button in SafariBenjamin Legrusley Leads Day 1a with an Exceptionally Large Stack
When a player bags the chip lead, he or she often has two or three times the average stack. But how about six times the average? This rare feat was achieved by Benjamin Legrusley, who ended Day 1a of the €500 Estoril Poker Fest Main Event with a massive stack of 1,836,000 chips.
Playing just his second-ever live poker festival here at Casino Estoril, the online grinder explained that he arrived at his last table with roughly 400,000 after “an amazing day where everything went well.” But the turning point of his day was still to come in a huge pot against Omar Lakhdari. The Algerian fired three barrels, all of which were called by Legrusley, who doubled up to surpass the one-million-chip mark.
However, one million wasn’t enough, and he added another 800,000 chips shortly after in a three-way all-in on the bubble that ended in a double elimination, allowing the 46 remaining players out of a 284-entry field to advance to Day 2.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benjamin Legrusley | France | 1,830,000 | 229 |
| 2 | Moundir Zoughari | France | 1,020,000 | 128 |
| 3 | Thomas De Leiris | France | 723,000 | 90 |
| 4 | Julien Gadanho | France | 675,000 | 84 |
| 5 | Adrien Burgniard | France | 598,000 | 75 |
| 6 | Romain Derenemensil | France | 557,000 | 70 |
| 7 | Antonio Alves | Portugal | 498,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Florian Delbergue | France | 466,000 | 58 |
| 9 | Prasanth Somas | France | 464,000 | 58 |
| 10 | Robin Gerard | France | 447,000 | 56 |
Legrusley’s performance overshadowed that of Moundir Zoughari, as the former Koh-Lanta contestant (the French version of Survivor) also ended the day with a massive stack of 1,020,000. He spent most of the day on the feature table and explained that he mostly applied pressure on the bubble to build his stack.
The rest of the top five is rounded out by Thomas De Leiris, Julien Gadanho (675,000), who made several short stacks double up during the final levels, and Adrien Burgniard, who doubled himself to bag 598,000.
French poker streamers Robin Gerard (447,000) and Jean “Juaniitoooo” Salaun (361,000) spent several hours seated next to each other today and both advanced to Day 2, unlike their colleagues Hadrien “zChance44” Gallois and Willy “Skyyart” Dias, who will have to try again in another starting flight.
2024 EPT Barcelona Estrellas champion Sylvain Berthelot doubled up with aces to finish with 286,000, ahead of Edgaras Gendvilis (193,000) or Victor Guinand (131,000).
Gaelle Baumann enjoyed a successful return to the tables as she bagged 112,000. Frédéric Heyvaert (57,000) also advanced, although with little more than the starting stack. Things were even worse for fellow Belgian Ferdinando D’Alessio, who will return with just 12,000 after doubling up Antonio Alves (498,000) in the last hand.
Day 1b of the Main Event kicks off this Thursday, May 14, at 12 p.m. local time and will follow the exact same structure as Day 1a, with a 50,000 starting stack and 30-minute levels.
As always, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to bring you all the updates until a winner is crowned!