For more than twenty years, Bruno Lopes has been synonymous with French rap under his stage name Kool Shen. During that time he's made EPT final tables, won WPT titles and in 2016 won the Winamax SISMIX Main Event for €78,341.
Now, three years later, Lopes is through to Day 3 hoping to make history by becoming the first player to win the event twice. The Winamax Team Pro has outlasted over 2,000 players to make it this far - already more than double the 901 entrants he beat back in 2016.
However, he starts Day 3 as one of the short stacks with just twelve big blinds, so will have to put on a masterclass if he is to overhaul the chip leaders.
Tim Hartmann is currently sitting in top position after bagging over 15 million chips yesterday. There is a gap of three million to Morgan Aceto, and then a further gap of four million to the rest of the pack. It will be interesting to follow both Hartmann and Aceto as to how they approach the early stages, both with well over 50 big blinds to start the day.
The twenty players who will resume play at 12:30 pm are all guaranteed €5,300, but will be eyeing up the €120,000 for first place.
Place
Payout
1
€ 120,000
2
€ 85,000
3
€ 61,500
4
€ 44,000
5
€ 32,000
6
€ 24,000
7
€ 17,990
8-9
€ 14,000
10-11
€ 11,000
12-14
€ 8,350
15-17
€ 6,500
18-20
€ 5,300
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we crown a winner today at the Gran Casino Costa Brava in Lloret De Mar!
Bruno Lopes got his last 400,000 chips in with against the of Morgan Aceto.
The flop gave Aceto a pair, and although the turn improved Lopes to a straight draw the river bricked and the former champion was eliminated in 16th place.
This is his third cash in the Winamax SISMIX Main Event, final three-tabling each time including his 2016 victory.
Alexandre Fradin opened from the button and Adrien Guyon three-bet to 1,400,000 from the small blind. Yves Sanchez four-bet all in from the big blind. Fradin folded and Guyon snap-called.
Adrien Guyon:
Yves Sanchez:
Sanchez had run into the aces of Guyon, but the flop gave Sanchez the lead with a set. The turn and river couldn't save Guyon and he was eliminated.
Yves Sanchez opened to 800,000 and Alexandre Fradin three-bet all in for 4,875,000 from the big blind. Sanchez called.
Yves Sanchez:
Alexandre Fradin:
Fradin flopped a flush draw on but the runout bricked for him.
The 37-year-old from Montpellier is playing the SISMIX for the very first time, after two visits to the Winamax Poker Open in Dublin and said that he'd had a swing tournament and even more so on the final day.
"I doubled on the very first hand, and then between 18 and 12 players remaining I did not play once. And then I doubled twice."
In a battle of the blinds, Fradin got jack-nine in against the ace-queen of Adrien Guyon only to spike a gutshot on the turn to stay alive. He survived until the final table but would have to settle for seventh place, taking home €17,990.
Tim Hartmann opened to 775,000 on the button. Morgan Aceto called in the small blind before Hayg Badem three-bet to 2,850,000 from the big blind. Hartmann folded, but Aceto called and saw a flop of .
Both players checked and Aceto bet 2,150,000 on the turn. Badem called and the pair checked the river.
Aceto showed and took down the pot, moving into the overall chip lead.
Jeffrey van den Heuvel moved all in from the cutoff for 3,650,000 and Tim Hartmann called in the big blind.
Jeffrey van den Heuvel:
Tim Hartmann:
There was a nine for both players on the flop, but it gave Van den Heuvel a flush draw as well. The turn and river bricked and he was eliminated in sixth place for €24,000.
When asked for his thoughts on the SISMIX festival, Van den Heuvel enthusiastically replied "I fucking love it!"
"The tournament is fabulous, the dealers are super-efficient and it plays fast, we can not ask for better."
The part-time bartender from Amsterdam devotes 3-4 days a week, but says that he spent too much time at the tables to really enjoy the atmosphere of the SISMIX. He said that he arrived too late to register for the beer pong tournament, so his friends organized their own!
"I was on the bubble with six big blinds, and now I made it to the final table. I can't complain!"
Leandry Ainonkpo moved all in for 3,100,000 from the button and Morgan Aceto called in the big blind.
"Here we go again," said Ainonkpo as he turned over against the of Aceto.
However, Ainonkpo received no help on the runout and he was eliminated on the very first hand back from dinner.
The 22-year-old online qualifier won a €50 satellite and now takes home €32,000 for his fifth place finish.
