Join us on Wednesday from 4pm for live coverage of Day 1D of the Winter Festival Main Event...

140 players to start Day 1D

140 players are seated at the Circus Casino Resort tables to start the fourth of eight starting days of the €250 Winter Festival Main Event. 

197 players have already validated their tickets for Day 2 on Saturday 2pm, which will start at 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000). How many will there be on Day 1D? 

As usual, the game will be spread over 15 30-minute levels, ending just before 2am. Four levels are scheduled before the traditional first half-hour break, starting at 6 p.m. 

The 75-minute dinner break will take place at the end of level 8, between 8.30 and 9.45 pm. When you return to the changing rooms, there will be one late check-in level left... end of late reg' and re-entry at 10.15 p.m.! 

Who's there? 

The game kicks off at blinds 100 - 200 for the one and only no-ante level of the WInter Festival Main Event. 

Tour of the tables with the regulars and other regulars of the Namur tables... Antonio Cabanas, Guillaume Gillet and Ken Claessens are there from the start, as are Angelo Aliberto and Moise Alloun. 

Abdel Lamrani, Rosario Agosta, Thomas Jansen, Saloueh Hosseini, Iulian Chiriac and Wilhelmus Crolla try their luck again, while Daniel Colacurcio has also entered the fray, as have Mathieu Desmet and Michel Fajga. 



Adrien Guyon is also present after a stint as commentator earlier in the week. Luis Perez, Sam Hilger, Cédric Glineur, Angelo Mancuso, Eddy Mefroot and Jean Ruche are also back in a place they often visit. 

Patrick Zallum, Arnaud Servais, Lukas Trzcinski and Giovanni Ventura are also in the field, which continues to fill up as the number of members has risen to 180 in the running after just 15 minutes of play in this first level ! 

230 Level 2 inputs

The game is running on blinds 100 - 300 (300) for a few more minutes and the entry counter has well passed 200. 

226 players are seated at the tables of the Circus Casino Resort in Namur... for 230 entrants already! 

Daniel Domb, Sandro Gangi, Claudio Guadagnino, Cristian Bogdan, Kevin Clement, Thomas de Kerchove, Ekin Kandemir as well as Daniel Pirlot and Francesco Pillitteri also arrived... 

Toujours du Monde in Namur

The blinds are now on 300 - 600 (600) and if the players are numerous, they want to take their time. There were only 10 outs in the first 90 minutes of play... 

The table currently shows 255 players seated at the Circus Casino Resort de Namur tables for 265 entrants. Another good turnout at Namur, with only level 9 left to join Day 1D or re-entry.

Freddy Claverie, Xavier Coutereel, Marceau Dethiere, Roger Edain, Marc Hansens and Marc Hannesse came to test the cards, as did Jonathan Masson and Dovidio Monaco! 

Break

The first part of the day is behind us, and after 4 levels and two hours of poker , 250 players are finally able to rest for half an hour. During the last level, the entry counter climbed to 285!

We'll be back in a few minutes for a first chipcount to see who's made a good start to their climb to the top. 

Resume on 400 - 800 (800) with a chip average, and then the serious business begins! 

Reprise

Play resumes on 400 - 800 (800) with 258 players in the running for 299 entrants. Mathias Moutaoukil, Prescillia Duhoux and Mohamed Daher arrived during the break and are playing 50,000 chips...

Just before the break, Steven Rothheut failed to drop Top pair and resumed with 2,000 pawns, while Tim Screever had three of a kind and now stands at 110,000 chips...



Chips
Fred Borgmans 166,000
Jordan Englebert $160,000
Dimitri Clinkemaille 148,000
jean-Claude Dahm 130,000
Stéphane Tjoncke 123,000
Fathi Khalfaoui 123,000
Asko Kalic 119,000
Adrien Guyon 112,000
Tim Screever 110,000
Fathi Khazami 109,000
Ibrahim Aslan 104,000
Johann Berger 102,000
Luca Delfino 101,000
boris Bugel 99,000
Yassine Nabih 96,000
Joseph Locatelli 95,000
Sam Hiler 94,000
Bel Nieuwenhuis 90,000
Younes Akbal 90,000
Robert Radu 90,000
Elie Hallouss 84,000
Luis PErez 75,000
Marc Szikman 74,000
Antonius Roberts 71,000
Ekin Kandemir 57,000
Freddy Claverie 54,000
Mathias Moutaoukil $50,000
Steven Rothheut 2000

Without Showdown

The blinds have been raised to 500 - 1000 (1000) and players are still arriving after their day's work. The table now shows 260 players in the running for 319 entries! 

