World Poker Tour Marrakech, Day 1b: Benyamine, "ElkY," and Liz Lieu Come Up Short
The World Poker Tour Marrakech presented by Chilipoker continued on Sunday from the Casino de Marrakech with Day 1b. A field of 85 came to play, looking to join the 51 survivors from Day 1a. Today’s turnout may have been small, but it was certainly packed with talent. In the end, only 31 made it through the day. Leading the way after 11 levels today was Sebastian Homann with 327,900.
Arguably the biggest names in the field today were David Benyamine, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and the face of Chilipoker, Liz Lieu. Unfortunately, no one was fortunate enough to bag chips at day's end. Benyamine was the first to go after losing a coin flip with A♠K♥ against J♥J♣. No help came, so he was eliminated shortly thereafter. Grospellier held a short stack for what seemed to be the entire day. He made folds that raised a few eyebrows, including accidentally exposing A♣Q♣ after seeing a raise and reraise before him. He was done in when his ace-seven was unable to hold against an opponent's K♥Q♥ when a king hit the river. Lieu got the last of her chips in with 8♣6♣ against Q♦10♦ on a Q♣J♥7♣9♦ board. Her draws missed when the J♠ hit the river, ending her tournament.
While many failed to make it through to the end, others survived without a hitch. A combination of made hands and good reads helped Guillaume de la Gorce slowly and methodically build his stack, and he finished with 128,600. In a hand with Ahmed Debabeche, de la Gorce was facing a check-raise on a K♠Q♥7♠6♦K♣ board. It didn’t take long for de la Gorce to decide he had the best hand, so he opted to call and saw his Q♠9♦ win against Debabeche’s failed bluff with A♥10♠. Also making it to Day 2 were Davidi Kitai, Roger Hairabedian, and John Eames.
The top ten counts heading into Day 2 are as follows:
1. Sebastian Homann - 327,900
2. Nicolas Levi - 278,700
3. Andrei One - 196,900
4. Johan Williamson - 192,500
5. Martial Blangenwitsch - 186,800
6. Erik Tamm - 178,900
7. Paul Pirestrigo - 176,100
8. Daniel Elkeslassy - 170,600
9. Benjamin Pollak - 170,300
10. Xavier Annal - 170,000
Play resumes on Monday at 1:00 p.m. local time when the remaining 82 players are scheduled to play down to the final table. Follow along with our coverage as PokerNews will be back on the floor then to provide you with everything that takes place.
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