Henning Wendlandt Leads the Final 27 at the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech
Day 2 of the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech is in the books. A total of 216 returned to the Casino de Marrakech today from a field of 861 entrants. Just 107 of them would be fortunate enough to guarantee themselves a minimum cash of 12,000 MAD. However, all eyes are on the 715,000 MAD first place prize. After 13 levels of play, 27 players have found a bag and remain in contention for the title.
Leading the way is Henning Wendlandt with 3,870,000. He started the day with just 78,000, but he built a stack early and never looked back. In second place is Belgium's Soner Vanelderen with 3,525,000. Rounding out the podium in third is Joan Crespi with 3,180,000.
End of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henning Wendlandt | Germany | 3,870,000 |
| 2 | Soner Vanelderen | Belgium | 3,525,000 |
| 3 | Joan Crespi | Spain | 3,180,000 |
| 4 | Saul | Portugal | 2,835,000 |
| 5 | Jules Rohr | France | 2,555,000 |
| 6 | Aitor Cruz | Spain | 2,460,000 |
| 7 | Orey Canarinho | Spain | 2,405,000 |
| 8 | Othman Benjelloun | France | 2,230,000 |
| 9 | Ramon Sol | Spain | 1,875,000 |
| 10 | Nicolas Barkusky | France | 1,870,000 |
The Day’s Action
With blinds rolling back to 1,000/2,000 to start the day, the big blind average was around 100 to start the day, which is very deep for this stage of the tournament. Nonetheless, the field size dwindled and there was heavy action from the first shuffle.
Abdelhadi Kondah was the beneficiary of a massive cooler early in the day when he got pocket aces against the pocket kings of Imad Derwiche. To add insult to injury, Kondah ended up making quads on the river to put a dent in Derwiche’s stack, and the French high roller busted shortly after.
As the bubble grew nearer, some big stacks started to form. These players were able to accumulate chips during this period through their aggression and many of them rode this momentum to a Day 3 bag.
Three from the money, Ramon Sol called a raise from Adrien Sanz on the button with pocket fives. Sol would flop a set of fives and jam on Sanz on the river. After a long tank, Sanz made the crying call with pocket aces and hit the rail shortly before the money.
Ahmed Sylla won a pot worth over 150 big blinds on the stone bubble. He turned the nut straight against the top set of Daragh Davey and all the money got in on the turn. Unfortunately for Sylla, the start-of-day chip leader was not able to keep this momentum as he busted in 50th place.
Ermo Vosu would eventually be eliminated as the bubble boy after he was blinded down. He was forced all-in from the big blind and ended up with eight-high in a limped pot as he hit the rail one spot short of the money. The remaining players were guaranteed a minimum cash of 12,000 MAD.
Once in the money, the bustouts came incredibly quick as the field size shrunk rapidly. The pace of play only slowed down once the tournament got down to five or so tables. At this point it became a slow affair as everybody wanted to find a bag for Day 3.
Marion Bocher qualified for this event for just €1 on Unibet. She turned this investment into an 82nd place finish, good for 13,000 MAD, around €1,200. Bocher was also the longest lasting woman in the event.
Multiple Unibet Pros made deep runs on Day 2, including David Lappin (55th) and Alexandre Reard (76th) as both found their way into the money.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize (in MAD) | Place | Prize (in MAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 715,000 | 9 | 72,000 |
| 2 | 500,000 | 10-11 | 59,000 |
| 3 | 360,000 | 12-13 | 50,000 |
| 4 | 270,000 | 14-15 | 43,000 |
| 5 | 205,000 | 16-17 | 37,000 |
| 6 | 155,000 | 18-20 | 32,000 |
| 7 | 115,000 | 21-23 | 28,000 |
| 8 | 89,000 | 24-28 | 24,500 |
Day 3 begins Sunday, September 29 at 1 p.m. local time. Play will resume in Level 24 with blinds at 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante. Each level will be 60 minutes in length and action will continue until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we follow all of the Day 3 action at the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech.