Late registration closed after Level 11 with a total of 322 entries recorded on Day 1a of the WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence Main Event.
Out of those, 105 players remain for now, but only 81 will secure a seat for Day 2.
Level: 12
Blinds: 1,000/2,500
Ante: 3,000
The 107 players of Day 1a are on a 15-minute break. Late registration closes at the end of the break.
On a flop of [ad5c6], three players agreed on a bet of 6,000 before Cédric Chevalme in the hijack bet 10,000 on the K♠ turn.
Mohammed Bekheira in middle position folded, but another player called from two seats over.
This third player and Chevalme checked the 2♥ river where the middle-position player flipped over A♣J♦ for top pair. Chevalme revealed the A♥ and said he had the 9♥ with it.
Level: 11
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 2,000
A player in middle position opened to 4,500. Pierre Merlin on the button three-bet to 16,000, then the middle-position player four-bet all-in. Merlin called with his 67,000-chip stack.
Pierre Merlin: A♥K♠ 
Middle-position player: K♦K♣
Merlin ran into kings and on 4♥5♦J♠2♥K♥, he was eliminated.
Life Outside Poker is a podcast for PokerNews hosted by Connor Richards that seeks to pull back the curtain on poker players and allow viewers and listeners to get to know them on a personal level.
In the 26th episode, Connor speaks with chess streamer and GGPoker ambassador Alexandra Botez about learning chess and poker from her dad, getting into streaming at Stanford, dealing with online trolls, creating content with her sister Andrea Botez and the similarities between chess and poker.
Botez also talked about winning $456,900 in a legendary 2022 Hustler Casino Live stream that included Phil Hellmuth, Mr. Beast and Ninja, as well as signing on as a GGPoker ambassador and securing two career-high cashes at World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise (she finished 60th in the $10,000 GGMillion$ Championship for $22,190 before finishing 187th in the $25,000 Super Main Event for $67,300).
The Life Outside Poker podcast is available on major streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud and iHeartRadio. You can also watch the interview with Alexandra Botez by heading to the PokerNews YouTube channel.
Be sure to follow Alexandra Botez and Connor Richards on X.
After an open to 4,000 by a player in middle position, Jean-Yves Lestrade on the button three-bet all-in to 30,500. The big bling jammed with a bigger stack and made the initial raiser fold.
Jean-Yves Lestrade: 8♦8♣
Big blind: Q♦Q♠
The board of A♣K♥A♦4♦3♦ was no help for Lestrade, who was eliminated.
Level: 10
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 2,000
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