Seat 3: Kamel Atoui, Morocco – 6,400,000
Kamel Atoui has plenty of live results (favouring buy-ins from €500 to €5,000) spanning the globe from Monte Carlo to Dakar, totalling over $350,000 in live winnings. Atoui continues his strong run in this Main Event, 48 hours after securing an encouraging 9th place in the €2,200 High Roller here in Cannes for €8,340.
“For a few years now, poker has remained my main activity since I sold my car rental business,” Atoui told Ronan Monfort from pokerstars.fr. “I live in Morocco, but I often come to France to play in festivals in the South of France, mainly in Aix-en-Provence, which has been good to me in terms of results. I finished 4th in the WSOP-C High Roller there last April, but my best live result is a win in Mazagan where I earned €90,000. For the past few months, I’ve been hitting deep runs and final tables at every festival I attend, and things are going well.”
Speaking of things going well: a key hand propelled him up the chip counts at the expense of Giovanni Renna (who busted in 18th place). He hit a gutshot vs. a set of eights on the river in a pot for the chip lead just before the dinner break and hasn’t looked back.
Tournament progression
Day 1: 140,000 (41/562, 1c)
Day 2: 790,000 (16/65)
Day 3: 6,400,000 (3/7)