2019 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech

Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2019 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech

Final Results
Winner
Sonny Franco
Winning Hand
55
Prize
1,500,000 MAD
Event Info
Buy-in
15,000 MAD
Entries
544
Level Info
Level
34
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
50,000

Main Event

Day 1b Completed

Fernando Pons Bags Overall Chip Lead In Record-Breaking Main Event

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Fernando Pons
Fernando Pons

Former November Niner Fernando Pons has bagged the overall chip lead in the record-breaking field of the 15,000 MAD (€1,350) 2019 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event. The Spaniard bagged 282,900 chips after 10 hours of play in Casino de Marrakech, located in the luxurious and beautiful Es Saadi Resort - Palace. Pons is leading the combined field of 188 players, but he is closely followed by Anas Tadini (264,000) and Stephane Dossetto (252,600).

The day started with about 50 people on the clock and that number grew rapidly. There were over 200 players registered in today's flight before the first break of the day. When late registration closed the clock had 350 entries on it. At the end of the day, only 119 survived. Combined that with the 194 from yesterday's Day 1A that gives a record-breaking field in the WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event of 544 entries. It broke the record, set in 2017, by a large margin as the previous biggest Main Event had 511 entries. There were 175 reentries made which brings the total of unique players in the tournament to 369.

Barny Boatman was one of the players that did reenter on Day 1B. Boatman fired three bullets on Day 1A but he wasn't able to make it through twelve 45-minute levels. His fourth bullet, fired today on Day 1B, was more successful. Boatman ended the day with 161,000 in chips after winning a big pot in the last hand of the day. Boatman won an all in with pocket kings against the king-queen of his opponent and he managed to double up. Boatman starts Day 2 very pretty with 80 big blinds in front of him.

Evangelos Bechrakis has a pretty successful festival here in Marrakech. The Greek player won the WSOP Circuit Opening event for a gold WSOP Circuit ring and this afternoon he finished in fourth place in the High Roller after it needed an extra day. Pons won 220,000 MAD (approx. €20,000) for his fourth-place finish and he immediately jumped in the Main Event. Bechrakis ended up bagging 43,900 for about half of the average stack. Another player who made a deep run in the High Roller is Tadini. Tadini finished in fifth for 163,000 MAD (approx. €15,000) and bagged a big stack for Day 2 of the Main Event. Tadini sits in second place on the overall leaderboard with a stack of 264,000.

French reality-television star Moundir Zoughari also found a bag at the end of the day. He bagged a stack of 62,000 and he'll be back on Day 2 as well. Zoughari his biggest cash to date is a 472nd place finish in the WSOP Main Event last summer. He managed to cash for a little under $30,000 and is looking to improve on that score.

Players who were less fortunate and didn't find a bag on Day 1B include Sebastien Le Baron, Karim Lahlou, Thierry Delpui, Wim Verhaegen, and EPT champions Jean Montury and Lucien Cohen. They have plenty of other side events they can enter over the next couple of days and there are still more chances to win a WSOP gold ring.

Day 2 will take place on January 19, with the 'shuffle up and deal' scheduled at 1 p.m. local time. PokerNews will be present to provide live coverage from start to finish.

End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Player Chips Progress
Fernando Pons es
Fernando Pons
282,900 22,900
Anas Tadini ma
Anas Tadini
264,000 -16,000
Stephane Dossetto fr
Stephane Dossetto
252,600 92,600
Olivier Paris fr
Olivier Paris
213,300
Henrique Pinho pt
Henrique Pinho
196,800
Mohamed
Mohamed
191,000 31,000
Pierre Antoine Quignard fr
Pierre Antoine Quignard
186,500 18,500
Abdelhamid El Khayati fr
Abdelhamid El Khayati
177,100
Fred Weiss fr
Fred Weiss
176,100
Sairi Azzelarab ma
Sairi Azzelarab
175,600 5,600
Rickard Rohani se
Rickard Rohani
174,000 24,000
Ercan Atmaca nl
Ercan Atmaca
170,100
Barny Boatman gb
Barny Boatman
WSOP 2X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
161,000 84,000
Belkacem Beniza fr
Belkacem Beniza
159,200
Kamel Atoui fr
Kamel Atoui
155,000 65,000
Steve Berdah fr
Steve Berdah
154,800 -18,200
Tarek Omri fr
Tarek Omri
153,400 118,400
Miguel Montes Ferreiro
Miguel Montes Ferreiro
151,600
Wolfgang Siepmann
Wolfgang Siepmann
145,400
Mikael Guenni fr
Mikael Guenni
143,200
Sofian Benaissa fr
Sofian Benaissa
128,800
Lotfi Yahyaoui fr
Lotfi Yahyaoui
126,700
Ruben Perez es
Ruben Perez
125,300 36,300
Christopher Chaudey fr
Christopher Chaudey
122,000 88,000
Mehdi Senhaji ma
Mehdi Senhaji
119,000

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Slow Play

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

The pace of play has severely slowed down in the last level of the day. People are close to finding a bag for Day 2 and the average stack is still over 50 big blinds.

Zoughari Makes Merai Fold

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Moundir Zoughari raised to 3,500 from the button after it had folded to him and small blind Mehdi Merai three-bet to 12,500. Big blind David Algarra got out of the way and the action was back on Zoughari. He four-bet all in for a total of 44,300 and Merai went deep into the tank.

He eventually got the clock called on him. The floor staff explained to him how much time had and after a couple of seconds he already let go of his hand.

Player Chips Progress
Mehdi Merai fr
Mehdi Merai
114,000 114,000
Moundir Zoughari fr
Moundir Zoughari
58,000 58,000

Tags: David AlgarraMehdi MeraiMoundir Zoughari

Level: 12

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200

Double Up for Cheva

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Alain Dery raised to 3,100 from the under-the-gun position and Cheva shoved all in for 3,700 from the button. The player in the small blind folded and so did Barny Boatman in the big blind.

Alain Dery: {K-Spades}{J-Diamonds}
Cheva: {A-Spades}{4-Clubs}

The board ran out {8-Clubs}{3-Hearts}{Q-Hearts}{7-Spades}{10-Spades} and Cheva tripled up from 3,700 to 11,000.

Player Chips Progress
Alain Dery fr
Alain Dery
70,000
Jose Marie es
Jose Marie
11,000

Tags: Barny BoatmanChevaAlain Dery

Registration is Closed; Biggest WSOPC Marrakech Main Event

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Casino de Marrakech
Casino de Marrakech

The registration period was officially closed after the tenth level of the tournament had started. There are a total of 350 entries on the clock for Day 1B of the 15,000 MAD (€1,350) WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event at Casino de Marrakech.

This means that, with the 194 entries from yesterday, the total number of entries stands at 546. Before this tournament it was the 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event of 2017 who had the record with 511 entries.

This year's tournament has a total of 174 reentries. There were 372 unique players who registered for the event.