Quentin Belaizoud opened up the action preflop and both three players, including Davidi Kitai in the small blind, came along for the ride. The flop saw Belaizoud continue for 25,000, and with action back on Kitai, he put his opponent all-in for around 70,000 total.
Belaizoud instantly called and turned over , but they were trailing the of Kitai, and with the board running out , Belaizoud hit the rail while the Belgian Winamax Pro raked in the pot.
Leo Margets moved all-in for 54,500 from under the gun and action folded around to Jerome Sgorrano in the big blind, who committed the chips after a short while. Margets turned over and were very happy to see the of Sgorrano.
The board ran out and Margets secured the early double. Sgorrano is still doing just fine, though, with more than half a million chips.
Just moments before the players were allowed into the playing area, tournament director Thoams Gimie read a passage of work from French Poet and Dramatist, Edmond Rostand, for the more than 50 dealers working today. For five minutes Gimie gave an empathetic and heartfelt performance, culminating in a massive roar of applause from the already seated dealers.
Everyone is more than ready to get this party started. The start is just a few minutes out.
In will be yet another busy day of poker at the 2017 Winamax SISMIX Festival in sunny Marrakech, as Day 2 of the flagship event of the nine-day long festival will play out at Casino de Marrakech. After three starting days, the 6,000 MAD Main Event has drawn a record-breaking field of 1,078 entries, of which 256 advanced to Day 2.
The action will resume in one hour from now as of midday local time with level 14 and blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a running ante of 500. The average upon restart will be just above 210,000 chips equalling a healthy 42 big blinds and the level duration will for Day 2 increases from 40 to 50 minutes each. The prize pool distribution was finalized late last night and will see the eventual winner take home a cool 1 million Moroccan Dhiram (€91.800). 125 players will get paid in this tournament, ultimately leaving a bit more than half of today's field disappointed.
Leading the field into Day 2 is Day 1c chip leader Christophe Beyer (687,000), followed closely by yesterday's top contender [Removed:445] (667,000). Rounding out the top five stacks is France's Jeremy Saderne (623,000), Ivan Deyra (590,000) and Kamel Atoui (575,000).
Among the notables still in the field is a handful of Team Winamax Pros with Alexandre Luneau (240,500) leading the bunch. Also through and wearing a Team Pro patch is Michel Abevassis (235,000), Bruno Lopes (234,500), Gaelle Baumann (209,000) and Davidi Kitai (170,500). Furthermore, four Winamax VIPs have secured advancement including former European Champion in basketball Emmeline Ndongue (200,000) and reggae artist Michael d'Incha (87,000).
Day 2 Blind Structure
Level
Ante
Small Blind
Big Blind
14
500
2,500
5,000
15
1,000
3,000
6,000
16
1,000
4,000
8,000
17
1,000
5,000
10,000
18
2,000
6,000
12,000
19
2,000
8,000
16,000
20
3,000
10,000
20,000
21
4,000
12,000
24,000
22
5,000
15,000
30,000
23
5,000
20,000
40,000
24
5,000
25,000
50,000
25
10,000
30,000
60,000
26
10,000
40,000
80,000
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor at Casino de Marrakech to provide updates for the entirety of the Main Event: From the very first Shuffle up and deal to the very last river card is dealt tomorrow night.