Moise Alloun Leads Lex Live Day 1A, Veldhuis Through With Short Stack
Day 1A of the inaugural Lex Live is in the books. Frenchman Moise Alloun ended on top of the leaderboard of the 2019 Lex Live Namur Main Event after twelve 30-minute levels. Alloun ended the day with 490,000 from a 50,000 start stack.
A total of 168 entries were made, and only 56 players made Day 2 through this starting flight.
Veldhuis: "I'm really happy with the turnout. I was happy when there were 80 players registered in the event, so 168 on Day 1A is amazing."
The day started with 54 players on the clock, but that number grew rapidly. Plenty of familiar faces sat down for Day 1A. The man of the tournament himself, Veldhuis, ended up at the same table as Benjamin 'Spraggy' Spragg and Twitch sensation Morten 'Zeeth' Ottosen. Ottosen didn't make Day 2, but both of the PokerStars Team Online members did.
Veldhuis lost a big three-way all-in with king-queen against pocket aces and pocket queens. Veldhuis bagged 23,000; worth six big blinds at the start of Day 2.
'Spraggy' was one of the players that fired multiple bullets in the tournament. He busted his first bullet with aces against tens after a ten hit the flop. He ended the day with 49,500 after he fired a second bullet.
One of Lex' community members that made Day 2 is the Twitch moderator 'Croaks'. The young German told PokerNews that he had an extremely fun day. ''It was so much fun to play my first live tournament here and make a Day 2. I didn't get many hands to play, but the atmosphere in the casino was amazing.'' 'Croaks' ended the day with a little less than the 50,000 starting stack as he bagged 44,000.
Others were less fortunate. The 2017 PokerStars Championship Prague champion Kalidou Sow entered the Main Event, but he didn't find a bag. Sow played at the featured table for most of the day, and he eventually busted out and opted not to reenter. He still has the option to enter another flight this week. Wessel 'MPADAM' Keizer, Gil Thierry, and Javey Timmer all busted out before the end of Day 1A as well.
Lex Live Top5 Chip Counts After Day 1A
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moise Alloun | France | 490,000 |
| 2 | Alïosha Staes | Belgium | 383,500 |
| 3 | Nicolas Laselva | Belgium | 368,500 |
| 4 | Sandro Garofalo | Italy | 330,000 |
| 5 | Timotheüs van Turenhout | Netherlands | 298,000 |
Veldhuis told PokerNews ''I'm really happy with the turnout. I was happy when there were 80 players registered in the event, so 168 on Day 1A is amazing. I expect Day 1B and 1C to be even bigger. If we cross the 800 player mark, I would be extremely happy, but everything above the 500 is amazing.''
There was a Day 1A Turbo that started at 10 p.m. local time. The levels only lasted 15 minutes, and the first turbo flight attracted twelve players. Four of them made it through to Day 2, and the chip leader of that flight is Daniel Dinulescu with 240,000.
Day 1B of the tournament will start on Thursday, March 28th at 6 p.m. local time. Players will start with a fresh stack of 50,000 and will play the same twelve 30-minute levels as they did on Day 1A. A lot of big names are still expected to make an appearance at the event. Fintan 'EasyWithAces' Hand and Felix 'xflixx' Schneiders are sure to make an appearance in Grand Casino de Namur this week.
PokerNews will be on site at the event until a winner is crowned. Check out the Lex Live updates in the PokerNews Live Reporting section.
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Milko van Winden has been a part of the poker media corps since 2017. Starting out as [I]PokerNews[/I] contributor and live reporter, Milko is now the Digital Media Manager at [i]PokerNews[/i].
