button in SafariPedro Olaio Moreira The First Chip Millionaire in the Irish Open Main Event Marrakesh
After an even longer day of poker, almost 14 hours' worth, Pedro Olaio Moreira has become the new chip leader of the Irish Open Main Event Marrakech. Of the 13 players who secured a seat at the table ahead of Saturday's Day 2 here at Casino de Marrakech in the Es Saad Resort, they bagged the biggest, thanks to an epic cooler in the final frames of today's play.
Moreira is no stranger to The Irish Open, having attended the Dublin stop this year. He could only secure a cash of €2,280 in April, but with the stack he has accumulated today, it would be no surprise to see the Portuguese national run deep this time around. He will be looking to add a big score to his $645,000 in total career earnings.
He scooped two sizeable pots with aces, once against Absir and another against 90sAnxiety, who five-bet jammed ace-king suited into Moreira's rockets for an almost 1,000,000 chip pot.
1B saw over double the total entrants that took to the plush emerald green felts in 1A, with 87 total paying 12,500 MAD, roughly €1,150, to enter the prestigious tournament. Rounding out the podium places is Raul , who bagged an impressive 742,000, good for second place overall as things stand. Takito will have just over 500,000 to work with come Saturday's Day 2.
Flight 1B Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedro Olaio Moreira | Portugal | 1,243,000 | 104 |
| 2 | Raul | Spain | 742,000 | 62 |
| 3 | Takito | 501,000 | 42 | |
| 4 | Kevin Malone | 441,000 | 37 | |
| 5 | Absir | 365,000 | 30 | |
| 6 | IgnaPoker | Spain | 338,000 | 28 |
| 7 | Sylvain Cisterna | France | 174,000 | 15 |
| 8 | Idir Haiche | France | 151,000 | 13 |
| 9 | Tsunami | 145,000 | 12 | |
| 10 | Nicolas Boton | France | 78,000 | 6.5 |
Narcis Nedelcu entered the fray in an attempt to become the first player in poker history to win two Irish Open Main Events in a single year, and on two different continents. He had a rollercoaster ride up and down the counts before he got a hold of the stack of Houssam El Bassunie in a flush v flush situation.
It wasn't to be for the Romanian today, as his giant stack ended up becoming one with Raul's stack. Raul made a flush against Nedelcu to take a generous chunk before the Spaniard claimed the rest with queens versus ace-queen.
Other notable names to have missed out on a bag were Rudolf Kosa and former EPT Main Event champion Lucien Cohen, and Andrei Cherkashin, all of whom entered Flight 1A.
Play resumes with Flight 1C, which will be underway from 11 a.m. local time. The same structure will apply to this flight, with the field playing down to 15%, two entries per flight, 40-minute blind levels, and a 50,000 starting stack. Players can register up until the start of Level 11.
For those looking for a later start and a faster structure, Flight 1D will see the clock reduced to 20 minutes per blind level. 15% will also progress, and players will get a 50,000 starting stack, and registration will remain open until the start of Level 11.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for coverage of the final flights. We will be bringing you all the action until a champion is crowned on Sunday. That's all for now, folks.