Nicolas Levi raised to 525 from early position and found callers from the players in the cutoff and the big blind.
The flop came down and it was checked to Levi. He bet 1,050 and the lone caller was the player in the cutoff. The turn was the and both checked, leading to the popping off on the river. Levi bet 3,700 and his opponent quickly put the rest of their stack in the middle, about 25,000.
Levi chuckled, turning over the and mucking his hand. He slipped to about 28,000.
Guillaume Darcourt suffered a stumble early on in that multi-way pot in which he lost some chips trying to play from the big blind. He managed to recover from that one, building back up over the 20,000-chip mark. But just now Darcourt once again found himself getting into trouble from the BB.
A player in the cutoff had opened to 525, getting one caller from the button. The small blind got out, but Darcourt decided to defend. The flop came , and Darcourt checked. The preflop raiser fired a continuation bet of 725, pushing out the button. Then Darcourt tossed out a raise to 3,000. His opponent took a moment, then made the call.
The turn brought the , and Darcourt quickly bet 6,000. Again his opponent deliberated for a bit before making the call.
The river brought the , and neither player chose to commit any further chips, both checking. The dealer held an open palm in Darcourt's direction, and he turned over his . His opponent tabled for kings and jacks, and took the pot.
Darcourt counted out his remaining chips and restacked them, noting he was down once again, this time to 14,500.
Tournament staff just announced "One down!" The first table has broken, leaving 14 more still at it on Day 1a. Pierre Canali, who had become short-stacked following the first couple of levels of play, was among the early eliminations from that table just before it broke.
Registration remains open for another level, but at the moment, the board reads 126 of 136 players.
Surinder Sunar was in the small blind and saw a raise to 700 by a player in middle position. The player on the button called as well and Sunar put in a squeeze from the small blind to 2,200. Both players called and a flop followed.
Sunar fired a continuation bet of 3,300 and chased out the middle-position player. The player on the button stayed around, though, and the turn delivered the . Sunar quickly fired 6,500 and forced an even quicker fold from his opponent, increasing his stack to about 29,500.
Joel Benzinou checked the river of a board to his lone opponent. The player took a 5,000-chip stab at the 3,500-chip pot. Benzinou chatted in French with the guy for several minutes, trying to get a read out of him. Eventually, Benzinou decided the overbet meant danger and folded, leaving himself with a still-healthy 45,000.
Bruno Lopes -- a.k.a. "Kool Shen," the French rap star -- is in the house. He fronts the popular NTM -- which, incidentally, stands for something not so friendly. The first couple of levels were friendly to Lopes, however, as he managed to build his stack up to around the 40,000-chip mark.
Just now we came upon a big hand involving Lopes. We caught the action during the key decision point, where it appeared Lopes' neighbor, sitting to his right, had made a preflop raise, Lopes had reraised to 1,525, then the table folded back around to Lopes' opponent who had pushed all in for 8,900 total. Lopes went deep into the tank, then emerged to make the call, showing . His opponent tabled .
The flop came , and Kool faintly winced as he noted his opponent had taken the lead. The turn was the and the river the , and Lopes had lost a chunk to his neighbor. He still has about 27,000 at the moment.
Dominik Nitsche was up against two other players on a board reading . The small blind checked to Nitsche in the big blind, and he bet 3,300 into the 14,000-chip pot. The third player to act quickly folded, and after a moment, the small blind gave up his hand as well. Nitsche is up to 45,000.
Nicolas Levi has been entertaining his opponents with an uninterrupted stream of table talk -- all in French, of course, the language we are hearing most frequently at the tables here in Marrakech.
A brief interlude in English arose, however, when WPT Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage happened by Levi's table. "If you go to the McDonald's," said Levi to Savage, "get me a Big Mac." Indeed, one can find a Mickey D's not far from here, should one wish to.
"A Royal with Cheese?" replied Savage with a grin, and Levi laughed in response. He continued to smile as looked down at his stack, built up to about 36,000 thus far.
We arrived at the table and saw a pot brewing between Jean-Jacques Mars and Alain Roy. There was roughly 7,000 in the middle and the board read .
Roy bet 6,200 and Mars took his time contemplating his options before moving all in for 12,200 total. Roy quickly called and tabled , needing to improve against Mars' . The river brought a safe for Mars and he doubled to about 32,000, while Roy slipped to about 13,000.
and it was checked to Levi. He bet 1,050 and the lone caller was the player in the cutoff. The turn was the 
and both checked, leading to the 
popping off on the river. Levi bet 3,700 and his opponent quickly put the rest of their stack in the middle, about 25,000.
and mucking his hand. He slipped to about 28,000.
, and Darcourt checked. The preflop raiser fired a continuation bet of 725, pushing out the button. Then Darcourt tossed out a raise to 3,000. His opponent took a moment, then made the call.
, and Darcourt quickly bet 6,000. Again his opponent deliberated for a bit before making the call.
, and neither player chose to commit any further chips, both checking. The dealer held an open palm in Darcourt's direction, and he turned over his 
. His opponent tabled 
for kings and jacks, and took the pot.![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop followed.
. Sunar quickly fired 6,500 and forced an even quicker fold from his opponent, increasing his stack to about 29,500.
board to his lone opponent. The player took a 5,000-chip stab at the 3,500-chip pot. Benzinou chatted in French with the guy for several minutes, trying to get a read out of him. Eventually, Benzinou decided the overbet meant danger and folded, leaving himself with a still-healthy 45,000.
and the river the 
, and Lopes had lost a chunk to his neighbor. He still has about 27,000 at the moment.
.
, needing to improve against Mars' 