"Aguanteeldiego" and Alexandre Bermon Lead Final 24 After Day 2

Out of a record-breaking field of 1,694 entries, only 24 players remain after Day 2 of the 2026 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Es Saadi Marrakech Resort.

The day began with 255 players already in the money, all sharing a piece of the total prize pool of 23,039,000 MAD. While the pace of eliminations seemed fairly standard early on—with players such as defending champion Justin Tsui (214th) left on the side of the road—it accelerated as the day progressed, fueled by several brutal bad beats.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of this situation was Alexandre Bermon. Playing his very first WSOP Circuit event here in Marrakesh, the Frenchman cracked aces and ace-king by hitting a set of jacks on the river to score a double elimination after the dinner break. He then sent two more players to the rail in the following hands with queens and kings to bag a big 7,400,000-chip stack. “I am so happy, it’s the run of my life,” he said with stars in his eyes at the end of the day.

Despite sitting to Bermon’s right during the final levels, Raul also enjoyed a strong finish, ending the day third in chips with 7,020,000. Like his neighbor, he went on a heater today, like when he hit the river that eliminated Adrien Amorella (29th – 95,000 MAD) not long before play concluded.

Only one player managed to bag an even bigger stack than Bermon and Raul. Known under the nickname “Aguanteeldiego,” this Argentinian finished the day as chip leader with 7,670,000. A pot with kings against ace-queen at the feature table, or another one with aces versus Nolan Madene’s ace-king, propelled him to the top of the counts, despite being seated at one of the toughest tables in the field.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Aguanteeldiego	Argentina	7,670,000	77
2	Alexandre Bermon	France	7,400,000	74
3	Raul	Spain	7,020,000	70
4	Joe Z	Morocco	5,355,000	54
5	Mehdi Chaoui	Morocco	5,115,000	51
6	Aitor Cruz	Spain	5,040,000	50
7	Bruno David	Portugal	5,000,000	50
8	Tomasz Brzezinski	Poland	4,790,000	48
9	Salim Sefiat	France	3,710,000	37
10	Luc Ramos	Switzerland	3,645,000	36

That toughness was confirmed by players such as Tomasz Brzezinski, as the EPT champion still managed to bag 50 big blinds (4,790,000). He notably eliminated the overall chip leader from the starting flights, Azedine Bendjilali (42nd – 60,000 MAD). But it was not obvious at first, however, as the French comedian build a massive stack during the first levels.

"AZ" was even seated for most of the day next to Kalidou Sow (45th – 60,000 MAD), who quickly climbed on top of the chip counts with more than four times the average stack before suffering the same faith as Bendjilali not long after him.

Among the remaining contenders, Mehdi Chaoui (5,115,000) is still firmly in the mix, as is Aitor Cruz (5,040,000), who remains in contention for an impressive Mini Main Event–Main Event double win.

Christopher Chaudey found a fortunate triple-up with jacks to secure a stack of 2,747,000 for Day 3. That is slightly more than Day 1a chip leader Amine Moussallaoui (2,500,000) and Day 1c chip leader “Pete Pete” (2,040,000), who was involved in Chaudey’s triple-up.

Finally, Malcolm Franchi (1,710,000) will return for the final day with 20 big blinds, while last year’s High Roller ring winner Anthony Apicella sits second-to-last in chips (645,000), ahead of only Mohamed Mehalleg (600,000).

Play is set to resume this Sunday, January 25, at 1 p.m. local time for the final day of the tournament, with 40 minutes remaining in Level 26. Blinds will be 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante and will continue to increase every hour until a winner is crowned.

The 24 remaining players have already locked up a minimum payout of 95,000 MAD (€8,845), but all eyes are now on the top prize of 3,000,000 MAD (€279,000) that goes with the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring and a €5,000 package.

Remaing Payouts

Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1	3,000,000 MAD	10	245,000 MAD
2	2,300,000 MAD	11	209,000 MAD
3	1,700,000 MAD	12 - 13	182,000 MAD
4	1,285,000 MAD	14 - 15	158,000 MAD
5	940,000 MAD	16 - 17	136,000 MAD
6	700,000 MAD	18 - 23	115,000 MAD
7	515,000 MAD	24	95,000 MAD