Who Will Conquer the 2026 Winamax Poker Tour Sword?
The chase for the sword in the largest freeroll in the world is underway! After 9,583 players out of 266,000 participants qualified online for ten freeroll stops across France, 190 lucky players secured their tickets through these free live events for this week's €500 Winamax Poker Tour Grande Finale at the Pasino Grand Partouche Aix-en-Provence.
Of course, those 190 qualifiers won’t be the only ones in the field, as they will be joined by a large number of players buying in directly for the Grande Finale, with a massive field of around 4,000 entries expected across the seven starting flights.
And the field is already shaping up nicely, with the first three flights having taken place last week. In total, 59 players out of 353 entries advanced from Day 1a, 42 out of 252 from Day 1b, and 7 out of 41 from Day 1c. That brings the total so far to 646 entries, with 108 players already qualified for Saturday’s Day 2.
Among those, Yoann Fournier is the overall chip leader so far after bagging 993,000 on Day 1b from a 50,000 starting stack, closely followed by Fahd Boudaouine (930,000). Day 1a chip leader Charles Siffrein-Blanc sits just behind with 810,000, while Brice de Kermadec topped Day 1c with 528,000.
Day 1a-1b-1c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoann Fournier | France | 993,000 |
| 2 | Fahd Boudaouine | France | 930,000 |
| 3 | Jordan Arlot | France | 863,000 |
| 4 | Charles Siffrein-Blanc | France | 810,000 |
| 5 | Julien Rey | France | 749,000 |
| 6 | Ernestas Taunys | Lithuania | 748,000 |
| 7 | Rachid Bruchot | France | 714,000 |
| 8 | Bastien Riviere | France | 689,000 |
| 9 | Lucien Cervettaz | France | 681,000 |
| 10 | Nicolas Antouard | France | 642,000 |
With four more flights to go, everything remains possible for anyone hoping to become the new Winamax Poker Tour champion and follow in Yoann Kaminisky’s footsteps. Last year, the local player claimed victory at this exact same place after outlasting a field of 3,503 entries, earning €175,000.
At the final table, he defeated players such as Patrice Espinasse (2nd - €127,500), who had qualified for free, as well as Tahar Said (5th - €46,500) or Jérémy Cauchard (6th - €35,700), who has since then become a Winamax live events legend.
Winner of the 2024 Winamax Poker Tour Grande Finale against a field of 3,095 players, Cauchard returned the following year to reach another final table and then won the WPO Aix-les-Bains just a few months later, topping yet another massive field of 2,566 entries. Will his run continue this week?
2025 Winamax Poker Tour Grande Finale Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoann Kaminisky | France | €175,000 |
| 2 | Patrice Espinasse | France | €127,500 |
| 3 | Jean-Yves Lestrade | France | €90,000 |
| 4 | Thibault Dumontier | France | €63,800 |
| 5 | Tahar Said | France | €46,500 |
| 6 | Jérémy Cauchard | France | €35,700 |
| 7 | Florian Vachez | France | €27,700 |
| 8 | Pierre-Louis Quandalle | France | €22,400 |
| 9 | Alexis Delhomme | France | €18,000 |
To succeed Kaminisky and aim for a run like Cauchard’s, players will first have to make their way through the opening flights, like the next one, Day 1d, which kicks off this Thursday, March 26 at noon local time.
With a 50,000-chip starting stack, they will need to reach the final 16.6% of the field through 30-minute levels to bag for the day. All players advancing to Day 2 will be in the money.
Late registration remains open for 13 levels, and French re-entry rules apply. Under these rules, players may enter and re-enter once in the first flight they play, but can only participate once in each of the remaining flights.
Day 1e Turbo will start at 8 p.m., before the last two flights this Friday.
As always, The PokerNews live reporting team is on site in Aix-en-Provence to provide you with updates until a winner is crowned!