Seventeen players are left in the WPO Winamax Main Event at Aix-les-Bains. Timothee D’Anfray leads the pack, while Spain’s last hope, Israel García, is out after a remarkable run from a €10 satellite.
Timothee D’Anfray holds 23,250,000 chips as the WPO Winamax Main Event at Casino Grand Cercle nears its finish. He’s the clear leader. The Frenchman is now the favorite for the €150,000 top prize. But the road here has been anything but smooth. The Main Event, according to independent poker reports, is a 6-Max tournament with a €500 buy-in. It started with four opening days, a 50,000-chip starting stack, and ran from September 23 to 27. These details come from official festival announcements and poker series calendars.
Spain started the day with hope. Six experienced players—Adrián Mateos, Leo Margets, Adrián Guillamón, Israel García, Ricardo Graells, and Nacho Martín—were in the hunt. Each wanted a seat at the final table. The event drew thousands and broke records at Casino Grand Cercle. But poker’s swings hit hard. The Main Event saw 2,876 entries across four starting flights. That’s up from last year’s 2,566. The prize pool topped one million euros, as PokerIndustryPro and other poker news outlets reported.
The total prize pool for the Main Event reached 1,185,974 euros, with payouts for the top seven places ranging from 18,500 to 150,000 euros.
In just fifteen minutes, Spain’s top names were out. Ricardo Graells busted first. By mid-afternoon, Adrián Mateos, Leo Margets, and Adrián Guillamón followed in quick succession. Mateos and Margets, both Winamax Team Pro stars, left together. It was a harsh reminder: reputation means little at the tables. Le Dauphiné and other sources noted the strong field. Ten elite pros played the festival, with nine present during the week. The competition was fierce. Favorites fell early.
Only Israel García remained for Spain. His story stood out. García made it to the Main Event through a €10 satellite. He arrived in Aix-les-Bains quietly. As his more famous countrymen dropped out, García kept going. He survived deep into the tournament, outlasting seasoned pros. For a moment, he became the festival’s surprise hero.
But García’s run ended before the final table. His exit closed the book on Spain’s hopes. Seventeen players are left. Most are French and Swiss. One is Portuguese. The last session starts at 12:30. D’Anfray’s chip lead is huge.
The festival’s scale was unprecedented, with around 10,000 players participating across all events, 3 million euros in total prizes, and 187 tables in play. The WPO Aix-les-Bains also featured a High Roller event with a 1,000 euro buy-in and a Monster Stack for 300 euros, highlighting the breadth of the series beyond just the Main Event.
Spain’s spotlight faded in the Main Event. But Leo Margets kept fighting in the High Roller, starting Day 2 with 700,000 chips. Joaquín Lafoz was knocked out just before 1 a.m. It was a tough day for Spanish poker. The swings at Aix-les-Bains matched the unpredictability seen in other recent competitions, as reported earlier in Spain’s sporting and business news.
The Main Event’s final day will test nerves as much as chip stacks. D’Anfray is the favorite. But tournament poker is never certain. Spain’s early exits and García’s underdog run show how quickly fortunes can change. The festival’s record turnout and wild finishes prove why live poker still draws crowds across Europe.
