Julien Sitbon in the Starring Role on Day 2 of the PokerStars Open Cannes Main Event

Who better than a former actor to lead Day 2 of the €1,100 PokerStars Open Main Event at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes? After an initial career in the film industry, Julien Sitbon has successfully transitioned to poker.

While he has previously final-tabled both an FPS and a UKIPT event, a PokerStars Open title is still missing from his résumé. Maybe this will be the one, as Sitbon closed Day 2 as the chip leader with a massive 1,700,000 chips. “Among the big pots I won, there was a three-bet pot with ace-queen on a two-club flop against king-ten of clubs, and another one where I made a flush against Nikolai Mamut,” he explained.

Out of a total field of 1,202 entries, which generated a €1,153,920 prize pool, start-of-day chip leader Michel Marcone experienced some ups and downs but still finished the day second in chips with 1,395,000. Roberto Manfredi (1,120,000), Pascal Peraldi (1,100,000), Davis Modans (1,060,000), and Krysztof Zapolski (1,025,000) were the other players to bag more than one million chips.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Julien Sitbon	France	1,485,000	124
2	Michel Marcone	France	1,395,000	116
3	Roberto Manfredi	Italy	1,120,000	93
4	Pascal Peraldi	France	1,100,000	92
5	Davis Modans	Latvia	1,060,000	88
6	Krysztof Zapolski	Poland	1,025,000	85
7	Adria Diaz Dalmau	Spain	995,000	83
8	Thomas Jakobsen	Denmark	970,000	81
9	Jamel Ghizaoui	France	925,000	77
10	Fahd Boudaouine	France	920,000	77

Romain Haramburu switched from poker dealer to player for this event, a transition he executed with great success as he topped the chip counts during the dinner break before slipping back slightly to bag 835,000. The 2023 EPT Paris finalist Henri Kasper (850,000), Giovanni Rosadoni (810,000), Kamel Atoui (790,000), Arthur Lacroix (760,000), Axel Bayout (665,000), and Toni Kaukua (630,000) also advanced to Day 2 among the 65 remaining players.

Mehdi Rebai (550,000), Paul Tedeschi (445,000), Giovanni Renna (195,000), and Bekim Murtezi (145,000) remain in contention, along with Fabio Costa Mendes (120,000), who burst the bubble earlier in the day.

Bruno Benveniste closed Day 2 at the bottom of the chip counts after starting the day short-stacked before mounting a comeback. Back down to just four big blinds late in the day, he doubled up to climb to 650,000 but ultimately bagged 105,000.

PokerStars ambassadors Julien Dupre (85th – €2,600), Benjamin Bruneteaux (119th – €2,260), and Kerryjane Craigie (136th – €1,960) failed to advance but still finished in the money. The same fate befell Day 1a chip leader Joseph Benedetti (76th – €2,600), Umberto Ruggeri (79th – €2,600), David Docherty (132nd – €1,960), Gerard Carbo (140th – €1,960) or Anthony Apicella (141st – €1,960).

Play resumes on Saturday, December 20, at noon local time, with blinds of 10,000/15,000 and a 15,000 big blind ante, and Day 3 should conclude once the final table is reached. For now, the 65 remaining players have already secured a minimum payout of €2,990, but all will be aiming for the €195,700 top prize.

2025 PSO Cannes Main Event Remaining Payouts

Place	Prize	Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1	€195,700	9	€18,110	28-31	€4,550
2	€122,410	10-11	€13,930	32-39	€3,960
3	€87,430	12-13	€11,610	40-55	€3,440
4	€67,250	14-15	€9,670	56-65	€2,990
5	€51,730	16-17	€8,050
6	€39,790	18-20	€6,910
7	€30,600	21-23	€6,010
8	€23,540	24-27	€5,230