The average is 61,000 chips and the preflop brawl has begun. Freddy Claverie opened with 25,000 when Lorenzo Furia tried to isolate himself with 3,000 chips, paid once by the big blind. General fold! 

Sam Hilger is open and his continuation bet on Ace Ten 5 with two spades is enough to take a few more chips, towards 130,000. 

War without a showdown again with an open from Catherine Joachim (photo) for 2,200 chips. Michel Fajga pays in the small blind but Abdel Lamrani puts in a gray 3-bet in the big blind for 8,800 chips. Catherine keeps her 115,000 chips and Michel his 115,000 for a quick collegiate fold that allows Abdel to get back to the starting stack. 

Jean-Claude Dahm seems to be as active as ever, with 170,000 chips and lots of moves...

Keep Growing

The blinds have climbed to 600 - 1200 (1200) with still 249 players in the running for 339 entrants... this continues to enter this Day 1D of the Winter Festival Main Event! 

The average is 68,000 chips on this fourth of eight starting days...

Mavaise Fournée

Robin Fournez lost everything in two consecutive hands when he had around 100,000 chips. First, he 3-bet from the small blind after an open from the button and 5-bet all-in when his neighbor on the right came back at him. Robin pays with Ace 4 and faces King Queen... if the flop is good with an Ace, a river Ten gives Mark Szikman the straight. 

Falling back to the starting stack, Robin sees the player under the gun open and get paid... the opportunity to place a big squeeze with the tens. The opener responds by going all-in and Robin engages his tournament to discover the Jacks in front. The dealer unlocks a flop with three hearts and a ten... and although Robin's opponent warmly calls the hearts, it's a Jack river that puts him back in front in-extremis!

226 players remain for 353 entries and an average of 78,000 chips. Players battle it out over 800 - 1600 (1600) for another 15 minutes. Then it's time for the dinner break. 

Break

The game is paused until 9:45 p.m. with a resumption on 1000 - 2000 (2000). 207 players have broken for 362 entries so far on this Day 1D! 

Just before the break Mathieu Rigolot had an incredible spot. With the Ten in the big blind, he put the starting stack in the middle and 4 of them went all-in as nobody wanted to turn in their cards preflop.

Guillaume Gillet was in front and covered everyone with the queens, while the shorts returned ace 9 and a fourth thief king 9! 

A huge pot and the dealer unlocks a King on the flop and a Ten on the turn, allowing Mathieu to climb to 180,000 with two minutes to go before the break. The shorts fall into the rail and Gillet slips to 18,000, while the third player finds himself crippled with three blinds and won't reach the break! 

Checkpoint

With the resumption set for 9:45pm, 208 players are in the game for 363 entries and an average of 88,000 chips. 



Chips
Fathi Khazami 295,000
Aurélien Dubois 275,000
Johann Berger 262,000
Jonas Degen 238,000
Tim Screever 231,000
Adrien Guyon 200,000
Dimitri Clinkemaillie 196,000
Emile AUsenne 192,000
Kevin Clement 174,000
Francesco Pillitteri 173,000
Mathieu Rigoulot $170,000
Adrien Pernon 168,000
Jean-Claude Dahm 165,000
Dory Saade 163,000
Steven Rothheut $160,000
Yoann Alliot 157,000
Zakaria Ben Omar 156,000
David Ethuin 145,000
Fred Borgmans 141,000
Fatih Khalfaoui 136,000
Thomas de Kerchove 135,000
Alain Dagonnier 130,000
Sam Hilger 121,000
Karim Ryadi 121,000
Guy de Mesmaeker 120,000
Loic Cauchies 108,000
Michel Fajga 93,000
Guillaume Gillet 15,000

Level 9 

Blindes 1000 - 2000 (2000), the last level of late registrations is well underway. Just over 200 players remain for 380 entrants, and Antonio Cabanas, Rachid Ouafska, Dominique Potenza, Ken Claessens and Mihai Stinca are among the players who could well re-enter in-extremis. These players have just jumped on Day 1D of the €250 Winter Festival Main Event. 

390 entrants on Day 1D, 1,522 entrants at halfway stage

Level 10 has begun, with 196 players now competing in blinds 1,000 - 2,500 (2,500) with 390 entrants on this fourth of eight starting days. With this Day 1D, the Winter Festival Main Event attendance provisionally swells to 1,522 entrants.

Acceleration
 
With 20 minutes left to play on this Level 10, things were moving very quickly with the field reduced to 178 players. Twenty players have jumped in 20 minutes since the end of late registration. 

Dominique Potenza finally re-entered with an express in & out. Ken Claessens, who returned a quarter of an hour before the end of the late registration period, passed the second to reach 235,000 pawns! 

