The first out of two starting days at the bwin.be World Poker Tour National Brussels Main Event saw 144 players fork out the €1,200 entry fee. After the completion of 12 45-minute levels, 52 participants would bag up chips and Mike Gerry from Belgium was leading the field with 210,900.
Other big stacks included Youssef Hammas (184,000), Kamel Djemai and Tonny van Eck with 172,000 each, Anthony Rodrigues (152,000), Erwann Pecheux (151,200), and Bert Geens (143,800).
Two former World Series of Poker bracelet winners took part on Day 1a, however both Barny Boatman and Jörg Peisert would not bag up chips. They both have the option to return Friday at 2 p.m. CET for Day 1b, as a single reentry on the next day is allowed.
With almost two-thirds of the field being sent to the rail, quite a few familiar faces on the international poker circuit will have to reenter if they want to continue the quest in this one. Guillaume Darcourt, Giacomo Fundaro, and Govert Metaal all busted early. The aforementioned Boatman fell in the penultimate level of the day and Jonas Lauck also ran out of chips as well, both handing over their stacks to Thomas Lust. Tobias Peters fell victim to the creativity of Omar Lakhdari and Pecheux won two flips in a row against the ace-kings of Pierre Neuville and Martin Mulsow.
The €170 satellite maxed out its capacity with 100 runners and awarded 12 tickets with €600 to the 13th-place finisher. Furthermore, the Grand Casino Brussels Viage has already confirmed 162 registered players for the second starting flight, which may require an additional wait list to get everyone seated. It is highly recommended to show up as early as possible in order to secure a seat, and the venue opens at 12 p.m. local time.
All players that participated on Day 1a can do so again on the second flight as well, should they bag up a second set of chips, the bigger stack will be carried over to Day 2 on Saturday. Staff at the casino expect 250 or more entries for Day 1b and even the tournament area downstairs may have to be used in order to provide a seat for everyone. Make sure to tune back into the PokerNews Live Reporting section for more coverage from this event.
It was yet another that faced the opposition of Erwann Pecheux and Martin Mulsow had said hand for more than 40,000 chips. Pecheux looked him up with in the big blind after four-bet shoving himself and would not see any upset after all community cards had been burned and turned. "Ah well, guess I gotta come back tomorrow then," Mulsow sighed.
Miroslav Alilovic had a bet of 35,000 in front of him and Bert Geens moved all in for 101,300, getting the Frenchman out of the way.
One table over, Pierre Neuville four-bet to 15,000 with very little behind and eventually got it in preflop with . The pocket fives of Erwann Pecheux held up and the PMU pro scored the knockout.
Omar Lakhdari limped without seeing his cards and two other players limped before Tobias Peters raised. Lakhdari now shoved, still apparently without having seen his cards.
Peters called all in for 24,000 with and was shown the monster hand by Lakhdari, who indeed got there on a board of .
Adam Owen moved all in for his last 6,800 from under the gun and Michel Leibgorin clicked it up to 12,000. The action got to Karim Benamrouche and he moved all in for 58,200, which prompted a call from Leibgorin:
Owen:
Leibgorin:
Benamrouche:
On a board of , Owen tripled up whereas Benamrouche hit the rail in spectacular fashion.
After a raise to 1,800 preflop, three players called and Jörg Peisert checked out of the blinds to see a flop of . Mohamed Mamouni bet, Michel Leibgorin raised and Peisert reraised to 17,900. Maouni now moved all in and Leibgorin folded, claiming in chat he had a straight and flush draw. Peisert called with for bottom two pair and Maouni held the .
The turn changed nothing, but Mamouni let out a loud "YESSSS YESSSS YESSSS" when the fell on the river, giving him the nut flush.
The seat of Govert Metaal is empty and same applies to the spot where WPT champions club member Giacomo Fundaro had been sitting. Anthony Rodrigues raised to 1,500 from under the gun and faced the three-bet of the Italian to 3,100. Rodrigues four-bet to 8,500 and snap-called the shove of Fundaro for 30,000 with .
Fundaro was hoping for hearts or an ace, holding the . However, the board ran out queen-high and that was it. Rodrigues has since lost a few chips but still sits comfortably.
After a raise to 1,500 by the player in under the gun, Guillaume Darcourt moved all in for 14,000 out of the big blind on his new table. He was snap-called by the initial raiser with and the Frenchman only had ace-queen. The board ran out and that was it for Darcourt, though he will be back tomorrow for Day 1b.
PokerNews has activated the MyStack App for the WPT National Brussels Main Event, allowing all players to directly adjust their chip counts in our live reporting blog using their iPhone or Android phone!
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.
Be forewarned, however, that any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.
The Grand Casino Brussels Viage is hosting a bwin.be World Poker Tour National event for the sixth time and more than 200 players are already registered for the €1,100+€100 Main Event in the Belgian capital. Yesterday evening there was a €170 Satellite with 174 entries in total and among the 21 players who snagged a Main Event entry were Martin Mulsow and Christiaan Vanzieleghem.
At least 10 levels of 45 minutes each will be played on the first of two starting days as of 2 p.m. CET and the action gets underway in 90 minutes from now on. Late registration will be available until the end of level nine and all participants receive 30,000 in chips. Defending champion is [Removed:373] from Germany, who defeated a field of 330 entries last October in the €750 event for a payday of €50,000. Between 300 and 400 entries in total can be expected for the Main Event.
The PokerNews team will bring you all key hands until the next WPT National champion is crowned on Sunday February 22nd. There is also a €2000+€200 two-day High Roller with single re-entry on Saturday as well for all those that didn't make a deep run in the Main Event. Yesterday's Satellite generated 47 entries and four tickets with €600 for the fifth place finisher.
Below are previous WPT National Brussels stops at a glance:
that faced the opposition of Erwann Pecheux and Martin Mulsow had said hand for more than 40,000 chips. Pecheux looked him up with 
in the big blind after four-bet shoving himself and would not see any upset after all community cards had been burned and turned. "Ah well, guess I gotta come back tomorrow then," Mulsow sighed.
and was shown the monster hand 
by Lakhdari, who indeed got there on a board of 
.
, Owen tripled up whereas Benamrouche hit the rail in spectacular fashion.
. Mohamed Mamouni bet, Michel Leibgorin raised and Peisert reraised to 17,900. Maouni now moved all in and Leibgorin folded, claiming in chat he had a straight and flush draw. Peisert called with 
for bottom two pair and Maouni held the 
fell on the river, giving him the nut flush.
. However, the board ran out queen-high and that was it. Rodrigues has since lost a few chips but still sits comfortably.
