button in SafariImad Barka Leads The Way After Another Marathon Session in The Irish Open Main Event Marrakech
Players from around the world descended upon the plush Casino de Marrakech in the luxurious Es Saad Resort in Morocco. After fourteen and a half hours of play and 242 total entrants, only one could emerge as the chipleader. That accolade went to home team representative Imad Barka, who bagged the biggest stack of the 32 players progressing to Day 2.
Flights 1A through 1C attracted 371 total entrants. This number will grow once the results of the 1D Turbo Flight are in.
The bulk of Barka's cashes have come here in Marrakech, including his career-best cash in the 4,000 MAD 8-Handed Ring Event at the WSOP-C in 2023, where he won the event for 205,000 MAD, roughly $20,000. He was involved in some monster hands throughout the day, mainly in the second half after the dinner break.
Flight 1C Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imad Barka | Morocco | 1,308,000 | 131 |
| 2 | Alberto | 1,175,000 | 118 | |
| 3 | Douglas Weymeersch | Belgium | 826,000 | 83 |
| 4 | Daniel Bedson | United Kingdom | 701,000 | 70 |
| 5 | Magnus Kristensen | 651,000 | 65 | |
| 6 | Mountacer Talla | France | 606,000 | 61 |
| 7 | Niklas Grafton | France | 568,000 | 57 |
| 8 | Simon Wiciak | France | 538,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Abdelghani Bagas | Morocco | 425,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Jllp | 390,000 | 39 |
It could have been a different story for Barka. With play heading towards the bubble, Barka benefited from a risk-averse, ICM-influenced fold from Abdelghani Bagas.
He folded ace-king suited preflop, having flat a three-bet from Barka. Barka three-bet an under-the-gun open before Ahdnane Boutayeb moved all-in from the big blind. Earlier in the session, Bagas scooped a big multiway pot, cracking Barka's kings and fading a nut-flush draw in the process to propel himself up the counts.
2023 EPT Barcelona €5,300 Main Event Champion Simon Wiciak will be looking to add an Irish Open Main Event title to his resume come Sunday, and he has a decent stack to work with come the start of Day 2.
Reigning Irish Open Dublin Main Event Champion Narcis Nedelcu fired two bullets into 1C to no avail, and he won't become the first player to win the Irish Open Main Event twice in one year and on two different continents. Norwegian all-rounder Jon Kyte, newly crowned Irish Open Marrakech Ladies Champion Lisa Roberts and Irish Open Main Event Dublin 2026 11th-placed finisher Cristian Ivanus are just a finger short of a handful of names that will not be playing on Day 2.
Day 2 will begin at 1 p.m. local time. Play for the day will stop when the final table is reached or at the end of Level 26, whichever comes first. Blind levels will run for 40 minutes apiece.
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.