Aygun, who had suffered a few bad blows since the start of Day 3, he's back up to 5 million thanks to this move.

WaSOP High-Roller final table moves forward

The finalists for the WaSOP XII High-Roller, which Leroy de Bruijn will start in the chipleader's seat, are now known. This player is none other than the man responsible for bursting the bubble, when he pushed Romain le Dantec out of the tournament in 40th place.

The final table starts with blinds of 50,000 / 100,000 before quickly moving up to 60,000 / 120,000 for an average of 2.8 million.

Composition of the final table :

Headquarters	Player	Country	Chip-Count
1	Jorden Verbraeken		1.585.000
2	Leroy de Bruijn		5.205.000
3	Tonnie Krijn		2.240.000
4	Kevin Fluegel		2.600.000
5	Francesco Lauria		2.570.000
6	Cyril Carpentier		4.895.000
7	Sihao Zhang		1.020.000
8	Aksel Aygun		4.965.000
9	Bryan De Riddere		1.155.000

Air Jorden

The first to leave the final table was undoubtedly the most experienced. With almost $500,000 in winnings on the live circuit, including some resounding performances here in Namur, Jorden Verbraeken was undoubtedly hoping for much better than 9th place, but a coin flip got the better of him in his last ten blinds.

After an open from Francesco Lauria in the middle of the floor, Jorden Verbraeken sends in his 1.5 million rug with As-Queen of clubs.

Paid by a pair of 9s at Francesco Lauria's, Jorden Verbraeken found no help on the board and had to leave the playing area in 9th place.

He leaves this High-Roller with €5,700, having finished runner-up in this same event in 2019, when Nicolas Plantin won.

It's Francesco Lauria who's doing well, with 4.8 million now in his possession.

Ciao Sihao

Short-stacked at the start of the final table, and down to less than 5 blinds, Sihao Zhang sends his stack into the middle with Q-9 of hearts on the button. 

Paid by J-8 of diamonds to Aksel Aygun in small blind position, Sihao sees the dealer turn over an Ad-2d-5c-4s-7d board that sends him bowling in 8th position, offering a flush to his opponent.

Sihao Zhang, Moundir's tormentor on this High-Roller, walked away with a handsome €6,900 ticket for 8th place.

As for Aksel Aygun, he rises to 5.2 million after this move and is back in second place on the chip-count.

A little déjà vu

For over an hour now, the last 7 players on the WaSOP High-Roller final table have been sending each other peaches without a bust.

It was recently Kevin Fluegel, who fell to 750k, who found a spot to almost triple his stack.

After a 305,000 open from Leroy de Bruijn with Td-9s at the cut-off, paid by Tonnie Krijn with Kc-Tc at the button, Kevin Fluegel sends his 750,000 all-in with Qs-Qd.

The initial thrower reshoots and scares off the interposed player.

Despite a sensational Jd-Qh-7d flop, Kevin Fluegel takes comfort in the fact that he finds a Jc on the turn to make it a full house and climb to over 2 million.

If you haven't already made the connection, this is Kevin Fluegel's second consecutive final table, after finishing 4th in the WaSOP Super Side Event two days ago for €20,400 in a field of 1,318 players.

To do better in this High-Roller, he'll have to come third in the event. In any case, his stay in Namur during the WaSOP is already a great success.

You'll notice he had to get a haircut after finishing 4th.

Lauria takes the laurels

After a long period without bustos, it was a hard-to-avoid encounter that got the better of Francesco Lauria, when his pair of 8s had the bad idea of falling against chipleader Aksel Aygun's pair of 9s at preflop all-in, when he had less than 20 blinds in front of him.

Nothing could save the Italian player, who finished 7th in this WaSOP High-Roller, allowing the last 6 players to get into the 6-figure money.

In his case, €8,278 will be added to his bankroll.

Flyters to the moon

Falling very short after losing quite a few chips to Bryan de Riddere with top pair against top pair, Cyril Carpentier de Changy put his last 6 blinds in play in two stages.

With a 1,200,000 stack, he opens at 600,000 (on 100k/200k) with Ah-5d on Hi-Jack and is paid by Aksel Aygun with Jh-Th one notch to his left.

The rest of Cyril's stack starts on a Qd-5s-Tc flop and Aksel Aygun pays with his second pair.

Nothing could save the young "Flyters", who had to settle for 6th place in this WaSOP High-Roller, good for €10,050, his biggest performance on the live circuit, having already been seen several times streaming on Yoh_Viral's channel.

