DUBLIN, December 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2009 Belgium Open Poker Championships played out from Nov. 21 to 29at Belgium's Casino de Namur, attracting a total field of 817.

The total prize pool for the EUR1,500+EUR200 buy-in event wasEUR1,138,877, and the player who took home the biggest part of that was localAntonio Guida. Although first place was due to receive EUR302,946, Guidaactually received EUR256,082 due to a deal agreed upon three-handed.

Maurits Blom of the Netherlands was the unfortunate final-table bubbleand joined the 71 players on the other side of the rail who had so farreceived payouts.

The nine players and their chip counts going into the final table were:

        Seat 1 -- Antonio Guida (819,000)    Seat 2 -- Dalil Massaud (525,000)    Seat 3 -- Xavier Charlier (940,000)    Seat 4 -- Fabian Gantile (1,286,000)    Seat 5 -- Laurent Gauthier (330,000)    Seat 6 -- Marc Inizan (1,045,000)    Seat 7 -- Barbara Martinez (1,151,000)    Seat 8 -- Joris Springael (1,419,000)    Seat 9 -- Stefan Aerts (1,004,000)

After eight hours of play, the final hand occurred when Antonio Guidaopened from the button and Fabian Gantile called. The flop was Kd 10h 7d.Gantile checked, Guida moved all in and Gantile called for his tournamentlife. Guida showed 6d 2d for the flush draw while Gantile flipped over Kh Jhfor top pair. The turn kept Gantile safe with the 4s, but it was meant to befor Guida as the river brought a diamond in the form of a ten.

The 47-year-old from Liege in Belgium was crowned the champion of theevent, while Gantile received EUR190,122 for his runner-up finish - slightlymore than the original prize of EUR185,070 due to the three-handed deal.

Full list of final table payouts:

        1: Antonio Guida - EUR256,082*    2: Fabian Gantile - EUR190,122*    3: Springael Joris - EUR167,089*    4: Dilal Massaud - EUR76,875    5: Xavier Charlier - EUR51,250    6: Barbara Martinez - EUR36,444    7: Stefan Aerts - EUR25,397    8: Laurent Gauthier - EUR18,450    9: Marc Inizan - EUR13,325

* based on deal made three-handed

The tournament was streamed live via http://www.CircusPoker.be and filmed for broadcast, while many other events carried on alongside. One of these events which drew considerable attention was the EUR10,000 Heads-Up Team tournament.This saw six teams of four battle each other in heads-up matches on Nov.25.

The teams who took first and second place were:

        First Place - PokerStars (EUR45,000)        Player 1: Arnaud Mattern    Player 2: Bertrand Grospellier    Player 3: Johnny Lodden    Player 4: Julien Brecard        Second Place - Netherlands (EUR15,000)        Player 1: Jasper Wetemans    Player 2: Bert Van Doesburg    Player 3: Jorn Walthaus    Player 4: Marc Naalden

Among other side events on offer at the Belgium Open Poker Championshipswere a EUR1,000+EUR50 buy-in no-limit hold'em freezeout, a EUR150+EUR10buy-in no-limit hold'em Bounty freezeout, and a EUR100+EUR10 no-limit hold'emladies event. All events were well attended and the whole week proved anothersuccess for the annual event.

The main event attracted some of the poker world's top professionalsincluding PokerStars Team Pro members such as Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier,Arnaud Mattern, Johnny Lodden, Noah Boeken, Joep Van Den Bijgaart, MarcelLuske, Pieter De Korver, Thierry Van Den Berg, J.P. Kelly, and MarionNedellec, and legends from all over Europe including Surinder Sunar, DavidiKitai, Michel Abecassis, Marc Naalden, and Paul Jackson.

Kenny Hallaert, Poker Manager of Casinos de Namur and Spa, said, "Weexpected to have about 650-700 players and in the end we had 817, so it wasdefinitely a success. People were also very pleased with the structure, afive-day tournament structure where it took almost 45 hours of play to honourthe winner. Something you never see, especially for a tournament with abuy-in of only EUR1,700.

For side event results, photographs, or further information please emailKenny Hallaert at kh@circuspoker.be or call +32-(0)-476-80-65-35 or Brendan Murray on brendan.murray@pokermediaconsulting.com or +35-38-63-05-7469.