button in SafariLulei Hu Leads 133 Qualifiers into Day 3 of 2026 PokerStars Open Namur Main Event
The Circus Casino Resort in Namur was absolutely packed today, June 4, with barely a spare chair in the house as players gathered for Day 2 of the 2026 PokerStars Open Namur Main Event.
At the start of the day, 424 players had qualified from 1,329 entrants in the €1,100 buy-in, €1 million guaranteed event, and with late registration open for the first session of play, those numbers soared to 1,572 by the time the gates closed, creating an impressive €1,491,828 prize pool.
After the dust settled on eight levels of intense combat, Lulei Hu of Italy (1,050,000) has put himself in pole position to claim the huge €220,800 first-place prize, although with three other players over the seven-figure mark, he has plenty of challengers.
Hu burst the bubble, and continued to stack chips from there to squeak ahead of Isaac Kawa of Belgium (1,019,000), Italian Dario Quattrucci (1,013,000) and Frenchman Rachid Boussakraou (1,005,000).
Hu has racked up over $1.5 million in cashes over an eight-year career to move into the top 300 in the Global Poker Index world rankings, and finished third in the PokerStars Open Paris Main Event in February this year for €247,310.
Kawa, a Day 2 entrant, is a local player with a best live cash of over $21,000 in the 2015 World Series, and he told PokerNews the remarkable tale of how he gained his stack.
Quattrucci has recorded scores of just under $400,000, and won an EPT Mixed Game event at EPT Prague in 2025, while Boussakraou has secured a number of cashes at Circus Casino.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lulei Hu | Italy | 1,050,000 | 210 |
| 2 | Isaac Kawa | Belgium | 1,019,000 | 204 |
| 3 | Dario Quattrucci | Italy | 1,013,000 | 203 |
| 4 | Rachid Boussakraou | France | 1,005,000 | 201 |
| 5 | Francois Depasse | Belgium | 913,000 | 183 |
| 6 | Manuel Schnur | Germany | 890,000 | 178 |
| 7 | Tobias Peters | Netherlands | 761,000 | 152 |
| 8 | Mehidi Sahli | Belgium | 700,000 | 140 |
| 9 | Wuai-Cheng Tsang | France | 688,000 | 138 |
| 10 | Raimondo Marcello | Italy | 678,000 | 136 |
There are plenty of quality players still in the hunt for the title, with Dutch two-time bracelet winner Tobias Peters (761,000) lurking in the top ten and fresh off a deep run at EPT Prague, and Andrew Hulme (479,000), David Docherty (422,000) and Stan Van Dijk (466,000), who was the beneficiary of a late cooler, not far behind.
Peters' fellow bracelet winners Helmut Phung (170,000) and Manig Loeser (129,000), also an EPT champ, both found bags. Conor O'Driscoll (141,000) had a storming EPT Monte Carlo, winning two events, and he is still alive here. (All figures courtesy of The Hendon Mob).
Day 2 Recap
Xiaohua Yang led at the outset, and he remains in the mix on 455,000. Day 2 entrants flocked to the registration desk to beat the cutoff point, and the knockouts came thick and fast.
After registration closed, it was determined a total of 223 places would be paid, and the bubble was a relatively short affair, bursting just before dinner break. Ugo Faggioli fell to Hu to be the last player to leave empty-handed, and the remaining players were guaranteed a €2,200 payday.
The knockouts came quickly thereafter, with numerous players nursing short-stacks, and PokerStars ambassadors Felix Schneiders and Julien Brecard both secured minimum cashes, while Benjamin Bruneteaux did not make the cut.
Florian Roth disposed of two opponents towards the end of play, and Ivelin Kolev was among the players to bust in the final throes.
2026 PokerStars Open Namur Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €220,800 | 18-20 | €8,430 | |
| 2 | €138,500 | 21-23 | €7,200 | |
| 3 | €100,300 | 24-27 | €6,200 | |
| 4 | €78,000 | 28-31 | €5,400 | |
| 5 | €60,000 | 32-39 | €4,600 | |
| 6 | €46,000 | 40-55 | €4,110 | |
| 7 | €36,000 | 56-71 | €3,720 | |
| 8 | €28,000 | 72-95 | €3,350 | |
| 9 | €21,558 | 96-119 | €3,000 | |
| 10-11 | €16,520 | 120-133 | €2,700 | |
| 12-13 | €13,900 | |||
| 14-15 | €11,700 | |||
| 16-17 | €9,930 | |||
The players will return at noon local time on June 5 to blinds of 3,000/6,000, with a 6,000 big blind ante, and 75-minute levels in play.
The scheduled plan at present is to play eight levels to reduce the field before the penultimate day, so stay tuned to PokerNews for your coverage of all the thrills and spills from 2026 PokerStars Open Namur.