button in SafariAdrian Mateos Among Big Stacks for Day 2 of WPO Aix-les-Bains Main Event
After four starting flights drew a massive field of 2,873 entries at the Casino Grand Cercle, the €500 Winamax Poker Open Aix-les-Bains Main Event moves on to Day 2.
With the 475 remaining players now guaranteed a share of the €1,185,974 prize pool, they will return this Saturday to battle for a place on Day 3 and the trophy. While the first-place prize and detailed payouts will only be revealed at the restart, one player has already emerged as a major contender. And that player is none other than Winamax Team Pro Adrian Mateos, who bagged a massive 906,000 chips after Day 1b. Not only is he widely regarded as one of, if not the best players in the world, but he also won the SISMIX back in 2018, which followed the exact same structure.
However, his opponents will be looking to deny him another victory, starting with the five players at the top of the counts: Julien Archer (1,191,000), Claudio Patronaggio (1,120,000), Baptiste Annen (1,116,000), Othman Bouraoui (1,060,000) and Sasha Bertin (1,000,000).
Day 1s Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julien Archer | France | 1,191,000 | 149 |
| 2 | Claudio Patronaggio | Switzerland | 1,120,000 | 140 |
| 3 | Baptiste Annen | Switzerland | 1,116,000 | 140 |
| 4 | Othman Bouraoui | France | 1,060,000 | 133 |
| 5 | Sasha Bertin | France | 1,000,000 | 125 |
| 6 | Ouajdi Oueslati | France | 982,000 | 123 |
| 7 | Matthieu Rigolot | France | 932,000 | 117 |
| 8 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 906,000 | 113 |
| 9 | Gabriel Favre | France | 898,000 | 112 |
| 10 | Antoine Crepeau | France | 894,000 | 112 |
Alongside Mateos, his teammates Leo Margets (830,000), Pierre Calamusa (460,000), Mustapha Kanit (101,000), Bruno Lopes (93,000) and Julien Sitbon (74,000) have also qualified for Day 2.
Among the rest of the field, plenty of names are to follow, including Julien Gadanho (804,000), who finished ninth last year, biathlete Florent Claude (701,000), Hervé Gouzil (609,000), Lorenzo Arduini (588,000), 2024 champion Aliosha Staes (480,000), 2025 winner Jeremy Cauchard (391,000), Loris Corbelli (339,000) and Julien Montois (314,000).
Former Winamax Team Pro Gaelle Baumann (296,000) and Koh-Lanta adventurer Jonathan Guez (284,000) are also in contention, along with WSOP bracelet winner Mourad Amokrane (281,000), Heni Mokni (268,000), Matthieu Lamagnere (266,000), Jose Quintas (215,000), Moundir Zoughari (188,000), Florian Pesce (169,000), 2026 Winamax Poker Tour champion Sacha Cohen (157,000) and Benjamin Chalot (150,000), all the way down to poker streamer Hadrien Gallois, who will return with just 21,000.
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Play is set to resume at noon local time with just a few minutes remaining in Level 20, with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante. Levels will then increase to 35 minutes.
The detailed prize pool and payouts will be revealed at the restart, but as always at Winamax Events, all remaining players have already secured a minimum cash of €1,000.
Stay tuned as PokerNews follows along and provides live updates throughout the day.