PokerStars Open Aix-en-Provence 2026: Creators, Knockouts and a Deep Stack Open the Show at Pasino Grand

Aix-en-Provence knows tournament poker well. Pasino Grand has hosted the France Poker Series, a WSOP Circuit stop and several deepstack festivals, so the local crowd knows what a busy autumn week looks like. What’s new this November is the brand. For the first time, PokerStars has brought the PokerStars Open to Provence, and the first three days have already produced three champions and a few storylines worth following.

Below you’ll find every published payout from the first three events and what the numbers mean. We also look at the question everyone in the room is asking: can a first-time stop fill a €1 million guarantee?

PokerStars Open Aix-en-Provence 2026 at a Glance

Dates	November 1 – 8, 2026
Venue	Pasino GRAND Partouche, 21 Avenue de l’Europe, Aix-en-Provence, France
Events	21, including satellites
Buy-ins	€200 – €5,000; satellites from €185
Main Event	€1,100, €1,000,000 GTD, November 4 – 8, four Day 1 flights
High rollers	€2,200 PokerStars Open High Roller (from November 3), €5,000 Super High Roller (November 7)
Official site	pokerstarslive.com

The PokerStars Open sits one level below the European Poker Tour. It is PokerStars’ more affordable festival: Main Events at around €1,100, plenty of €200–€300 side events, and the same branded trophies and structures as the bigger stops. Aix-en-Provence is the newest stop on the 2026 calendar. The tour has already visited Campione, Paris, Philadelphia, Dublin, Monte Carlo, Namur, Málaga and Barcelona, and EPT Prague closes the year in December.

Opening Events Compared

Event	Entries	Prize pool	Pool per entry	Paid	Winner	First prize	1st ÷ buy-in
€200 Creators Cup	245	€42,336	€172.80	36 (14.7%)	Hedi Bouchouareb	€9,000	45x
€300 NLH Knockout	149	€37,190.40	€249.60	18 (12.1%)	Fabrice Luc Marcucci	€6,620*	22x
€250 NLH Deep Stack	107	€22,598.40	€211.20	16 (15.0%)	Madjid Guenfissi	€5,250	21x

Includes €700 in bounties. “Pool per entry” and the multiples are our own calculations from the published entries and prize pools.

We saw the same pattern at the Battle of Malta last week: the cheapest event drew the biggest field and paid the biggest first prize. The €200 Creators Cup had more than twice as many entries as the €250 Deep Stack, and its winner earned €3,750 more. On a tight budget at a live festival, the lowest buy-in is often the best value on the schedule.

Each event put between 83% and 86% of the buy-in into the prize pool. That is in line with most European live stops once fees and staff costs are taken out.

€200 Creators Cup: Bouchouareb Wins the Streamers’ Event

The Creators Cup was the most unusual event of the opening weekend. PokerStars built it around poker content creators. The field included French-speaking streamers such as Jbzz, ChowH1, Lutti and Areliann, along with Red Spade Room ambassadors Benny and Yu. Anyone who knocked out one of the two ambassadors collected part of a combined €2,300 bounty, which kept their tables lively all day.

The format worked. With 245 entries, it was the biggest tournament of the first three days and built a €42,336 prize pool. Hedi Bouchouareb was the last player standing and took €9,000. Hocine Karim Rebouh earned €5,806 for second, and David Lopez was third for €3,960.

One detail stands out: the final nine shared €28,406, about 67% of the whole prize pool. The other 27 players who cashed split the remaining €13,930, roughly €516 each on average. That is a fairly top-heavy payout for a €200 event. It rewards players who play to win rather than tightening up to move up the pay ladder.

#	Player	Prize
1	Hedi Bouchouareb	€9,000
2	Hocine Karim Rebouh	€5,806
3	David Lopez	€3,960
4	Nicolas Pinet	€2,820
5	Stephanie Simonnet	€2,090
6	Alban Beysson	€1,600
7	Julien Ramacciotti	€1,260
8	Malik Hebidi	€1,020
9	Jean-Michel Reymond	€850

€300 NL Hold’em Knockout: Marcucci Wins, Franco Collects the Most Bounties

The Knockout drew 149 entries for a €37,190.40 prize pool, with 18 places paid. Fabrice Luc Marcucci won the title and €6,620, of which €700 came from bounties. Baptiste Berenger was second for €4,290.40.

The name most French readers will notice is in third place. Sonny Franco is one of the most decorated players on the WSOP Circuit. In April he finished third in the WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence Main Event at this same casino while chasing an eighth ring. Here he banked €3,300, and his €800 in bounties was the highest total at the final table, more than the winner collected.