Prior to the final table he said: " I get the impression that a lot of players are relaxing today, and the hardest part remains to be done: to get the €120,000 for the win, after which I will be able to party with my friends, keep €50,000 to play poker and to invest the rest."
On the very next hand, Morgan Aceto raised to 1,800,000 and Badem was all in. Tim Hartmann called in the big blind and the pair checked down the flop and turn.
Hartmann bet the river and Aceto folded. The German showed 9s, easily beating the of his opponent.
Badem was an online qualifier and now takes home €44,000 in prize money.
Matthieu Duran can only be described as a mix between a tournament director, a tournament broadcaster and a poker site ambassador. He is a compere, a hype-man, a presenter, a host, and is the main promoter of the SISMIX as a tournament concept.
You get the sense from speaking to him, that the SISMIX – or indeed any Winamax live event – is really his baby.
Uprooting the SISMIX from the Casino de Marrakech to the Gran Casino Costa Brava here Lloret De Mar is clearly a decision not taken lightly by him or his team, and they knew they would need the perfect venue to do justice to the tournament and its rich history of catering to recreational and professional players, both on and off the felt.
Duran says that the decision to have the SISMIX in Spain was an easy one, considering Winamax’s launch in the country in July 2018.
“We spoke with casinos who had the perfect setup because to make SISMIX the minimum thing you need is a pool and a casino. Eventually everyone here in Lloret De Mar understood what we were trying to do; both the casino and the hotel agreed and we went from there! Once we had all that; a hotel, a pool and a casino we were ready, but it was February so we were all in a bit of a rush.”
Record numbers at the Winamax SISMIX festival in 2018 saw the Main Event break the record for the largest tournament ever held in Africa, six-max or otherwise. With Lloret De Mar’s proximity to mainland France likely to cause an increase in attendance, Duran was expecting a 25-35% increase but got much more than he bargained for.
“Everything’s doubled,” he said. “I had 60 tables in Marrakech, but here we have 123. I had 84 dealers in Marrakech and here we have 163.”
The warning signs, if you can call them that, came during mid-February when the first SISMIX Main Event satellite attracted 1,000 entries.
“I came into the office on Monday and saw the figure of 18 packages, and I figured there must have been some sort of mistake. But then the next one got 14 [packages] and from there it was 8-10 per satellite!"
Duran had bargained on every qualifier bringing an additional player with them, but once pre-registration opened online, it became apparent that for every Main Event buy-in purchased, there were 2.5 side event buy-ins purchased.
“So it wasn’t a case of one player coming with each qualifier, but two!”
The increase in numbers has brought mixed feelings for Duran.
“I’m so happy but so frustrated that some players have been unable to play because of how full we are.”
Earlier in the week, after stronger than expected numbers in earlier tournaments, the decision was then made to alter the structure of the Main Event from a single re-entry per flight, to a freezeout with Day 1d as a re-entry.
“That decision was an ugly one for me, but the really ugly one was the decision that we had to cancel satellites for the Main Event. I was so sad because this event is for people who come with their friends and who don’t have €500 in their pockets. They share a room with their friends and play a €100 satellite and see how lucky you are.
“And for all of those I had to cancel satellites. That made me sick. Sincerely, I could have cried because I build events for recreational players; most of my players play 1-2 events a year. They come here to have fun and to play.”
“It’s low buy-in but high quality. I try to have the best value for money you can imagine. The value for money is very high. I think the best worldwide, maybe.”
Duran genuinely gushes about this event, and it’s clear to see why, with hundreds of players enjoying the unique atmosphere this festival brings.
“This event is so Winamax. It’s a perfect mix of poker, the party atmosphere of Marrakech and the socialising we have in Dublin. When you see around the pool you see people all around just chatting and socialising. What we want is everyone to feel like they’re the same. A Winamax event is where you can meet Davidi [Kitai] and you can have a drink with him.
“They might just want a selfie, but they might end up playing beer pong with him. Or at the same poker table you might play with a professional poker player and a recreational one from somewhere around France.”
Already working on next year, Duran says there's no reason why the SISMIX can't come back to Lloret De Mar, potentially as a second event alongside its Marrakech counterpart.
“How can we not come back to Lloret De Mar?” said Duran. “There’s no way we can’t come back! We’re brain-storming ideas at head office, and we’ll see what happens. But one thing is for certain, two SISMIX would be better than one!"