After the enormous success of the weekend of poker at Lyon, Lyon has become without a doubt the Texas hold’em capital of France. The two tournaments, at Pharaon and Lyon Vert, were full. The Super Satellite had a record number of 415 participants. The star of the weekend was none other than the backgammon champion François Tardieu, winner of the Pharaon tournament and the Super Satellite the following day. He gave a fantastic performance…

The whole Texas hold’em family was together this weekend at Lyon, with a record number of 415 participants. The structure of the tournament was the same as at the previous PPT stops. Blinds of 25 and 50, 5,000 chips per player to begin with and blinds increasing every 25 minutes. The organisation of the Lyon Vert Super Satellite was quite simply amazing. Set in one of the most beautiful casinos in France the show took place in two magnificent rooms each with different atmospheres. What more could one ask for?

16.00, the players were all there. It was an opportunity to meet some familiar people such as Robert Cohen, François Tardieu, Michel Cohen, Paul Testud or even Alexander Dreyfus and also guests such as Fabrice Tiozzo. With a prestigious venue, great people and perfect organisation, one could not have dreamed of a better start to this long and beautiful night of poker hold’em. Like the previous stops, the tone was competitive to start with. Players were very aggressive and after just a few minutes eliminated players were already wandering the halls. An hour after the tournament started, 50 players had already been knocked out and were waiting for the Side Event for 200 players to start. Due to the incredible crowds, the Side Event raised its limit to 230 players. The winner of the Side Event was Morgan Alarson. Congratulations!

Lyon Vert was also a chance to see the most extravagant poker players in France, such as Fabrice Allion. 18.30, the dinner break interrupted the tournament. 263 players were still in the tournament, but François Tardieu was not leading with only 5,600 chips compared to an average chip count of 8,000. The chip leader was none other than Paul Testud, who qualified in Nice at the Palais de la Méditerranée. He had 22,000 chips and was way ahead of the other ten leading players who each had between 10,000 and 15,000 chips.
The meal revitalised some players, but threw others…After just 8 short minutes of play, 25 players were eliminated. The level of the game and the increase of the blinds from 300 to 600 were to blame, pushing the most vulnerable players to go all in. 21.30, round 10, blinds were 600 and 1,200, the ante was 100 and the average player chip count was 19,951. Three people were in the lead: the indisputable Paul Testud with 84,000 chips, Cédric Torrent of Plouescat with 62,000 chips and Hervé Mulatero of Bandol with 55,000. Paul Testud was ahead due to an amazing move that allowed him to win an important pot of 35,000 chips. He went all in with a 6 and a 2 in his hand against an Ace and a 5 in his opponent’s hand, the flop brought him luck: 3, 4, 5. A straight allowed him a few minutes to relax before returning to the table. At this stage of the tournament, there were only 100 players left.

At 23.00, the frantic pace was replaced by a round of close observation. The players were all keeping one eye on their opponents and their chip counts and another on the screens displaying the tournament statistics. They were waiting for the slightest mistake. Because of the importance of the blinds for some (2,000 and 4,000), it was not surprising to see good hands thrown away. Many spectators crowded around the tables, waiting for players to get knocked out. When an all-in was announced, the spectators quivered at the unveiling of the River. It was a tense atmosphere that one would expect at a big tournament, but it was also friendly. Such is the charm of the Partouche Poker Tour.

00.30, when the speaker announced two players had gone all in, the other 40 stopped playing. A heavy silence descended. The spectators held their breath until they learnt that the 42^nd player had been knocked out. The silence was pierced by a thunder of applauds when a three of a kind of two was acquired at the River. Relief was felt by the 41 happy players who were still in the game. The speaker announced that they were going to Cannes and then there was a break, both events were celebrated wholeheartedly. What a great atmosphere at Lyon! We have never heard so much noise!

From then on, the players were more relaxed. And very quickly, the names of the 8 finalists were known. The biggest excitement was the absence of Paul Testud. He was at the same table as François Tardieu, which was very unnerving and he was knocked out by the Maestro. A real shock that Tardieu won with AK against A2, the table bringing nothing. Tardieu considerably increased his amount of chips. Testud came in 10^th place according to him, followed by Remy Amandola. The 8 Lyon Vert finalists were: Aurélien Angenieux, François Tardieu, Bruno Balvay, Remy Mougel, Laurent Rotger, Yves Enderli, Cédric Torrent and Christian Venturini. The rest of the story you know, François Tardieu won both the Pharaon tournament and the Lyon Vert Super Satellite. He gave a great performance, which was a particularly amazing return after his disappointment in Saint-Amand where he didn’t manage to qualify. The Maestro left Lyon with more than 20,000 euros in his pocket and a place worth 8,500 euros for the Main event in Cannes. What a great weekend…

And as well as Elsa Fayer and François Tardieu, many thanks and congratulations goes to the whole Partouche Poker Tour team, without whom the success of the Super Satellite would not have been possible. Well done also to Maxime Masquelier made it all run smoothly, to the setting up and dismantling team and the technicians who did a colossal amount of work, to the hostesses, to the croupiers, to the catering team, to the directors and to everyone at the Pharaon and the Lyon Vert who gave us two magical evenings, and of course to our fellow journalists. We miss Lyon already…Well done everyone!