Adrien Guyon (220,000), Jean-Claude Dahm (220,000), Thomas de Kerchove (205,000), Steven Rothheut (220,000), Damien Podvin (250,000), Younes Abkal (250,000) and Lloyd Finck (270,000) are also on the right track. 

David Opdebeeck (110,000) and Sam Hilger (170,000) are a little further back, while Arnaud Koopmans (370,000) and Younes Ben Abdelhak (330,000) are at the front. 

Finito

The blinds are now 1500 - 3000 (3000) with just under 170 players in contention for an average of 115,000 chips. 

Luis Perez, Ducardo Ueberfeldt, Badre Al Ghouche, Rachid Oufaska, Ali Beyay, Eddy Meyfroot and Giovanni Ventura will have to try their luck again to take part in Saturday's 2 p.m. Day 1, which starts on 5,000 - 10,000 (10,000). 

Approaching break

A quarter of an hour before the final break of Day 1D, it's the end of level 11 and the field is closing in on 150 players.

The blinds are still on 1500 - 3000 (3000) for a few minutes and Arnaud koopmans (330,000), Baptiste Da Cunha (370,000), Steeve Caron (340,000), Johan Berger (305,000) and Brahim Bousaatouf (370,000) still have a stack above 100 blinds.

Guillaume Gillet did the right thing by re-entering: he's up to 200,000 chips, while Adrien Guyon has lost a little ground (170,000). Greg van der Wecken (100,000) is more in a holding pattern, as is Dovidio Monaco (100,000)... will the final break allow him to find new momentum? 

Last Break

148 players went on break for the final break of Day 1D. Mathieu Rigolot and Stéphane Tjoncke gave up the ghost just before the last chance to catch their breath. 

The survivors will return to 2000 - 4000 (4000) and then three more half-hour levels. Heading for Day 2 on Saturday, 2 p.m. 

The average is 131,000 chips and the pecking order seems more or less established as we approach two-thirds of the day. 



Chips
Fathi Khazami 400,000
Brahim Bousaatouf 400,000
Arnaud Koopmans 364,000
Markus Wellen 355,000
Luca Delfino 300,000
Levi Goidsendhoven 300,000
Kevin Clement 280,000
Damien Podvin 240,000
Marc Szikman 239,000
Stephane Clymans 230,000
Steven Rothheut 220,000
Jean-Claude Dahmp 220,000
Aurélien Dubois 220,000
Moise Alloun 200,000
Guillaume Gillet 200,000
Mathias Moutaoukil 180,000
Adrien Guyon 146,000

Top 150

A quarter of an hour of play on 2000 - 4000 (4000) and we're still discovering a few players. After being eliminated by Loic Xans on the PKO Biathlon, Fabien Perrot registered late. He's down to 80,000 chips at Adrien Guyon's table (150,000).

At this table, Lorenzo Furia just jumped on 5 5 6 8 Jack, the turn bringing in a potential color of clubs. With Ace 5 of spades, Lorenzo check-calls the turn and check-calls again for his 50,000 stack on the river... Furia joins the rail as Adrien Pernon turns over 6s for Full House. 



Michel Fajga and David Opdebeeck, both at a neighboring table, are sailing around the 100,000 chip mark, in a waiting position with just over 20 blinds. With 200,000 chips, Cédric Glineur takes the liberty of paying a turn bet in a 4-way pot on 7 2 6 9 7 and mucke when his opponent reveals Ace 8 for a high... 

145 players remain for an average of 130,000 chips... 

Pop Corn

There are 20 minutes left to play in the 2000 - 5000 (5000) blinds, with 113 players still in the running on Day D. The average is 165,000 on this level 13...

Mihaita Georgita, Tim Screever, Michel Fajga, Daniel Pirlot, Fred Borgmans, Wilhelmus Crolla, Jean-Claude Dahm, Antonius Roberts, Iulian Chiriac and Nicolas Noel jumped ship in the final minutes and will have to replay one of the four remaining start days on February 1 and 2. 

Top 100

The switch to blinds 3000 - 6000 (6000) was imminent and just before the end of the level David Opdebeeck sent in 43,000 at the start of a hand with Ace Valet. Just to his left Fathi Khazami called with Ace Dame to eliminate him and move up to 500,000 chips. Other players at the table include Mathias Moutaoukil (250,000), Steven Rothheut (230,000), Moise Alloun (260,000) and Damien Podvin (200,000)...



Arnaud Koopmans also continues to suck, opening at the cutoff and paying the shove for just over a starting Jonathan Masson. Masson loses the flip with 7s against Ace 9s... not enough bricks but an Ace on the turn crucifies him. 460,000 pawns for Koopmans.



