€500 Main Event
Day 1cd Completed
€500 Main Event
Day 1cd Completed
Last year, the Casino Grand Cercle of Aix-les-Bains was a new destination for the Winamax Poker Open (WPO). After Bratislava, this new venue attracted a big field of 2,566 entries, but that number has now been surpassed, as this year's €500 WPO Main Event set a new record with 2,873 entries, including 1,350 from Day 1c alone. This total brought the prize pool to €1,185,974, which will be shared among all the players who qualified for Day 2.
This third flight was by far the largest of the four, and the chip counts at the top of the leaderboard reflected that, with three players finishing above the million-chip mark. By the end of the night, Claudio Patronaggio took the lead with 1,120,000, slightly ahead of Othman Bouraoui (1,060,000) and Sasha Bertin (1,000,000). Ouajdi Oueslati (982,000) follows, while Matthieu Rigolot who burst the bubble reaches 932,000.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claudio Patronaggio | Switzerland | 1,120,000 | 112 |
| 2 | Othman Bouraoui | France | 1,060,000 | 106 |
| 3 | Sasha Bertin | France | 1,000,000 | 100 |
| 4 | Ouajdi Oueslati | France | 982,000 | 98 |
| 5 | Matthieu Rigolot | France | 932,000 | 93 |
| 6 | Thibaut Moussa | France | 890,000 | 89 |
| 7 | Antonio Soares Leite | - | 864,000 | 86 |
| 8 | Aymane Mamoun | France | 844,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Leo Margets | Spain | 830,000 | 83 |
| 10 | Lorenzo Carrato | France | 820,000 | 82 |
After Adrian Mateos yesterday, Winamax Team Pro Leo Margets bagged a big stack of 830,000 to lead her teammates Pierre Calamusa (460,000), who spent the day at the feature table, and Mustapha Kanit (101,000). Bruno Lopes (93,000) and Julien Sitbon (74,000) will also be back on Day 2, but with shorter stacks after qualifying through Day 1d.
Mourad Shaimi (660,000), recent WSOP Circuit Paris Main Event runner-up and Battle Royale finalist Hervé Gouzil (609,000) both advance with decent stacks, alongside Lorenzo Arduini (588,000). Day 1a bubble-boy Florent Colin also finally secured his spot on Day 2 with 511,000.
The defending champion Jeremy Cauchard fired several bullets in this Main Event, but after he scored a double elimination with tens, he found the right pace to finish with 391,000.
Julien Montois (314,000) and former Winamax Team Pro Gaelle Baumann (296,000) will be other names to follow on Day 2, just like Moundir Zoughari (188,000) who doubled up during the last minutes of the day, Florian Pesce (169,000) and Benjamin Chalot (150,000).
Last but not least, Switzerland's Baptiste Annen ended Day 1d as the chip leader with a massive 1,116,000-chip stack.
61 players out of 374 entries qualified for Day 2 through this final flight, including Arthur Lacroix (341,000), Loris Corbelli (339,000), Jonathan Guez (284,000), WSOP bracelet winner Mourad Amokrane (281,000), Enzo Nicolas (157,000) and 2026 Winamax Poker Tour Champion Sacha Cohen (157,000).
A total of 475 players are expected to return this Saturday at noon local time for Day 2 of the Main Event, restarting with just three 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.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action from Day 2, so be sure to return for all the updates!
After a short bubble, 224 players successfully qualified for Day 2 and reached the money.
Stay tuned as PokerNews provides you chip counts and a recap of today's action!
While the hand for hand procedure was about to start, two players were at risk.
First, Nicolas Marin and his 298,000-chip stack in the cutoff was facing Nassim Rais in the big blind on a board of Q♣5♦9♠5♣10♠.
Nicolas Marin: K♠J♦
Nassim Rais: 10♥9♥
Marin rivered a straight and doubled up.
Meanwhile, after an open by the cutoff, Antoine Cotto on the button called before Matthieu Rigolot in the small blind three-bet. Cotto was the only one to call.
Rigolot continued for 45,000 on a flop of 10♣5♥Q♦ and was called, then moved all-in on the 8♠ turn. Cotto called to find himself at risk for 124,000.
Antoine Cotto: J♦10♥
Matthieu Rigolot: A♣Q♣
Cotto called with a pair but it wasn't enough against Rigolot's top pair. The 4♥ landed on the river and Cotto was eliminated on the bubble.
Level: 21
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 10,000
After losing a big pot, Moundir Zoughari on the button was all-in and at risk for 76,000 against Pierre Labitte in the big blind.
Moundir Zoughari: A♠J♠
Pierre Labitte: A♥7♣
Labitte flopped a pair on 7♦9♥Q♣ to take the lead, but Moundir hit a runner-runner two pair with the J♣A♦ runout to double up.