Yasser Loudagh Bags Chip Lead in Day 1cd of the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech
The final two Day 1 flights of the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech have been completed. It was a busy day at the Casino De Marrakech as 342 players made their way over for Day 1c while the turbo Day 1d attracted 94 runners. This brings the total entrants from the tournament to 861, over 100 more players than the 2023 edition.
At the end of the day, just 110 players across the two flights have punched their ticket into Saturday’s Day 2, bringing the Day 2 total to 216.
Leading the way from Friday’s flights is Yasser Loudagh who bagged an impressive 617,000. He built a big stack early and never looked back as he held the top position on the leaderboard for the majority of the day.
End of Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yasser Loudagh | Morocco | 617,000 |
| 2 | Ghost Rider | France | 509,000 |
| 3 | Henri Benoni | France | 482,000 |
| 4 | Tsunami | Spain | 455,000 |
| 5 | Lucien Cohen | France | 446,500 |
| 6 | Dinh Nhat Nguyen | France | 420,000 |
| 7 | Henri Dupont | France | 403,000 |
| 8 | Laurent Michot | France | 394,500 |
| 9 | Otmane Smlali | Morocco | 387,500 |
| 10 | Achille Voltolina | Italy | 360,000 |
The Day’s Action
It was obvious from the start that today’s field was going to be a large one. By the first break of Day 1c, there were already 150 entrants, more than triple that of Day 1a.
Dinh Nhat Nguyen started the day running hot and kept the pressure throughout the day as his stack swung up and down. He won a big pot early in the day with the nut flush against the second nut flush of David Taieb. Nguyen three-bet the river and seemed to get maximum value out of Taieb. He would later crack the pocket aces Guillaume Garcia after turning a set of jacks in another big pot.
Cyril Gouilliou was the beneficiary of a massive cooler when he flopped top set against middle set in a four-bet pot. All of the money went in on the flop and he held to double.
Popular French doctor Abdou Zizi called a jam with ace-ten suited only to run into the aces of Karim Hachem. However, Zizi would flop trips and river quads to eliminate Hachem in brutal fashion.
Several notable players advanced to Day 2 from today. WSOP Bracelet Winner Alexandre Reard as well as EPT Champion Lucien Cohen will return tomorrow.
The eliminations came slower after registration closed, as this was the final chance for players to find a bag. Day 1c played for 45 more minutes than either of the previous flights.
As for Day 1d, it was quite the frenzy as the players had one last shot at making Day 2. However, they had to navigate 15-minute levels. 94 players entered this flight and a total of 24 advanced to Day 2.
Day 2 begins Saturday, September 28 at 1 p.m. local time. Play will begin with a few minutes remaining in Level 10 with blinds at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. Levels will be 50 minutes in length. The initial plan for Day 2 was to play down to 16 players, but this is subject to change depending on the pace of play.
That does it for Day 1 coverage from the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech. Stay tuned to PokerNews as we follow all the action on Day 2 all the way until a winner is crowned.