Launch of Day 1B

The second of six opening days of the €330 SuperSide WaSOP got underway at 3pm, with some 50 players taking part. All participants received 30,000 chips and were able to express themselves over 10 45-minute levels.

Play began with no ante at blinds 100 - 200, with registration open for 9 levels until around 11.40pm. On Day 1A, 41 players validated their ticket for Day 2, which will be played over 50-minute levels from 2pm on Monday.

Maradona Abaz, Pierre Neuville, Alain Fleurent, Claudio Guadagnino, Maurice Lemson, Ekin Kandemir and Thomas Alarcon are already in the game to join the first qualifiers... 

Falling backwards

Agim Gizmo, Denis Charlier, Linda Dekker, Valentin Bury, Laurent Brach, Nicolas Destercq, Pascal Libert, Roberto Maraschiello, Kevin Muders, Ludovic Ruperto and Jean Vieilletoile have all arrived, and the crowds continue to swell.

With 6 minutes left to play on the opening level, Remco Verbakel has just given up... he's the first outgoing player on Day 1B, whose board now shows 86 players in contention for 87 entrants. We're off to the cashier's to get back into the game for the Belgian...

No Time

Rui Costa probably got a little carried away when he put his 100 blinds and almost 30,000 chips on a 5-bet shove with 8s from the button.

Just to his right, Alexandre Jesus (below) wasn't asking for much. Alexandre opened with the Aces and placed a 4-bet before calling to raise to 67,000 chips one stack later... 

Head for the cashier to re-enter his victim's house, with just under 30 minutes left to play on blinds 100 - 300 (300)...

The board now shows 87 players in the running for 89 entrants, Bayer Demirci has arrived, as have Fouad Elmoumouh and Marc Hansens... 

They're all here

Time to wake up, with many a "Seat Open" echoing through the main room of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur over the last few minutes...

At the tables the action is a little more intense, and at the cashier too, with several players arriving with 5 minutes to go before the end of level 2...

The game started 85 minutes ago, with 10 players now in the running for 117 entrants.

Sandu Dumtiru, Giovanni Dupont, François Heine, Moncef Karoui (below), Wesley Peinen, Kevin Pietquin and others have taken their seats as the blinds climb to 200 - 400 (400)...

Two hours to crack the arrows

Two hours of play on this second opening day of the SuperSide WaSOP, with a quarter of an hour left to play on 200 - 400 (400) before the traditional first half-hour break.

Sebastien Remy will be able to get back on track after jumping against François-Louis Vlassis. Aces didn't hold up against 7s and 8s of spades, and FLV hit straights without shaking thanks to a fine reading of the shoe. Direction a stack of 54,000 chips while the average swelled to 36,000.

The table shows 106 players in contention for 129 entrants on this level 3... Vincent Picard, Luc Papin, Tawfik Samih and Martin Schneiders are either here or back. For Thomas Schaven, it's a second attempt after an unsuccessful attempt on Day 1a... 

Break

After a long break, play resumed on blinds 300 - 600 (600) with 105 players in the running for 134 entrants and an average of 38,000 chips. Let's go for three 45-minute levels, heading for the dinner break just after 8pm. 

Chips 

Tom Callaerts 106,000
Robert Seelen 103,000
Mathieu Verhoeven 83,000
Thomas Alarcon 80,000
Ngoc Nguyen 72,000
Julien Gambotti 72,000
Gerd Leuchter 71,000
Daniel Pol 68,000
Tanguy Lefebvre 68,000
Christophe Banthel 65,000
Kurt vandeven 63,000
Mehidi Sahli 63,000 (above)above)
Renaud Decloux 62 000
Kevin Muders 62 000
Pierre Neuville 60 000
Fouad Elmouhmouh 60 000
Maradona Abaz 59 000
Fred Lamy 57 000
Mohamed Rhazuani 57 000
Marc Hansens 55 000
JeanVieilletoile 50 000
Linda Dekker 48 000
Martin Schneiders 35 000
François-Louis Vlassis 32 000
Rim Lhamlaoui 32 000
Ekin Kandemir 31 000
Maurice Lemson 12 000

New Chance

The resumption was complicated for François-Louis Vlassis, who finally committed his last 6,000 chips after an open at the beginning of the hand. It's called by the opener who reveals 9 and 7 of diamonds to double up the Belgian and his Ace Jack...

FLV comes back to 20 blinds with 18 minutes left on blinds 300 - 600 (600) andHadrien Gallois comes in to replace Sebastian Benz, eliminated a few minutes ago at this table. zchance44 is here for the whole festival, entering with 50 blinds with the probable Day 1B chipleader just to his left.

At this table is Tom Callaerts with 109,000 chips...

Heart Mason

Jimmy Charpentier arrived atHadrien Gallois 's table a good half-hour before the streamer... he's already done times 5 and is now up to 158,000 chips after giving Tom Callaerts a hard time.

