Timothee D'Anfray Leads Final 17 in WPO Aix-les-Bains Main Event

The 2026 Winamax Poker Open Aix-les-Bains trophy has never been closer for the 17 remaining players in the €500 Main Event. Only one of them will lift it tomorrow, but they have already achieved an impressive feat by being the last players in contention from a field of 2,873 entries, from which 475 players returned for Day 2 to share a part of the €1,185,974 prize pool.

As poker coach and streamer Mathieu Pontin said, "it is a dream to be here" for all the players left, and even more so for "lapoooonte" who found aces in the very last hand to eliminate Pierre Labitte (18th - €5,000) and bag 17,025,000.

The dream grew even bigger for Timothee D'Anfray, who sent Loris Corbelli (19th - €5,000) to the rail in the last hand of the day as well, finishing as the chip leader with 21,725,000. Earlier during the day, an ace-queen won against ace-queen, and aces over queens propelled him to the top of the counts, alongside Lucas Archeny, who hero-called and valued a straight among other hands and maintained his big stack all the way until the end of the day (13,825,000).

In between them tonight is Benjamin Goudard, who took a big pot from Raphael Bilger (6,400,000) to finish with 19,400,000.

Day 2 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Timothee D'Anfray	France	21,725,000	87
2	Benjamin Goudard	France	19,400,000	78
3	Mathieu Pontin	France	17,025,000	68
4	Lucas Archeny	France	13,825,000	55
5	Aymane Mamoun	France	12,750,000	51
6	Etienne De Soultrait	France	8,525,000	34
7	Nicolas Marin	France	8,525,000	34
8	Paul Bigot	France	6,500,000	26
9	Quentin Le Dissez	France	6,475,000	26
10	Raphael Bilger	France	6,400,000	26
11	Sebastien Studer	France	4,875,000	20
12	Leo Viales	France	4,750,000	19
13	Nicolas Ehrath	Switzerland	4,025,000	16
14	Dimitri Callonnec	France	2,925,000	12
15	Maxence Vie	France	2,725,000	11
16	Herve Ponthet	France	2,100,000	9
17	Boris Dupuis	France	1,900,000	8

Aymane Mamoun ended the day fifth in chips but could have been in a more difficult situation had he not hit a two-outer on the river to eliminate Laurent Amri (24th - €4,000). Etienne De Soultrait, however, was in a more comfortable situation today, keeping his name among the chip leaders and eliminating the 2023 WiPT finalist Remi Debord (28th - €4,000) during the last levels. Nassim Rais (23rd - €5,000) won't reach another Winamax event final table either after finishing third last year, nor will the defending champion Jeremy Cauchard, who saw a coin flip end his run in 145th place.

Nicolas Marin (8,525,000) found aces to double up and get back on track. A double-up there was also in store for Quentin Le Dissez at the feature table, allowing him to come back tomorrow with 6,475,000.

Sebastien Studer (4,875,000), Leo Viales (4,750,000), Nicolas Ehrath (4,025,000), Dimitri Callonnec (2,925,000) and Maxence Vie will also be back with stacks between ten and twenty big blinds, ahead of Herve Ponthet (2,100,000) and Boris Dupuis (1,900,000), the two shortest stacks heading into Day 3.

Day 3 of the WPO Main Event kicks off this Sunday, September 27 at 12:30 p.m. in the Casino Grand Cercle theater, starting with 24 minutes remaining in Level 39, featuring blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante.

All of them have already secured a minimum cash of €6,300, but they all have their eyes on the €150,000 first-place prize.