#	Player	Total incl. bounties	Bounties	Prize money only*
1	Fabrice Luc Marcucci	€6,620	€700	€5,920
2	Baptiste Berenger	€4,290.40	€600	€3,690.40
3	Sonny Franco	€3,300	€800	€2,500
4	Anthony Philippe	€2,230	€400	€1,830
5	Bruno Olivier	€1,730	€300	€1,430
6	Joseph Benedetti	€1,710	€550	€1,160
7	Jeremy Angileri	€1,550	€600	€950
8	Gabin Henrion	€1,380	€600	€780
9	Marius Lussi	€1,040	€400	€640

Prize money only is our calculation: total minus bounties.

What the bounty column teaches you

Look at fifth and sixth place. Bruno Olivier outlasted Joseph Benedetti, yet they finished only €20 apart because Benedetti collected €550 in bounties against Olivier’s €300. Further down, Gabin Henrion in eighth won €600 in bounties, nearly as much as his finishing prize.

For newer players, the lesson is simple. In a knockout, each elimination puts cash in your pocket straight away, so a player who knocks out a lot of people can earn more than someone who finished above them. That changes how you play when you cover a short stack. The bounty is extra money in the pot, so you can call all-ins a little wider than in a regular tournament. The reverse also applies: when a bigger stack covers you, your bounty is their bonus, not yours.

€250 NL Hold’em Deep Stack: Guenfissi Takes Monday’s Title

Monday’s €250 Deep Stack was the smallest of the three. Its 107 entries created a €22,598.40 prize pool, and 16 players reached the money. Madjid Guenfissi won €5,250, ahead of Dennie Cordromp (€3,508.40) and Sofiane Chikhi (€2,530). First prize was 23.2% of the pool, a slightly bigger share than in the Creators Cup.

#	Player	Prize
1	Madjid Guenfissi	€5,250
2	Dennie Cordromp	€3,508.40
3	Sofiane Chikhi	€2,530
4	Hadi Khawandy	€1,950
5	Antonin Teisseire	€1,550
6	Maxime Gordon	€1,260
7	Lilian Daniel Roger Triponney	€1,040
8	Gilles Michel	€870
9	Alban Beysson	€740

Notice a name from the first table? Alban Beysson made the final table of both the Creators Cup (sixth, €1,600) and the Deep Stack (ninth, €740) on back-to-back days. That is €2,340 from €450 in buy-ins. Two final tables in two days is a strong start to anyone’s festival, even without a trophy.

The Main Event: Can a Debut Stop Fill €1 Million?

The €1,100 Main Event carries a €1,000,000 guarantee, and Aix-en-Provence has never hosted a €1,000-plus Main Event that big. Here is how the guarantee compares with recent results elsewhere on the PokerStars Open tour and at this casino.

Event	Entries	Prize pool
PokerStars Open Málaga 2026 Main Event	1,753	€1,682,880
PokerStars Open Namur 2026 Main Event	1,572	€1,491,828
PokerStars Open Philadelphia 2026 $1,100 Main Event	896	$860,160
WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence 2026 €1,500 Main Event	783	€1,014,768
France Poker Series Aix-en-Provence €1,100 (best recent edition)	779	€747,840

Entries include re-entries. Figures are from published tour results.

At other PokerStars Open stops with this buy-in level, about €960 of every buy-in reaches the prize pool. On that basis, the Main Event needs around 1,040 to 1,050 entries to cover the guarantee. Namur and Málaga both passed that number easily this year. But the best €1,100 field Pasino Grand has hosted recently was 779, and even the WSOP Circuit Main Event, with a higher buy-in, stopped at 783.

So the outcome is genuinely uncertain. The PokerStars brand, players’ habit of re-entering, and online satellites should push the count well past previous local records. If the field still falls short, players get an overlay: the casino tops up the difference, which is extra money in the pool. Either way, the players who show up benefit.

Practical Tips If You’re Heading to Aix This Week

• Pick your flight carefully. With four Day 1s, the weekday flights are usually the softest and least crowded. The final flight tends to be the busiest and fastest-paced as late arrivals rush to qualify.
• Decide on re-entries before you sit down. Set how many entries you’ll buy across all four flights. A short stack on Day 2 still has plenty of play, so don’t re-enter just to swap a below-average bag for a fresh stack.
• Use the side events for value. The €200–€300 events have paid first prizes of 21x to 45x the buy-in, with fields small enough that a good player can reach the final table.
• Satellites start at €185. If €1,100 is too much for your bankroll, a satellite seat is the sensible way in, and it’s how many debut-festival fields get built.
• Knockouts need different math. When you cover a short stack, the bounty means you can call with a weaker hand. When you’re covered, stay disciplined.

The €2,200 PokerStars Open High Roller is under way today, Main Event Day 1A starts on Wednesday, and the €5,000 Super High Roller and €400 Mystery Bounty Cup are scheduled for November 7. Full schedules are on PokerStars LIVE. We’ll update the entry count as the Main Event flights play out.

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