Alejandro Ganivet Runs Like the Sun on Day 1a of the 2025 Marrakesh Poker Open Main Event
A total of 182 players journeyed out of the scorching Moroccan sun and took their seats in the opening flight of the MAD 12,500 (€1,200) 2025 Marrakesh Poker Open Main Event, and it was Alejandro Ganivet who proved to be just as hot today.
Ganivet ended up as the massive chip leader over the remaining 45 players, bagging up 549,000 at the end of 14 40-minute levels inside the Es Saadi Marrakech Resort and more than 200,000 ahead of his closest challenger. Ganivet punctuated his spectacular day in style, flopping quad kings to take a big pot on one of the last hands of the night.
He’s followed on the leaderboard by Mohammed "Kriw" Drissaoui (345,000), Javier Tsunamy (300,000), the unpredictable Anas Tadini (254,000), and “Picachu” (232,000). Other top stacks include Mounir Tajiou (232,000), Hugues Girard (203,000), Ken Lennaard (167,000), and 2023 champion Adrien Sanz (159,000). Ramon Sol scored a triple knockout, spiking top pair with ace-king, as he became the first player to crack 200,000 midway through the day before ending up with 178,000.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro Ganivet | Spain | 549,000 | 137 |
| 2 | Mohammed Drissaoui | Morocco | 345,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Javier Tsunamy | Spain | 300,000 | 75 |
| 4 | Anas Tadini | Morocco | 254,000 | 64 |
| 5 | Picachu | Spain | 232,000 | 58 |
| 6 | Mounir Tajiou | Sweden | 232,000 | 58 |
| 7 | Victor Rerolle | France | 231,000 | 58 |
| 8 | Eduardo Saavedra | Spain | 226,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Said El Yousefi | France | 210,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Hugues Girard | France | 203,000 | 51 |
Kuljinder Sidhu (153,000), Omar Lakhdari (115,000), who is fresh off winning a WPT event in Cyprus a few weeks ago, Javier Tazon (111,000), Isabel Baltazar (72,000), and past EPT Monte Carlo finalist Bernard Guigon (66,000) will also return tomorrow for Day 2. Those who weren’t as fortunate included defending champion Orey Canarinho, last year’s runner-up Aitor Cruz, as well as Guillaume Darcourt, Jonathan Khalifa, Christopher Dowling, Rachid El Yaacoubi, Lucia Navarro, WSOP bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis, and Patrick Clarke.
The remaining players will be joined by the survivors from the turbo Day 1b flight when action resumes tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. local time. Blinds pick up on Level 15 at 2,000-4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante, and levels will be extended to 50 minutes on Day 2. The total field ended up at 229 entries, and the official prize pool should be announced early tomorrow.
PokerNews will be back for Day 2 as the race to the money bubble and the final table begins.