€4,500 Championship Main Event | 2009 WPT Marrakech

10-18-2009 18:55 UTC

Balazs Botond Eliminated in 8th Place (€34,517)

[user66118]

Balazs Botond came in with a healthy raise to 150,000, leaving himself just about 60,000 behind. Adrian Marin made the call, and it was heads up to the flop.

It came out {8-Diamonds}

, and Marin led out with a covering bet of 74,000. Botond smirked and shook his head, pausing for at least a minute as he clearly did not want to commit himself to this hand. Finally, and reluctantly, he splashed in his few remaining chips, all in for his tournament life.

Marin turned over {K-Hearts}

for king-high, and he was in the lead, poised to eliminate Botond and his {Q-Clubs}

. He wasn't in the worst of shape with two live cards, but the turn and river went brick-brick with the {J-Spades}

and

respectively.

With that, Balazs Botond becomes our 8th-place finisher, earning himself nearly €35,000. Not too shabby.

Tags: Adrian Marin Balazs Botond

10-18-2009 18:46 UTC

Hichem Ben Halima Eliminated In 9th Place (€27,959)

[user76023]

Ben Halima moved all-in for 58,000 from UTG. Benny Spindler made a small reraise to isolate and everyone else folded.

Ben Halima: {9-Clubs}

Spindler:

The board came {Q-Clubs}

and Hichem Ben Halima became the first casualty of our final table.

10-18-2009 18:36 UTC

O'Dea's Sneak Attack

[user66118]

Benny Spindler started the action with an early-position raise to 52,000, and Eoghan O'Dea made the smooth call in the cutoff seat. From the small blind, Hichem Ben Halima announced a re-raise, and he chose 252,000.

Spindler looked to be mulling over a tough decision, and he asked for an estimate of his two opponents' remaining stack sizes. Eventually, he elected to release his hand, while O'Dea made one more raise -- all in for a total of 648,000. Ben Halima made the call with a similar stack, putting a monster pot up for grabs.

Showdown
O'Dea: {K-Spades}

Ben Halima: {A-Hearts}

With the spectators pressing in around the rail, the dealer ran out the board: {10-Clubs}

. The kings hold for O'Dea, and he has earned himself a big double up. That moves him to 1,408,000, and it cripples Ben Halima all the way down around 100,000.

Tags: Eoghan O'Dea Hichem Ben Halima

10-18-2009 18:14 UTC

Someone Is Watching Over Benny Spindler...

[user76023]

Spindler raised to 55,000 preflop from UTG and Eoghan O'Dea repopped to 150,000 from middle position.

Spindler counted his stack before moving all-in for 468,000 total. O'Dea called.

Spindler: {A-Spades}

O'Dea:

As the dealer put out a {K-Clubs}

flop, a loud murmur from the crowd erupted. Spindler had flopped the nuts. O'Dea needed a Queen to split but found no help on the {5-Hearts}

turn or

river.

Spindler has 1 million while O'Dea is knocked down to 650,000.

Level: 24

Blinds: 12,000/24,000

Ante: 4,000

10-18-2009 17:58 UTC

Arneodo Squeezes

[user66118]

Ludovic Lacay raised it up to 44,000 from middle position, and Adrian Marin made the smooth call a few seats over. Action passed around to the big blind where Julien Arneodo cut out the call from his stack before sticking in a re-raise to 144,000 straight.

Lacay folded rather quickly, and Marin would eventually let his hand go as well, sending more than 100,000 over to Arneodo.

Tags: Adrian Marin Julien Arneodo Ludovic Lacay

10-18-2009 17:53 UTC

Lacay Takes A Decent Pot

[user76023]

Ludovic Lacay raised to 44,000. Christophe Savary called on the button and Benny Spindler thought for a minute before just calling.

The flop was {A-Spades}

and all three checked.

On the {A-Hearts}

turn, Spindler checked again and Lacay bet 54,000. Savary folded but after some thought Spindler flat-called.

The river was the {3-Spades}

and both players checked. Spindler flipped {K-Hearts}

but was outkicked when Lacay turned over {K-Diamonds}

for a slightly better two pair.

10-18-2009 17:38 UTC

Meurisse Doubles Through Ben Halima

[user76023]

Hichem Ben Halima raised to 52,000, Benny Spindler thought for ages before folding. Patrick Meurisse immediately moved all-in and the action was passed back around to the original raiser who quickly called.

Ben Halima: {A-Clubs}

Meurisse:

Board:

Meurisse doubles to about 350,000. Ben Halima drops to 650,000.

10-18-2009 17:29 UTC

Ben Halima Takes First Blood

[user76023]

It was passed to Hichem Ben Halima in the small blind who raised to 56,000. Christophe Savary called in the big blind before both checked the {Q-Diamonds}

flop.

The turn was the {A-Diamonds}

and Ben Halima fired out 55,000 resulting in a quick fold from Savary.

10-18-2009 17:24 UTC

Play Resumes

[user66118]

We've moved over to the Epicurien Bar into their small ballroom where the final table is set up under the bright lights. After some brief introductions from T.D. Matt Savage, the dealer was given the command, the final table is underway!