"Quinze minutes," came the announcement, prompting players from their seats. That's 15 minutes to enjoy the first break of the day.
WPT Marrakech presented by Chilipoker
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
WPT Marrakech presented by Chilipoker
Buy-in
€4,250
Entries
222
Level
27
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
5,000
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Here is an update from around the room:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
58,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
|
46,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
35,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
33,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
||
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
27,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
26,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
23,000
-4,500
|
-4,500 |
|
|
||
|
16,000
-19,500
|
-19,500 |
Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
We arrived at the table and saw a pot brewing between Jean-Jacques Mars and Alain Roy. There was roughly 7,000 in the middle and the board read 
.
Roy bet 6,200 and Mars took his time contemplating his options before moving all in for 12,200 total. Roy quickly called and tabled 
, needing to improve against Mars' 
. The river brought a safe 
for Mars and he doubled to about 32,000, while Roy slipped to about 13,000.
Nicolas Levi has been entertaining his opponents with an uninterrupted stream of table talk -- all in French, of course, the language we are hearing most frequently at the tables here in Marrakech.
A brief interlude in English arose, however, when WPT Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage happened by Levi's table. "If you go to the McDonald's," said Levi to Savage, "get me a Big Mac." Indeed, one can find a Mickey D's not far from here, should one wish to.
"A Royal with Cheese?" replied Savage with a grin, and Levi laughed in response. He continued to smile as looked down at his stack, built up to about 36,000 thus far.
Dominik Nitsche was up against two other players on a board reading 
. The small blind checked to Nitsche in the big blind, and he bet 3,300 into the 14,000-chip pot. The third player to act quickly folded, and after a moment, the small blind gave up his hand as well. Nitsche is up to 45,000.
Bruno Lopes -- a.k.a. "Kool Shen," the French rap star -- is in the house. He fronts the popular NTM -- which, incidentally, stands for something not so friendly. The first couple of levels were friendly to Lopes, however, as he managed to build his stack up to around the 40,000-chip mark.
Just now we came upon a big hand involving Lopes. We caught the action during the key decision point, where it appeared Lopes' neighbor, sitting to his right, had made a preflop raise, Lopes had reraised to 1,525, then the table folded back around to Lopes' opponent who had pushed all in for 8,900 total. Lopes went deep into the tank, then emerged to make the call, showing . His opponent tabled 
.
The flop came 
, and Kool faintly winced as he noted his opponent had taken the lead. The turn was the 
and the river the 
, and Lopes had lost a chunk to his neighbor. He still has about 27,000 at the moment.
Joel Benzinou checked the river of a 
board to his lone opponent. The player took a 5,000-chip stab at the 3,500-chip pot. Benzinou chatted in French with the guy for several minutes, trying to get a read out of him. Eventually, Benzinou decided the overbet meant danger and folded, leaving himself with a still-healthy 45,000.
Level: 4
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 25
Surinder Sunar was in the small blind and saw a raise to 700 by a player in middle position. The player on the button called as well and Sunar put in a squeeze from the small blind to 2,200. Both players called and a 
flop followed.
Sunar fired a continuation bet of 3,300 and chased out the middle-position player. The player on the button stayed around, though, and the turn delivered the 
. Sunar quickly fired 6,500 and forced an even quicker fold from his opponent, increasing his stack to about 29,500.