As soon as he arrived, zchance44 checked-raised to 17,000 big blind chips on 6 Queen Jack 9 Ace... Tom Callaerts had bet the pot 5,000 chips or so after opening hostilities under the gun, and he's about to give his cards back to the dealer. 

As Hadrien climbs to 40,000 chips and counts his counters, a move develops into a 4-way. Vincent Picard doesn't see the river of a 9 6 7 5 Ten board with two hearts on the flop and a heart on the river, but he does drop a few counters.

On the turn, Tom Callaerts bets 12,500 big blind chips and gets paid by Jimmy Charpentier in MP and François Louis Vlassis on the button. On the river, which brings in a possible flush, it's fireworks with an all-in FLV for 20,000, a big bet to 38,000 from Callaerts and an all-in for 10,000 more chips from Charpentier.

With straights and tens and 8s of clubs, Callaerts pays reluctantly to drop to 45,000 chips when he discovers Aces and 4s of hearts in Jimmy's hand. With 9 and 7 of spades, Vlassis joins the rail as the game is now spread over 400 - 800 (800).

The table shows 106 players for 154 entrants and an average of 43,000 chips... 

Fatal Picard

poker moves fast... in the lead just over an hour ago, Tom Callaerts has less than the starting stack with fifteen minutes left to play on blinds 400 - 800 (800).

The table shows 102 players in contention for 161 entrants and an average of 47,000 chips, and it's Vincent Picard who's been helping himself to the former boss. Voluble since the start of the day, Vincent has moved on since the arrival of Hadrien Gallois at the table. With chips on the table, the atmosphere is about to get even more intense.

This time, it was a duel between the two men, on a flop of 8 9 Ten. Tom has hit two pair with Ten and Eight... and again this may is insufficient as Vincent reveals the 9s for a three of a kind.

The turn changes nothing and if it's indeed a pair that comes river, it's not the Ten but the 8, giving Callaerts an inferior Full House.

Picard climbs to 60,00 chips, while Callaerts plunges into the danger zone with just under 20 blinds. It's not yet time to go suck rocks for Callaerts, but the Belgian has been swallowing snakes for a few minutes now... 

A Demain

With half an hour to go before dinner-break, Hadrien Gallois has just given up. Down to 5,000 chips, zChance44 sends in a pair of 3s, only to come up against Pierre Titeca's tens.

Shoo for the Streamgang on Day 1B... Hadrien probably won't be back today and will be at the start of Day 1C on Saturday a little more rested, having flown in from Toulouse a few hours ago...

Titeca kicks off his tournament with 40,000 chips in front of him... the table shows 95 players in the running for 169 entrants and an average of 53,000 chips.

The dinner break will take place between 8pm and 9.10pm... 

Dinner break

Players are on dinner-break until 9:10pm and will return for the 7th of 10 levels on the Day 1B program, this Friday at the Circus Casino Resort in Namur. Play resumes on 500 - 1500 (1500) with 84 players in contention for 174 entrants... Entries open until the start of level 10, at around 11.40pm...

"I'm hitting like a fish and I'm chaining together the Master shots," laughs Rudy Francis with 5 times the starting stack, well settled at the top of the leaderboard. "I'm passing between the balls at the moment", laughs this regular of the Namur games...

It's not so much fun for Martin Schneiders, who caughtEkin Kandemir 's last chips just before the break. The German opened under the ace-queen gun and held up against the King 5 of the player who put everything in big blinds. "I love sweating," laughed the PokerStars streamer at the appearance of an A 4 6 7 board... followed by a river brick.

Chips
Jimmy Charpentier 206,000
Wilhelmus Eilert 193,000
FredLamy 160,000
Rudy Francis 152,000
Ippolito Roccheti 152,000
Daniel Pol 149,000
Jhonn Lienard 135,000
Robert Seelen 131,000
Marc Hansens 125,000
Yannis Ammarene 124,000
Denis Charlier 112,000
Gerd Leuchter 110,000
Gaetano Moreci 105,000
Thomas Alarcon 90,000
Fouad Elmouhmouh 90,000
Kevin Muders 87,000
Remco Verbakel 87,000
Fred Borgmans 80,000
Renaud Decloux 77,000
Alain Fleurent 76,000
Ismael Boujahma 46,000
Wesley Peinen 27,000
Martin Schneiders 26,000
Pierre Neuville 13,000

Digestion

An hour of play since the resumption, the game is now being played on blinds 1000 - 1500 (1500) with a new boss at the helm.

Frenchman Thomas Alarcon has moved up a gear since the end of the dinner break. He returned with just under 100,000 chips and began his offensive by sucking up the last chips of a short stack on a preflop 70-30.

Then Alexandre Ozcul opened and got paid once... Thomas decided to call on the button with 6 and 8 of diamonds to hit a straight draw and a flush draw on the flop.

