2016 WSOP International Circuit Morocco Day 1b: Guillaume Darcourt Leads 114 Survivors
There was a bumper turn out for Day 1b of the 2016 World Series of Poker International Circuit Main Event in Morocco, with 298 players involved in 12 levels of play. It culminated in 114 joining the 55 survivors from Day 1a in Day 2, which starts Saturday at the Casino de Marrakech.
The Day 1b chip leader is establish pro Guillaume Darcourt. Front-runners Gael Dirig (131,300) and Moad Nokra (114,400) fell back during the latter levels to leave Darcourt's chip count of 214,400 the biggest. He will be going up against Sofian Benaissa (248,300) and Loic Blarez (232,200), who topped the chip counts after Day 1a. Darcourt was no doubt helped by a crazy hand involving him cracking aces with 7♦3♦.
In what was a four-bet pot preflop, Darcourt got into a raising war with his opponent on a board of Qx10♦4♦, which left him pot committed. When the chips were in the middle, Darcourt hit a diamond on the turn to scoop a monster pot late on Day 1b.
The day had started slowly, but the number of entrants grew steadily, though it narrowly failed to top the 484 entries from the 2015 WSOP Circuit event. A total of 446 entrants played across the two starting flights, including 108 reentries.
Notable chip stacks in the field from Day 1b include Martial Blangenwitsch (81,000) and Natalia Breviglieri (128,900), as well as French pros Romain Paon (48,000) and Erwann Pecheux (100,500).
Top 10 Day 1b Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guillaume Darcourt | 214,400 |
| 2 | Karim Souaid | 212,900 |
| 3 | Hassan Fares | 199,400 |
| 4 | Did Not Report | 191,000 |
| 5 | Soufiane Abbouti Temsamani | 179,100 |
| 6 | Mohammed El Berrak | 165,100 |
| 7 | Rakesh Lalwani | 143,000 |
| 8 | Brahim Obuella | 143,000 |
| 9 | Ahmed Hossam Mohammed | 142,600 |
| 10 | Miguel Gomes Silva | 139,700 |
The prizepool and payouts aren't yet confirmed, but we'll get them to you in the live blog just as soon as they become official. Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you Day 2 coverage of the 2016 WSOP International Circuit Morocco starting at 13:00 local time on Saturday.
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Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
