2018 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2018 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k3
Prize
1,300,000 MAD
Event Info
Buy-in
15,000 MAD
Entries
486
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
25,000

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Drisse Maouchi Takes the Chip Lead on Day 1a

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Drisse Maouchi
Drisse Maouchi

A grand total of 155 entries took to the felt in the beautiful Casino de Marrakech during Day 1a of the WSOP International Circuit Main Event. 48 of them have found their path to Day 2 and are still in the running for the gold WSOP Circuit Ring. Claiming the chip lead for Day 1a is Drisse Maouchi (photo) with a massive 310,000 in chips.

It was a slow start of the day with 28 players that were registered at the start of the day.

Bracelet winner Barny Boatman, and French poker stars Gaelle Baumann and Ben Bensimhon were there from the start but all three of them, unfortunately, didn’t make it till the end of the day.

Other players that failed to bag chips include Mateusz Moolhuizen, Fabian Gumz, Michiel Brosky, Hannes Neurauter, Claude Mamalepot, Thierry Delpui and Antonio Alves Mendes.

As is custom with play in the Maroccon casino, many poker players solely go by their nicknames. Some of the players with big stacks include HCC (284,000), Fernandez (253,000), and Norbi (216,200), who all managed to bag more than 200,000 chips each.

All remaining players will return on Saturday for Day 2 of the Main Event. At 1 pm local time tomorrow Day 1b will commence, which will again feature twelve levels of 45 minutes and a starting stack of 30,000. Check PokerNews throughout the day for updates of the continuation of the WSOPC Main Event.

Tags: Barny BoatmanBen BensimhonClaude MamalepotDrisse MaouchiFabian GumzGaelle BaumannHannes NeurauterMateusz MoolhuizenMichiel BroskyThierry Delpui

End-of-day Chip Counts (full)

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Player Chips Progress
Drisse Maouchi fr
Drisse Maouchi
Day 1A Chip Leader
310,000 105,000
HCC es
HCC
284,000 284,000
Fernandez es
Fernandez
253,000 21,000
Norbi es
Norbi
216,200 216,200
Jiminez Pedro
Jiminez Pedro
167,100 167,100
Laurent Azoulay fr
Laurent Azoulay
158,000 18,000
Garcia
Garcia
150,700 150,700
Nicolas
Nicolas
140,200 140,200
Michel Leibgorin fr
Michel Leibgorin
137,300 52,800
Shiomo Ohana
Shiomo Ohana
134,600 134,600
Arturo es
Arturo
132,500 132,500
Karim Souaid fr
Karim Souaid
131,600 131,600
Viktor Sorokin ru
Viktor Sorokin
130,900 -24,100
Belkacem Beniza
Belkacem Beniza
126,200 126,200
Polo Santoni fr
Polo Santoni
120,400 120,400
Rony Halimi fr
Rony Halimi
117,200 117,200
Pascal Rabany fr
Pascal Rabany
116,200 116,200
Alf
Alf
107,700 107,700
Mehdi Charkaoui ma
Mehdi Charkaoui
104,200 104,200
Thibault Saillard fr
Thibault Saillard
104,100
Malek Grabsi fr
Malek Grabsi
102,200 102,200
Mathieu Papineau
Mathieu Papineau
90,600 90,600
Manuel Ruivo pt
Manuel Ruivo
89,400 -5,600
Poker Igna
Poker Igna
85,900 85,900
Arnold Bellaiche fr
Arnold Bellaiche
84,200 84,200

Read full

Three More Hands

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

The tournament clock has been stopped and the tournament staff has announced that the players need to play three more hands before they can bag their chips for Day 2 which will take place on Saturday, January 27.

Ruivo Wins a Big One

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

The pot looked to contain around 10,000 already and three players were in the hand when the {4-Hearts}{10-Spades}{J-Spades} flop was dealt. Christopher Chaudey, in early position, bet 3,700. Michel Leibgorin, in mid-position, called. Manuel Ruivo, on the button, raised to 14,500. Both Chaudey and Leibgorin called.

The turn brought them the {J-Diamonds}, now both Chaudey and Leibgorin checked. Ruivo bet 25,500 which sent Chaudey into the tank. He kept looking at the cards, his chips, and the board and to the stacks of his opponents. In the end, he reluctantly folded. Leibgorin folded immediately too. When Chaudey saw that, he was visibly upset with the decision he had made.

"Show the bluff!" another player at the table said to Ruivo, but Ruivo didn't show anything.

Player Chips Progress
Christopher Chaudey fr
Christopher Chaudey
122,000 10,500
Manuel Ruivo pt
Manuel Ruivo
95,000
Michel Leibgorin fr
Michel Leibgorin
84,500

Tags: Christopher ChaudeyManuel RuivoMichel Leibgorin

Maouchi in the Top of the Counts

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Drisse Maouchi has one of the bigger stacks in the tournament room and just added some more chips to his stack.

The player in the hijack raised to 2,500 and Maouchi three-bet to 5,600 from the small blind. The hijack called.

They both checked through the {6-Spades}{k-Diamonds}{7-Clubs} on the flop to the {6-Clubs} on the turn. Maouchi bet 8,500 and after some careful consideration, his opponent folded. Maouchi showed {7-}{7-} for the flopped set and started stacking up his newly acquired chips.

Player Chips Progress
Drisse Maouchi fr
Drisse Maouchi
Day 1A Chip Leader
205,000
Antonio Alves Mendes es
Antonio Alves Mendes
Busted

Tags: Drisse Maoudi

Level: 12

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200

Neurauter and Boatman Done For Today

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Hannes Neurauter walked past to tell the team that he was eliminated just a few minutes ago:

"The player (seat 2) in mid-position limped in, the player in seat 4, with a big stack, isolated to 3,600 and I jammed all in for 23,000 in total with {5-}{5-}. The limper folded and the isolator called with {a-}{k-}. The flop came {a-}{x-}{x-}{x-}{x-}, actually I think it was {a-}{10-}{6-}{4-}{a-}."

Barny Boatman was seated at the same table earlier but he has left the field for today too. It is expected that he will be back tomorrow as will Neurauter.

Player Chips Progress
Barny Boatman gb
Barny Boatman
WSOP 2X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
Busted
Hannes Neurauter de
Hannes Neurauter
Busted

Tags: Barny BoatmanHannes Neurauter