Aksel Aygun further consolidates his chiplead with 8.5 million chips.

The structure is clearly catching up with the players at the end of the WaSOP High-Roller final, and we should soon be seeing coins being tossed back and forth.

Chip-count with 5 players left :

Player	Country	Chip-Count
Aksel Aygun		8.500.000
Tonnie Krijn		5.900.000
Kevin Fluegel		5.600.000
Bryan De Riddere		3.500.000
Leroy de Bruijn		1.700.000

Leroy is dead, long live Leroy

Aksel Aygun could well have busted two players in one go, when he had to pass his pair of Jacks after 3-betting, then saw Leroy de Bruijn push his stack, and Kevin Fluegel reshove. Both players had two Kings and Aksel Aygun would have busted them had he chosen to gamble.

Finally, a few minutes later, it was Leroy de Bruijn who was to leave the tournament. He uncovers a pair of 9s after a raise from Tonnie Krijn, paid by Aksel Aygun. With 15 blinds in front of him, he pushes all-in and is paid by Tonnie Krijn in possession of a pair of queens.

Nothing could save Leroy de Bruijn, who finished 5th in this WaSOP High-Roller, collecting €13,050 for this performance, his second best on the live circuit.

Tonnie Krijn is close to the 10 million mark after this 80/20 win, having fallen to a blind yesterday before embarking on an impressive comeback.

Dinner-break

The last four players in this WaSOP High-Roller have just gone for a 75-minute dinner-break.

Tonnie Krijn is wide chipleader with almost 10 million chips in front of him, Aksel Aygun is in ambush with 8 million and the two young wolves Bryan de Riddere and Kevin Fluegel are short-stacked with 25 blinds to spare.

They'll be back on Streaming Live at 9:15pm for the big explanation.

Aygun gives up the ghost

Chipleader at the start of this final table, Aksel Aygun finally finished at the foot of the podium of this WaSOP High-Roller, after a complicated end to the final table.

Short-stacked for quite a while, he couldn't find any spots to commit his last chips in the middle, even going so far as to defend 5-4 of clubs 4bb deep, only to fold.

He commits his last two blinds on the button with K-4 mismatched and gets paid by both Bryan de Riddere with 8-3 mismatched from SB and Tonnie Krijn with A-7 from BB. Both players check the Ac-9c-6d flop and Tonnie sends a small bet on the Js turn with his top pair. 

Aksel Aygun is drawing dead and finished 4th for €17,000, still a long way from his best performance in 2018, when he finished 3rd for €92,385 on the WSOP-E Colossus in Rozvadov.

The final trio of this High-Roller are Tonnie Krijn, Bryan de Riddere and Kevin Fluegel.

Coup de Tonn-ie

Tonnie Krijn, who was clearly the weakest player in the remaining field, has just called a huge bluff against Kevin Fluegel.

On the button, Tonnie Krijn opens to 525,000 with As-6c on the button. Only Kevin Fluegel pays with Kc-8c from the small blind.

On flop 5h-Jc-Qd, Kevin Fluegel checks/raises Tonnie Krijn's 300,000 continuation bet to 1,100,000. It's paid by Tonnie Krijn with his high ace.

The Kd turn prompts Kevin to bet 1,800,000. Then Tonnie Krijn goes all-in, claiming the remaining 6 million from Kevin Fluegel.

Storm under a skull for the German player, who ends up folding his top pair, only to be shown this huge bluff.

After this move, Tonnie Krijn further strengthened his lead with 15 million chips in front of him.

We played the hero

The hand just after his big bluff, Tonnie Krijn will give the German player back the chips he took, and then some, making him chipleader in his turn.

In the blinds battle, Tonnie Krijn simply pays with Td-8h from the small blind. Kevin Fluegel checks with Jc-8c from the big blind.

Kevin Fluegel then sent three barrels down the board 4d-Qd-9s-Th-Qh, 250,000 flop, 925,000 turn and all-in 3,975,000 river, with his straight coming home on the turn.

Tonnie Krijn decides to be the hero and opts for a call, doubling Kevin Fluegel to 11 million, while he drops to 10 million.

Where was Bryan?

Short-stacked at 3 left and letting the other two explain themselves several hands in a row, Bryan de Riddere has just come close to the exit against Kevin Fluegel.

With 10 blinds in front of him, he staysal with Ad-7d after a raise from the German player in possession of Ac-8d.

A 7 of spades on the turn later and Bryan de Riddere is back on top with 5.9 million, compared to 6.5 million for the German player.

