WSOP International Circuit Marrakech: David Vergnes Leads Final Sixteen
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After almost ten hours of poker at the Es Saadi Resort, the 2019 WSOP International Circuit 50th Anniversary Marrakech 15,000 MAD (€1,350) Main Event field of 359 entries has been reduced to 16 survivors.
The Moroccan prize pool was set at 4,685,000 MAD ($492,979), with the last man standing set to win 1 million dirhams ($105,225). French amateur David Vergnes (lead photo) leads the way on Day 3 with a stack of 1,316,000 (61 big blinds.)
"We'll See tomorrow. I'm happy to be in that position but I remain calm."
Principally a cash-game player, David is living in Albi and he felt lucky to be chip leader. His deep-run could have ended before the money was reached as he doubled-up against an overpair after three hours of play on Saturday. "We'll See tomorrow. I'm happy to be in that position but I remain calm", said Vergnes while bagging in a place he visits since a decade.
André Marques (Portugal - 55 blinds), Javier Tsunamy (Spain - 52 Blinds) and Souhayl "Joël" Fjer (France - 50 blinds) are the only players who reached a seven-figure stack. They will be Vergnes' nearest challengers when the action resumes at 1 p.m local time.
After a gruelling day, the decision to stop play was made when the redraw was reached rather than going on to the planned end of Level 22.
Day 2 Action
When Day 2 got underway at 1 p.m on Saturday, there were 105 hopefuls looking to make the money. The pace of play was fast and furious with ten eliminations in the first fifteen minutes and 46 bustos before the first break. Nicolas Noguera, Pierre Quignard, Bernard Guigon, Sebastien Compte, Omar Lakhdari, Jerome Sgorrano, and local hero Abdel Kondah were some of those departing before reaching the money.
Hand-for-hand action began two places from the money. A change of plan because the staff originally wanted to do it one place away from the money but when a Spanish player stalled on every streets, they decided to go hand-for-hand a bit earlier. Finally, the bubble burst after an hour of hand-for-hand, and there was only three all-ins &and call during that span.
Fernando, the Spanish player that induced going hand-for-hand, didn't survive when he three-bet shoved. Kamal Sefrioui had just smooth called the original raiser with pocket kings and was happy to burst the bubble player.
Fadhil Farag, WSOPC winner Rakesh Lalwani, the Last Woman Standing Sarah Herzali, and WPT Finalist Noureddine Ait Aleb all found a place in the money before they were eliminated. None of them reached the dinner break.
André Marques, who was the first player to reach the 1 million mark, and Javier Tsunamy were dominating the Tournament at the restart. The next 90 minutes saw the field go down to three tables and 24 survivors.
The last two hours of Day 2 were filled with eight eliminations and a heated exchange between two players resulting in an orbit penalty.
Said El Yousfi ended the day by open shoving eighteen blinds at the wrong moment. The WSOP bracelet winner's elimination prompted the staff to end play for Saturday.
Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Chipcount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | André Marques | 1,116,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Michael Allmrodt | 554,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Jose Luis Reconquista | 270,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Anthony Marchetti | 564,000 |
| 1 | 5 | ALEXIS | 224,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Souhayl Fjer | 1,011,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Philipp Huxley | 810,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Javier Tsunamy | 1,046,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Franck Lelong | 970,000 |
| 2 | 2 | ROMI | 631,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Giovanni Rosadoni | 423,000 |
| 2 | 4 | David Vergnes | 1,316,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Karim Abgar | 368,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Sammy Berrehail | 827,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Ali Mechiche | 154,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Florian Geiger | 513,000 |
That's a wrap, join us back at PokerNews for the coverage until the completion of the WSOPC Marrakech Main Event on Sunday, June 23 as a winner is crowned in Marrakech.