Kevin Clement (400,000 - below) and Rudy Francis (520,000) are also through to the second round, as is Levi Vangoisenhoven (540,000), while Yassine Nabih (320,000) and Prescillia Duhoux (190,000 - above) are in good shape going into the final hour of play on Day 1D. 

Still better than Fabien Perrot, who jumped under unknown circumstances at Adrien Guyon's table (130,000)... 

Last Level

85 players are still in the running as the blinds climb to 4000 - 8000 (8000). "Easy game le poker", says Markus Wellen in English after striking Dimitri Clinkemaillie and Andrej Karamesic to climb to half a million chips. 



Luca Delfino is up to 650,000 chips, probably leading the way with half an hour to go before the end of Day 1D. Levi Goidsendhoven (560,000) is keeping up the pace and has just moved to the right of Adrien Guyon, who is waiting for the spot (100,000). Rudy Francis has slowed down a little (420,000) and is enjoying a Tripick. 


Cédric Glineur chips up (330,000) to climb above the average to 235,000, while Greg van der Wecken (100,000) and Guillaume Gillet (190,000) have less room to manoeuvre. 

Steven Rothheut, Rosario Agosta, Denis Charlier, Karim Ryadi, Calin Nelu Pop and Angelo Aliberto gave up their last illusions on the fourth day of the start... 

6 Last Hands

The clock is ticking with 70 players in the running for the last 6 deals before wrapping up. Cédric Glineur got up to 630,000 chips with a Queen-Queen versus Jacks confrontation, his opponent hesitating for 6 minutes before paying 250,000 and jumping. After Cedric dropped back to 400,000 with the Aces, Francesco Pillitteri held out to hit river and climb to 400,000 as well.

Levi Vangoidsendhoven has probably just taken the lead on Day 1D for good. He just stripped Adrien Pernon and Fred Pottiez with Jacks, his two opponents didn't find any help with Ace Kings and Tens to see him pocket 260,000 chips and move up to 800,000.

Jonas Degen just flipped to 150,000 chips and why not go back to Cologne with the Smile. Fatih Khazami is down to 400,000, but still has a smile on his face.

We'll be back very soon with a final report on Day 1D...

Levi Vangoidsendhoven manages Day 1D, already 260 qualifiers for Day 2

With 4 of the 8 starting days now over, Circus Casino Resort Namur has recorded 1,522 entries, enough to exceed the guarantee and already raise the prizepool to €315,000 ! 

There were 390 players on the starting line for Day 1D, and 63 players bagged chips at the end of 15 30-minute levels and 7 and a half effective hours of poker. Halfway through the starting days, 260 players have validated their ticket for Day 2, which begins Saturday at 2 p.m. in blinds 5,000 - 10,000.. 

"I won all the flips," rejoiced the chipleader at the end of the day, in French. The Belgian Fleming Levi Vangoidsendhoven always had a big stack on this day and held out to suck up shorts for several hours, he finally bagged 748,000 chips and the 1D chiplead. 

Levi finished with Adrien Guyon to his left... the Girondins fan had 15 blinds with half an hour to go, and bagged 501,000 chips by finding the right spots at the very end of the day. 



Guillaume Gillet, Francesco Pillitteri, Mathias Moutaoukil, Rudy Francis, Moise Alloun and Cédric Glineur have all cleared the hurdle and won't need to try their luck on the 4 flights to come on Thursday and Friday. 

See you on Thursday at 4 p.m. for Day 1E, then at 10 p.m. for the 1F Turbo, which will be contested over 15 levels, but each 15 minutes long! 


Partial Chipcount Day 1D
Levi Vangoidsendhoven 748,000
Marcus Wellen 695,000
Luca Delfino 660,000
Loic Cauchies 573,000
Francesco Pillitteri 565,000
Fathi Khazami 513,000
Harutunian 508,000
Adrien Guyon 501,000
Moise Alloun 494,000
Igor Pliner 487,000
Rudy Francis 456,000
Arnaud Koopmans 451,000
Cédric Glineur 450,000
Kevin Clement 440,000
Fabirce Bayart 435,000
Thomas de Kerchove 417,000
Younes Abkal 375,000
Massimo Centorame 364,000
Mathias Moutaoukil 351,000
Sam Hilger 339,000
Maxime Dupas 327,000
Nicolas Deculenaire 326,000
Jordan Englebert 324,000
Johan Berger 283,000
Baptiste Da Cunha 274,000
Robertus de Wildt 269,000
Guillaume Gillet 246,000
Jerome Gerardy 245,000
Thomas Denie 222,000
Jonas Degen 164,000
Dovidio Monaco 140,000