François Tosques Wins the 2018 WPTDeepStacks Marrakech Main Event (MAD 1,000,000 / €91,411)
François Tosques has become the winner of the 2018 WPTDeepStacks Marrakech 13,200 MAD Main Event in Casino de Marrakech! It's the fifth year the WPT has joined forces with Casino de Marrakech and the second time the series was organized under the WPTDeepStacks Europe banner. Tosques defeated hometown hero Jaouad Abida heads-up to collect the first place prize of 1,000,000 Moroccan dirhams (appr. €91,411 / $106,095).
Start-of-the-day chipleader Fábio Pinho Dâmaso ended up in third place, while French giant and WPTDeepStacks Vilamoura High Roller winner Kalidou Sow had to settle for fifth. Tobias Peters, who already won a tournament in Marrakech earlier this week, wasn't as fortunate today and ended up in eleventh place.
The victory came rather unexpected for the French professional, who had nurtured a short stack throughout the majority of the tournament. It's in sharp contrast to his previous deep run, a second place in Event #68: $1,111 Little One for One Drop last summer in Vegas. Tosques commanded a top stack throughout most of that one but narrowly missed out on his first career bracelet. Fittingly, perhaps, he came from behind this time and managed to clinch the victory.
“It's crazy, because I was short-stacked most of the tournament. I never expected to win this, this is very crazy. I finished two and a half months ago, when I was in heads-up I just wanted to win it,” Tosques said afterwards in an interview with WPT Royal Flush Crew member Alexandra Gray.
2018 WPTDeepStacks Marrakech Main Event Final Result
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in MAD) | Prize (~ in EUR) | Prize (~ in USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | François Tosques | France | 1,000,000 | 91,411 | 106,095 | |
| 2 | Jaouad Abida | Morocco | 700,000 | 63,988 | 74,267 | |
| 3 | Fábio Pinho Dâmaso | Portugal | 440,000 | 40,221 | 46,682 | |
| 4 | Ramon Sol | Spain | 315,000 | 28,795 | 33,420 | |
| 5 | Kalidou Sow | France | 240,000 | 21,939 | 25,463 | |
| 6 | Mathieu Papineau | France | 195,000 | 17,825 | 20,689 | |
| 7 | Jean Montury | France | 156,000 | 14,260 | 16,551 | |
| 8 | Sebastien Boyard | France | 130,000 | 11,883 | 13,792 | |
| 9 | David Pecheur | France | 108,100 | 9,882 | 11,469 |
Tosques followed in the footsteps of countryman Smain Mamouni, who won the inaugural edition last year for 1M dirham as well. The French contingnent in Casino de Marrakech is always large, as Marocco is but a short flight away from France and French is part of the common tongue in the Arabic nation.
“It is very nice to play here, this place is just very good." Tosques said when asked about his impressions of the Casino de Marrakech and the Es Saadi Resort. "A lot of space, you have food here, everything. The buffet is very convenient. This was actually the first time playing this tournament.”
The Frenchman pumped his fists after the final card was dealt and headed to his friends on the rail, which included Yves Rolland, the 12th place finisher, as well as Alexandre de Zutter, who was with Tosques start to finish. The first place prize of over $100,000 marked Tosques' second largest career cash and his first live tournament win since February 2017.
Final day action
At 2 p.m., 16 out of 431 players returned to Casino de Marrakech with each of them already guaranteed 50,000 MAD for surviving two days. Most eyes were on Pinho Dâmaso from the start, who began with a substantial lead, as well as experienced pro's Sow and Peters, who started in second and third place respectively.
For Peters, the final day ended up not being what he'd hoped for, as he had to bow out in 11th place. First, Peters lost a substantial pot with kings against the ace-king of Ramon Sol, who rivered Broadway to scoop up the large pot. Sol finished Peters off afterwards in a three-bet pot, holding ace-queen against Peters' ace-jack on an ace-high flop. The Dutchman, who won a tournament earlier this week for 120,000 MAD, received another 90,000 MAD and important points for his 2018 GPI Player of the Year race. After being named Holland's GPI #1 Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017, Peters is looking to three-peat his performance and is on track to win 2018 as well.
Tosques had a steep hill to climb on his way to his eventual victory and started the day as one of the shortest stacks. Early in the day he won a pivotal pot against the at-the-time chipleader Pinho Dâmaso. After Dâmaso had raised from early position, Tosques three-bet shoved king-queen for more than twenty big blinds and received a call from Dâmaso with pocket nines. A queen flopped and instead of Dâmaso gaining a quarter of the chips in play, it was Tosques who got himself to a playable stack instead.
Local player Jaouad Abida had been quiet up until the final table started, but that all changed once cards for the final nine were in the air. Loudly cheered on by his Moroccan railbirds, Abida went on a tear and dispatched David Pecheur (9th), Sebastien Boyard (8th), and Jean Montury (7th) in quick succession to lead the final six at dinner break with half the chips in play. He continued where he left off right after: busting Mathieu Papineau in sixth place when his top pair held up against straight and flush draws.
Abida also had a chance to knock out Tosques but the latter won an all-in where queen-jack of clubs made both a straight and flush against Abida's ace-king. Shortly after the double-up, Tosques knocked out Sow with ace-queen against ace-jack to claim top spot, then picked off a huge bluff from Ramon Sol for a monster lead and proceeded to dominate until the final cards of the night were dealt. In the heads-up against Adiba, Tosques dispatched the local by first taking a substantial lead with a rivered flush, then winning his final few blinds with king-eight against ace-ten.
That fully wraps up PokerNews coverage from Casino de Marrakech, part of the stunning five star Es Saadi Resort in Marrakech, Morocco. In three months, action will heat up again as the World Series of Poker will host its circuit event in Casino de Marrakech from January 12-20, 2019. PokerNews will be right back on the floor to cover that event as well. Until then, au revoir et à bientôt from sunny Marrakech!
Photos: Tomas Stacha/WPT