Alexandre Le Vaillant Triumphs in 2023 Unibet DeepStack Open Marrakech Main Event (MAD 625,000/€57,926)
After a heads-up battle that lasted just over an hour, Alexandre Le Vaillant has emerged victorious in the 2023 Unibet DeepStack Open Marrakech Main Event at the majestic Es Saadi Resort. Le Vaillant defeated Tristan Forge in an exciting heads-up battle that saw the chip lead exchange several times before Le Vaillant seized the victory to collect the first place prize of 625,000 Moroccan Dirhams (€57,926).
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in MAD) | Prize (In EUR) |
| 1 | Alexandre Le Vaillant | France | 625,000 | € 57,926 |
| 2 | Tristan Forge | France | 420,000 | € 38,926 |
| 3 | Henri Dupont | France | 290,000 | € 26,877 |
| 4 | Julien Vecchioli | France | 210,000 | € 19,463 |
| 5 | Soufiane Messadek | Belgium | 160,000 | € 14,829 |
| 6 | Kaddour | France | 126,700 | € 11,742 |
| 7 | Alexandre Hobam | France | 103,000 | € 9,546 |
| 8 | Jeremie Canetti | France | 85,500 | € 7,924 |
| 9 | Adrien Amorella | France | 70,000 | € 6,487 |
Le Vaillant began the day as the chip leader and was firmly in the driver's seat for the early stages of the day as the field dwindled from 16 players down to the nine-handed final table. Le Vaillant did fall to the middle of the pack a few times during the final table but always managed to surge back up to the top of the chip counts each time. The French Pro has just over $500,000 in career tournament earnings with tonight's win being his second-biggest career cash.
Winner's Reaction
Le Vaillant mentioned that he almost didn't make the trip to Marrakech for this event, and that he decided to come at the last minute after a suggestion from DeepStack Open founder Alexandre Henry.
"It wasn't all planned. It was actually Alexandre Henry who suggested I come at the last minute. In truth, I had already been to Marrakech twice this year and with the earthquake I thought it would dissuade me a little. But it's true that Marrakech is a superb destination and all of this last minute planning for this event is thanks to Alex. So thank you, Alex".
When asked what the win means to him, Le Vaillant mentioned he has already had many close encounters in big-field events and that it is nice to finally book a win in Morocco.
"I have already been runner-up twice in main events, once third in Divonne, once sixth. It’s really nice that it’s happening here in Morocco where we’re always well received. There was a big field and ultimately a very good turnout."
"It went well in the end and I haven't had the misfortune of having bad encounters. And obviously in multi-table tournaments, you need some luck. But there is this structure which allows for quite extraordinary stack management on this type of buy-in. I'm used to playing them and I know how to adapt to the different types of players there are."
When asked about the long, hard-fought heads-up match against Tristan Forge, Le Vaillant was complimentary of his opponent.
"Tristan Forge? I get along very well with Tristan. But there was no arrangement, we played it straight. He's a player who is very competent but more cash-oriented, so I thought I could have a little edge on him. I didn't know what it was worth in heads-up. I missed the first big all in, it frustrated me a little, but I stayed focused, I gained the upper hand and he had a bit of a tight strategy, I took advantage of it a little and I I had some play too."
Final Day Action
Yoan Blanc became the first casualty of the day, getting his last chips in with pocket-eights only to run into the pocket-tens of Soufiane Messadek. He was followed shortly out the door by Azzedine Smie, who turned an open-ended straight draw to go along with his top pair only to fall to Forge who had flopped a set.
Salem Sahed and Mathieu Di Meglio were next to be eliminated in 14th and 13th place respectively. The former lost a flip preflop with ace-jack versus the pocket sevens of Henri Dupont while the latter would also lose a flip against pocket sevens, this time holding king-ten offsuit and being up against Le Vaillant.
The most prolific player remaining in the field to start Day 3, Guillaume Darcourt, fell in 11th place after running into the pocket-aces of Samuel Baruk. Play would then remain 10-handed for over an hour before Baruk himself would be the next to go out after making a move against Forge at the wrong time after Forge had turned the nut-straight. Baruk's elimination would mark the beginning of the nine-hande final table.
Adrien Amorella came into the final table with the short stack and would be the first to be eliminated from the final table after losing a flip with ace-king against the pocket fives of Julien Vecchioli. He was followed by Jeremie Canetti who went out in eighth. Canetti had a roller coaster final day that included several big wins and big losses that saw him moving up and down the chip counts throughout the day. His run finally came to an end when he ran ace-six preflop into Vecchioli's ace-queen. Alexandre Hobam was next to fall after losing a flip with pocket jacks against the ace-king of Soufiane Messadek.
Messadek had an excellent run today that saw him among the chip leaders for much of the early stages of the final table. He would end up losing a few big pots at the final five before moving in with a low suited ace and running into the pocket jacks of Le Vaillant to bow out in fifth place.
Vecchioli was perhaps the most aggressive player at the final table today, and it served him well on several occasions where he was able to get his opponent to fold the better hand. In a reversal of fortune he would end up getting his last chips in very good with top-pair against the pocket sevens of Le Vaillant on a nine-high flop, only for Le Vaillant to drill a seven on the turn to send Vecchioli packing.
Dupont would be next eliminated in 3rd place after running king-ten into Le Vaillant's ace-king to mark the start of heads up play. Le Vaillant came into heads up play with nearly a 2:1 chip advantage over Tristan Forge, and during the first several hands it seemed like everything was going his way and he was connecting with every board. That all changed when Forge moved all in with a double-gutshot straight draw against Le Vaillant's top pair and turned the straight to bring the two players nearly even in chips.
From there, the grueling heads-up battle lasted over an hour and saw the chip lead exchange several more times. Le Vaillant finally got the best of his opponent in a very similar hand to the one where he originally lost the chip lead in during heads up play. Le Vaillant had a strong made hand, this time two pair, and once again Le Vaillant called when Forge moved in with a double-gutshot straight draw. This time Le Vaillant held to win the tournament while Forge had to settle for second place.
That fully wraps up PokerNews coverage from the 2023 Unibet DeepStack Open Marrakech Main Event at the Casino de Marrakech.