Main Event Day 1 | 2019 Wonder8 Marrakech

03-30-2019 00:44 UTC+1

GRJ (Julian Galan) Leads After Wonder8 Marrakech Main Event Day 1

Gaelle Jaudon

Level 12 : 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Julian Gallan (GRJ), credit Gregoire Huvelin

When the first players walked into the Casino de Marrakech, it must have been a strange sensation with barely 26 participants ready to take their seats. However, just over a few hours later, that number had swelled to 211 total entrants, including 78 re-entries. A total of 64 hopefuls will be coming back tomorrow to continue their Main Event campaign.

Leading the way is Julian Galan (GRJ) with a huge stack worth 402,500. With $203,877 total live earnings, he will try to catch the fourth trophy of his career, as well as his first result in Morrocco. He's followed closely by Alexandre De Zutter (397,000) and Emile Carette (328,000).

There were also several of the players who cashed in last night’s High Roller who joined the party, with yesterday’s winner Ali Alawadhi, Mark Rostron, Thierry Morel, Jean-Jacques Zeitoun, Mohamed El Wely and Corentin Ropert all entering. Mohamed El Wely managed to bag up 167,000 while Thierry Morel ended the day with 103,000.

Other notables still in the competition include Anas Tadini (241,500), Jerome Zerbib (258,000), Bernard Guigon (122,000) and Sarah Herzali in a short stack position with 33,000.

A nice sub-story to the day was that husband and wife duo Sarah Sacrispeyre and Patrick Sacrispeyre both played today, but only Sarah manage to bag at the end of the day for 60,000.

Jean Montury, winner of the 2015 EPT Malta Main Event, busted right before the end of the day, bluff-catched by Alexandre De Zutter. Among those who also won't be back tomorrow are Andrew John Leathem, Drisse Maouchi, Julien Ferey, Javier Tsunamy and Sandrine Zeitoun.

Play resumes tomorrow at 1.00 pm, so stay tuned to PokerNews for full chip counts, and of course the conclusion of the Marrakech Poker Open Main Event.

Tags: Alexandre de Zutter Ali Alawadhi Jean Montury Mark Rostron Pierre Zerbib Sarah Herzali Sonny Franco Thierry Morel

03-29-2019 23:38 UTC+1

Kondah Finds a Double on Nashar

Gaelle Jaudon

Level 12 : 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Hassan Nashar limped under the gun and it folded to Abdelhadi Kondah who raised to 15,000. Nashar quickly called and the dealer brought a flop . Nahar checked and Kondah moved his stack in the middle for around 95,000. Nashar stood up from his chair and tanked for a few minutes.

"I have shit cards, but it's good on that flop," said Nashar, before choosing to call. Nashar tabled for a straight draw and was facing in Kondah's hand.

The turn and river gave the double up to Kondah and Nashar lost a big part of his stack on that hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Abdelhadi Kondah	215,000
Hassan Nashar	94,000	-64,000

Tags: Abdelhadi Kondah

03-29-2019 11:54 UTC+1

The Wonder 8 Main Event Gets Underway

Gaelle Jaudon

Welcome to the Casino de Marrakech for the Main Event of the Wonder 8 Festival. This is the third Wonder 8 edition, created at the Cercle Clichy Montmartre in 2017 in Paris, now closed and in preparation of a reopening. The festival offers 20 events, all in an 8-max with a big blind ante format. Last year this event garnered 461 entrants in Paris, with 55 of them making the money and a gathered a prize pool of € 331,920. The winner was the French player Souhayl Fjer who took home €65,000 for his efforts.

The Wonder 8 takes place to the majestic Casino de Marrakech in the hype Hivernage district, which kicked off on March 30 with a one day 3,300 Dirhams (€300) event. The first appearance of the festival at the Marrakech venue will run through Saturday, March 31st.

The casino resides within the heart of the Es Saadi Marrakech Resort complex, which is well-known for its comfort and luxury. Founded in 1952, the complex features world-class hotels and villas, a beautiful park, pools, spas, restaurants, bars, a tennis court, and a fitness center, with numerous poker events throughout the year. Fully renovated in 2003, the now-iconic establishment has preserved its historical facade and his vintage decor. Also, players are almost guaranteed great weather with Marrakech typically sunny almost every day of the year as well as a fine and delicious typical Moroccan food at the players' buffet.

The Wonder 8 got underway earlier this week, and has already seen many players for its events. The High Roller was won yesterday by Ali Alawadhi for 312,000 MAD after a deal, topping a field of 101 players.

The Main Event kicks off at 1 pm local time. Tournament officials have announced that there will be 12 levels of 45 minutes today, with a 15-minute break every three levels and a one-hour dinner break after level 9 (around 8.15 pm), meaning the end of the day is expected to be around 11.30 pm. Each player receives 45,000 chips and late registration stays open until the end of level 9, with unlimited reentries.

Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates throughout the day.