Kevin Fluegel's crazy week

After a 4th place finish in the Super Side Event for €20,400, Kevin Fluegel managed to do even better in the WaSOP High-Roller, finishing 3rd for €22,050.

His adventure came to an end against Bryan de Riddere, when he decided to commit his chips in the middle with King-Jack against As-Queen for his last 20 blinds.

One innocuous table later and Bryan de Riddere eliminated the German player to take off at chip-count and enter the heads-up in a dominant position.

With the Main Event still to come, we're already betting on a 2nd place finish for Kevin?

Bryan de Riddere runner-up High-Roller

After Kevin Fluegel's exit, Bryan de Riddere was in a strong position to win this WaSOP High-Roller with a substantial advantage over his last opponent Tonnie Krijn.

So much so that the two players struck a deal that offered €42,000 to Bryan de Riddere and €38,000 to Tonnie Krijn, when the Poker One player had twice as many chips as his pursuer. All the while leaving some money for the winner and the trophy.

And yet, after a heads-up of around twenty minutes, Tonnie Krijn made up lost ground and finally defeated Bryan de Riddere after having touched much more on the heads-up.

Heads-up play ended with Bryan de Riddere playing As-7 against Tonnie Krijn's pair of 9s. No miracle for the Poker One player, who lost out on the trophy and the title of winner, but earned €42,000 for this magnificent performance. 

3rd last year in the WaSOP Main Event for €53,000, Bryan de Riddere has found HIS festival here in Namur, signing the two best performances of his life as a live player in WaSOP events.

Tonnie Krijn wins WaSOP High-Roller

After falling to a blind in the semi-finals on Day 2, Tonnie Krijn pulled off the genuine feat of winning the title in the second most prestigious event of the WaSOP, an event which attracted a record field of 257 entries.

Already winner of the Havana Festival High-Roller just a month ago for €23,750, Tonnie Krijn has now surpassed the $400,000 mark in earnings on the live circuit, thanks to the €38,500 from this second-place finish.

Although at times he seemed less seasoned than some of the younger players at the final table, the hint of success and uninhibited madness at certain moments, such as when he slammed a superb bluff against Kevin Fluegel, enabled him to rise to the very top of this High-Roller, getting the better of Bryan de Riddere, after a deal had been struck between the two men.

Tonnie Krijn wanted to fight for the winner's trophy, despite a clear chip disadvantage, and in the end he was right to hang on, as thirty minutes later he lifted the trophy, under the noses of young Internet wolves such as Bryan de Riddere, Kevin Fluegel and Cyril Carpentier de Changy.

That's the end of the WaSOP's big Side Event, and now it's time for the Main Event, which promises to be packed to the rafters.

Complete WaSOP High-Roller results:

Place	Player	Country	Winnings
1	Tonnie Krijn		€ 38.500
2	Bryan De Riddere		€ 42.250
3	Kevin Fluegel		€ 22.050
4	Aksel Aygun		€ 17.000
5	Leroy de Bruijn		€ 13.050
6	Cyril De Changy		€ 10.050
7	Francesco Lauria		€ 8.278
8	Sihao Zhang		€6,900
9	Jorden Verbraeken		€ 5.700
10	Pierre Neuville		€ 5.005
11	Quinten Spyckerelle		€ 5.005
12	Miguel Coussement		€ 4.345
13	Charly Mouline		€ 4.345
14	Patrick Prijot		€ 3.795
15	Paul van Oort		€ 3.795
16	Remi Devin		€ 3.300
17	Jensen Bernard		€ 3.300
18	Max Melin		€ 2.870
19	Fabio Percio		€ 2.870
20	Tonino Schmitz		€ 2.870
21	Guy Goossens		€ 2.495
22	Francois Vlassis		€ 2.495
23	Iman Ghashayar		€ 2.495
24	Romain Locquet		€ 2.170
25	Mario van Ackeren		€ 2.170
26	Tobias Peters		€ 2.170
27	Van Tran		€ 2.170
28	Cedric Schumacher		€ 1.885
29	Mark Roovers		€ 1.885
30	Santi Sungkapas		€ 1.885
31	Wim Verhaegen		€ 1.885
32	Cedric Sevrin		€ 1.635
33	Frank Verdonck		€ 1.635
34	Daniel Veloson		€ 1.635
35	Michal Kil		€ 1.635
36	Jean Ruche		€ 1.635
37	Bas van Marwijk		€ 1.635
38	Maxim Bevers		€ 1.635
39	Chris Rubbini		€ 1.635