Belgium goes Carnival (€38,275)

Pieterjan Nonneman returned to live poker two years ago and won his second tournament of the week. The Belgian signed his first two successes and transformed his single €250 buy-in into a €38,275 cheque accompanied by a €2,200 CPS ticket. His biggest poker win ever.

In the money in the Christmas 2025 Main Event and the Winter 2026 Main Event, Pieterjan Nonneman followed up with a victory. "I feel good", he says after a hug with his runner-up. Pieterjan was looking for "a fun tournament to play in", and he found what he was looking for.

"There are always good events in Namur," says the winner, who came to try his luck at the weekend. This amateur qualified on the seventh of the eight starting days of this Carnival, which attracted 1,622 entrants (€325,050 prizepool) on Friday. "I won a PLO at Middelkerke last weekend, I work in IT remotely but it's going to sting on Monday morning... I've been working all week but it's going to be fine," recalls the champion with a smile. After finding a bag for Saturday's Day 2, Nonneman went on to rail his runner-up, Maurice Rustveld, with the Dutchman qualifying for Day 2 on the last-chance Turbo.

48 hours later the pair agreed to head's up for €31,275 each while leaving €7,000 and the trophy to the winner, with the eventual champion holding 60% of the chips. Pieterjan was magnanimous, not forgetting that he fell to 4 blinds after losing Ace King to Jack Ten Suit. "When I lost that hand I hoped there was some justice behind it once... it was crazy of him so I thought the poker gods were going to favour me in turn... and then I doubled up with a bad hand to raise myself. Back at 8 blinds it was playable, so I went on the hunt.



"I've had bankroll management problems in the past, and this win is a financial boost... I'm feeling good, before I came here I was aiming for the final and I was expecting more than 1,000 players, on the Winter I lost the Jacks to Ace 9, it was hard because it's complicated to make the right decision and to be betrayed by the cards, but today I ran good", continued the champion who felt confident on this Day 3 spread over 11 levels of 50 minutes. "I was happy with my stack, I was confident in my ability to sail towards the final... my pleasure is making good decisions. It was comfortable to manage and make good decisions. I feel comfortable with this kind of buy-in and I was lucky," concluded the Belgian, who is delighted to be able to play in the CPS Main Event at the end of 2025. Before that, he may well be on the starting line of the DSO Festival, which arrives at the Circus Casino Resort in a fortnight' time...