Sabry Ferhaoui and Paul François Tedeschi Lead 77 Players on Day 1a of the WSOPC Marrakech Main Event
The first flight of the 2024 WSOP Circuit Marrakech Main Event ended a few minutes before 2 a.m., here at the Casino de Marrakech, inside the luxurious Es Saadi Resort. And after fourteen levels, 77 players out of a field of 432 entrants bagged their chips, qualifying for Day 2.
The battle for the chip lead was hard all the way until the end. In the last level, Paul François Tedeschi held the biggest stack in the tournament. However, in the final minutes, Sabry Ferhaoui secured the two blinds he needed to finish the day as the chip leader.
With 463,000 chips, he leads Day 1a, while Tedeschi takes second place with 457,000 chips. They are followed by Zahir Messouat (402,000) and Endravuz Lahdo (355,000).
Day 1a Top 10
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip count | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sabry Ferhaoui | France | 463,000 | 116 |
| 2 | Paul François Tedeschi | France | 457,000 | 114 |
| 3 | Zahir Messouat | France | 402,000 | 101 |
| 4 | Endravuz Lahdo | Switzerland | 355,000 | 89 |
| 5 | Igor Picone | Belgium | 346,000 | 87 |
| 6 | Yuzhou Yin | China | 334,000 | 84 |
| 7 | Hassan Nashar | Gambia | 328,000 | 82 |
| 8 | Nourredine Aittaleb | France | 325,000 | 81 |
| 9 | Rachid Amamou | Switzerland | 295,000 | 74 |
| 10 | Nicola Pezzullo | Italy | 276,000 | 69 |
Anas Tadini (273,000), Erwann Pecheux (260,000), Slimane Mameche (245,000), and Florian Ribouchon (234,000) ended the day with stacks above average, along with 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan (212,000). Imad Derwiche (170,000) and Javier Tsunamy (165,000), with slightly smaller stacks, also secured spots for Day 2 through this first flight.
Fresh off winning the seventh WSOP ring of his career during the festival, Sonny Franco is still in the race to win another one. He will return on Saturday with 104,000 chips, twice the amount held by Miroslav Alilovic (42,000), who had Fedor Holz to his left during a long moment today.
In the last minutes of the Day, Romain Lewis doubled up with kings against jacks, but he still has the smallest stack of the field (37,000).
Tomorrow, Friday, January 19, new players will try to qualify for Day 2 on Day 1b of the Main Event. Action will begin at 1 p.m. local time. There will also be another chance at 10 p.m. with Day 1C Turbo.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team to see who else can make it through to Day 2!