Defending Champion Calamusa Out of Beer Pong in First Round
The Beer Pong Open here at the Winamax SISMIX is often called the 'Second Main Event' of the festival, and the crowds were four-five deep as Matthieu Duran welcomed them to the event.
As expected, there were plenty of Team Pros in action during the first matches, with Sylvain Loosli, Guillaume Diaz and defending champion Pierre Calamusa.
"A little bit tense," said Calamusa, who won the Beer Pong Open at the last SISMIX in Marrakech. "It's a lot of pressure. The SISMIX Beer Pong is the most important one."
With players crowding around the television screens to try and find the draw, and plenty of recognisable teams from past Winamax live events including teams in matching doctors outfits and shirts.
Guillaume Diaz was 7-2 down with his partner, against a team wearing matching Elvis wigs and shades and although they managed to claw themselves back to just 2-1 down, they bowed out. Also eliminated in the first round was Sylvain Loosli after a tense 1-1 shootout.
Meanwhile, Calamusa was engaged in more of an arm wrestle than a beer pong match. It was attritional, with neither team moving more than one cup ahead. Eventually they, like Loosli, found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-1 shootout and were eliminated, the defending champion crashing out in the first round.
The PokerNews team? Partnering the PokerPT.com team managed to dig themselves out of a 7-1 hole against Antonin Teisseire and High Roller runner-up Sonny Franco to emerge victorious. Onwards to the second round!