Alex caught a Top pair Top kicker and will shove after making his continuation bet and getting raised by Alarcon. Thomas strikes right away to eliminate the former dealer and continue his ascent. 

The big pot comes a few minutes later, with an open from the cutoff paid for by the button. Thomas calls in the small blind with 6 and Ten of Diamonds, drawing Marc Hansens from the big blind into a 4-bet. No action on the Ten-King-7 flop, but the Queen who arrives on the turn opening a diamond draw excites the audience.

Opener bets 9,500 chips, the button flips and Thomas completes in the small blind. Marc Hansens raises to 20,000 chips and the opener quickly folds... while Thomas also quickly pays.

On the river 8 of diamonds, Thomas hits flush and bets 25,000 chips before snapping when Marc pushes his stack for around 70,000 chips. Marc reraises, revealing Ace Jack with Ace of Diamonds. "How did you get here?" he scratches his head, out on Day 1B. Thomas Alarcon soars to 325,000 chips, leading the way.

There's still half an hour to go on this level 8, at the end of which there will be a final break. Rim Lhamlaoui would probably like this to continue, as she has just found a superb spot.

Rim simply paid for an opening with the 4s to hit quads. Her opponent couldn't let go on 4 4 2 7 King and paid Rim's 48,000-chip stack with river Aces. The player soared to 205,000 chips following this well-negotiated encounter, one that saw a short stack sandwiched with a merguez that didn't touch anything.  

70 players remain for 180 entrants, with an average of 80,000 chips... In the final minutes, Wesley Peinen, Renaud Decloux, Pierre Titeca, Laurent Brach, Pierre Thomee and Erwin Vu Duc gave up the ghost. Temporarily? 

Extensions

The final break of Day 1B is about to come to an end and play will resume on blinds 1000 - 2000 (2000) with 52 players for 181 entrants. The average is 52 blinds for the penultimate level of the day and the last 45 minutes of late entries on this second opening day.

The break was marked by the death of Denis Charlier... after a long tank. Let's rewind as it all begins with an open Alain Fleurent under the gun four minutes before the break.

No time for nonsense, we head to the adjacent tables with Rayane Mokhtavarium who tries late reg and open King-Queen before calling when Kevin Pietquin sends the starting stack. Kevin doubles up to 60,000 chips while Rayane drops to 2,000.

The BPC 2024 winner, and incidentally SuperSide champion a few years ago for a no-deal success at €40,000, sends in the black over the gun and finds himself splitting As Dame against As Dame... he'll double up on the final hand before the break, from big blind to reach that last moment of rest with 10,000 chips.

Just before this break, Rim Lhamlaoui also continues her flawless run, paying a raise with Tens and finding herself in a 4-shot on Tens 9 3 with a flush draw. Right bet, shove from a short, madame completes and on the turn 9 which gives her Full House another player sends with what will turn out to be Kings. One brick later, Rim is up to 325,000 chips.

Right next door, Sandu Dumitru climbs to 110,000 chips by eliminating Mathieu Verhoeven and his Ace-King. Sandu holds with the Aces to reposition himself just above the average before the final straight.

Meanwhile, Alain Fleurent sent 6,000 chips in on 7 5 2 with a club draw, Denis Charlier paid to fold the player at the end of the hand... and Thomas Alarcon check-raised to 21,000 chips. Fleurent folded, leaving himself with 20,000 chips, Denis raised to 45,000 from the hijack...and found himself in big trouble when Alarcon called all-in.

Denis Charlier hesitates for 8 minutes of the 15-minute break before being timed out by the floor. Danis finally commits his stack to just over 125,000 chips... and discovers 7 and 2 off Alarcon. Denis returns King Queen of Clubs and leaves the play area after a red Jack and Queen. Heading for 525,000 chips and a short break for Thomas!

Top 50

There's still half an hour to go on level 9, with 50 players in the running for 182 entries and an average of 109,000 chips.


Here are a few stacks from the last few minutes... Pierre Neuville surrendered, heading for a sattelite.

Chips
Thomas Alarcon 525,000
Rim Lhamlaoui 327,000 (photo)
Wilhelmus Eilert 250,000
Sevan Daliebroux 240,000
Franck Vangeel 190,000
Alexandre Ozcul 145,000
Nicolas Destercq 131,000
Martin Schneiders 120,000
Sandu Dumitru 106,000
Fouad Elmouhmouh 85,000
Kevin Pietquin 57,000
Mehidi Sahli 21,000
Alain Fleurent 20,000
Rayane Mokhtavarium 10,500 

Released

Four players all-in on the turn! On a 6 8 9 Jack board with four different colors, Pascal Libert bets 14,500 chips and goes all-in from the cutoff.

