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There was barely a spare seat in the house at Casino Grand Cercle d'Aix-les-Bains today, as swarms of players arrived to take their shot at Day 1b of the 2025 Winamax Poker Open Aix-les-Bains.
A huge total of 760 entrants was whittled down to 125 players by the time play ended with 22 minutes left in Level 21, with Steven Lamalle rising to the top of the standings on 980,000. Lamalle is closely followed by Eric Delcourt (889,000), while Victor Guinand (866,000) completes the podium places.
Lamalle has no apparent recorded live tournament history, while Delcourt boasts cashes of just over $22,000.
Guinand's biggest recorded live score amongst his $25,000 career total is a $14,000 payday for a 12th place finish at the Winamax SISMIX event in Marrakech in May this year.
End of Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Lamalle | France | 920,000 | 92 |
| 2 | Eric Delcourt | France | 889,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Victor Guinand | France | 866,000 | 87 |
| 4 | Florian Carteron | France | 854,000 | 85 |
| 5 | Mikael Berrio | France | 802,000 | 80 |
| 6 | Adel Naoun | France | 793,000 | 79 |
| 7 | Audran Morignat | France | 772,000 | 77 |
| 8 | Benjamin Meyer | France | 757,000 | 76 |
| 9 | Lucas Bardot | France | 708,000 | 71 |
| 10 | Martynas Brazdzionis | Lithuania | 689,000 | 69 |
Day 1b Action
A total of 400 players were seated for the first hand in Day 1b, exceeding the total number of entrants in the entirety of Day 1a, and the chips flew in all directions early on.
Lamalle reported that he secured a double-up in his first hand, and steadily accumulated chips from there. He did breach the seven-figure mark towards the end of the day, but took a small hit before play ended.
Delcourt's stack primarily arose after his cowboys held versus Walid Kebir's queens in a huge pot, while Guinand's rise started when he flopped a straight and got three streets of value from Matthias Bertholon.
There were a number of Winimax ambassadors in the field today, and Davidi Kitai (386,000) and Leo Margets (99,000) both managed to progress to Day 2, Kitai finding an early double-up and building from there.
Fellow ambassadors Julien Sitbon, Romain Lewis and Pierre Calamusa were not so fortunate, Sitbon busting to Jerome Negro.
Florian Caillou had the misfortune of bubbling Day 1a with Big Slick, and he must be wondering what he has done to anger the poker gods, after he soft-bubbled Day 1b by running the same hand into the aces of Audran Morignant.
The fate of being the last player to exit empty-handed in Day 1b fell to Hugo Blaison, who got it in good versus Bruno Dos Santos Caseiro, but could not recover after falling behind on the flop.
The final opportunities for players to qualify for Day 2 are Days 1c and 1d, taking place at noon and 7:00 p.m. respectively on September 19, with Day 1d being a turbo flight.
Both flights are expected to be extremely busy, with the current prize pool of €544,896 only set to increase further.
2025 Winamax Poker Open Aix-Les-Bains Main Event Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 19 | Day 1c | Noon | 30 minutes |
| September 19 | Day 1d | 7 p.m. | 15 minutes |
| September 20 | Day 2 | Noon | 35 minutes |
| September 21 | Day 3 | 12:30 p.m. | 40 minutes |
PokerNews will be on the floor until a champion is crowned, so stick with us for all your coverage of the 2025 Winamax Poker Open Aix-les-Bains.