In the small blind, Pota Nophobia sends in his stack of 12,500 chips, is called by the big blind and Kevin Muders sends in his stack of 48,000 chips under the gun. In bb, Sevan Daliebroux completes with 7 and 9 for a mega showdown.

Pascal returns King Ten, Pota reveals Ten Jack while Kevin has a pair of 6s for three of a kind. The dealer unlocks a Queen river which gives Pascal Libert a straight and a new stack of 100,000 pawns.

Pota joins the rail as Sevan falls back to 190,000 chips. Kevin takes the outside to climb to 70,000 chips with 45 minutes left to play.

With 45 players still in the running at the start of this final level, registration is now closed for Day 1B of the WaSOP 2024 SuperSide...

Two familiar faces were released from this poker session. Alain Fleurent joined the rail under unknown circumstances, while Rayane Mokhtavarium sent 9 blinds late in the hand with Ace 2... to join the rail.

The BPC 2024 champion saw Daniel Pol call with Queen 4, a powerful preflop hand! Daniel doesn't seem to have too much time, he then doubled up Ludovic Ruperto with Dame 9, Ruperto raising to 60,000 chips with Ace 9...

Behind, down to 75,000 chips, Daniel will open and get paid three times before going all-in on King 5 Jack. Thomas Alarcon discarded the other two players with King-Queen... only to discover Daniel's Aces, now 185,000 in chips.

Thomas has lost a few feathers but is still sailing above 420,000. In the lead for the final package of the second of the six SuperSide opening days...

183 entries on Day 1B

With 25 minutes left on the clock on the second opening day of the SuperSide WaSOP, table 24 has just issued a big "happy birthday to you" to a dealer. Happy birthday Lydia!

There are only 40 players left in the running with just a few minutes to go before the end of the day... Claudio Guadagnino, Thomas Schaeven, Julien Gambotti and Fred Lamy have just given up...

Alarcon finishes strong

While he was battling it out with Rim L'Hamlaoui and Ippolito aka Mr Nice for the chiplead, Thomas Alarcon had a little help from Daniel Pol to finish alone in the lead and take command after two days of starts at this SuperSide WaSOP 2024.

Daniel Pol opened in MP at 7,500 chips and Thomas Alarcon paid just to his left, taking both players into the blinds. The quartet discover a 7 3 Queen flop on which Daniel makes a 15,000-chip continuation bet that scares nobody away!

On turn 8, which opens a diamond draw, Daniel sends in 35,000 chips and Thomas raises to 85,000. The two blinds split and Daniel sends in 160,000 and all-in. After a short time, Thomas sends in a chip to call and return 8 and 7 of spades for two pair.

Daniel dvoile King-Queen and nothing can keep him from going off course. Heading for the rail with a few minutes to go, as the clock is paused with 4 final hands to play.

Thomas Alarcon at the helm

Friday's Day 1B was a little less successful than the opening day, but the SuperSide WaSOP, priced at €330 per entry, is shaping up to be a busy one. There are still four starting days on Saturday and Sunday to pass the 1,000 mark and come close to the previous edition's record.

With 183 entries in the second of six sessions, Circus Casino Resort Namur has already registered 376 entries, well on track to break the €250,000 guarantee.

36 players made it through the 7.30 hours of poker scheduled for the day, joining the 41 qualifiers from Day 1A to form a provisional contingent of 77 qualifiers for Monday's 2 p.m. Day 2... 

In fine form since returning from dinner-break, Thomas Alarcon finally bagged up 20 times the starting stack and just over 600,000 chips! "A good Day 1", summed up the Frenchman, freed up for the weekend when he'll be nursing...

Thomas will be joined by Yves Senterre, Fouad Elmouhmouh, Robert Seelen, Caroline van Gorp, Pascal Libert, Nicolas Destercq, Vincent Picard, Frank Vangeel or Ludovic Ruperto, Martin Schneiders and Alain Fleurent, as these regulars have also found a bag.

See you on Saturday from 2pm for two upcoming qualifying sessions on this SuperSide! There's also the PLO Final Day to enjoy live... 

Partial chipcount Day 1B (full chipcount asap in doc below)below)
Thomas Alarcon 607 000
Ippolito Mr Nice 328 000
Rim L'Hamlaoui 315 000
Pascal Libert 240 000
Alex Ozcul 231 000
Fred Borgmans 221 000
Yanis Ammarene 207 000
Savan Dallebroux 206 000
Kurt Vandeven 202 000
Ludovic Ruperto 185 000

Rudy Francis 182 000
Jimmy Charpentier 162 000
Frank Vangeel 156 000
Yves Senterre 118 000
Sandu Dumitru 110 000
Kevin Pietquin 109 000
Alain Fleurent 97 000
Nicolas Destercq 94 000
Vincent Picard 90 000
Caroline van Gorp 89 000

Gaetano Morecci 72 000
Felix Schneiders 64 000