Zine-Din Benrebai Rides Lottery Win all the Way to Victory in Aix-les-Bains Main Event (€122,150)
Over the past week, Zine-Din Benrebai showed everyone what it means to live the poker dream.
Prior to coming to the France Poker Series in Aix-les-Bains, Benrebai had competed in a €150 buy-in tournament wherein he was lucky enough to win a lottery for a buy-in into the FPS Main Event. Benrebai took the opportunity and made his way to the Casino Grand Cercle, where he bested a 660-entry field to take down a PokerStars Main Event trophy and the €122,150 first-place prize resulting from a €633,600 prize pool. Prior to his victory, Benrebai's best live-tournament score was just €2,800.
Aix-les-Bain Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zine-Din Benrebai | France | € 122,150 |
| 2 | Tung Nguyen | Switzerland | € 76,270 |
| 3 | Brice de Kermadec | France | € 54,480 |
| 4 | Angel Insua | Spain | € 41,910 |
| 5 | Robin Engelmann | France | € 32,240 |
| 6 | Cyril Peralez | France | € 24,810 |
| 7 | Karim Kaladjou | France | € 19,080 |
| 8 | Loris Corbelli | Switzerland | € 14,670 |
| 9 | Damien Noraz | France | € 11,280 |
“I feel like I’m in a dream. I’ll wake up tomorrow and pinch myself to see if it’s real. It’s a dream come true,” said Benrebai next to his trophy just minutes after his victory. Benrebai is a self-admitted amateur player who discovered poker ten years ago with friends in freeroll tournaments. “These small tournaments made us appreciate the game,” he added.
"I don’t usually play €1,100 tournaments; this was my ‘One Time’.”
Despite the much higher buy-in compared to what he’s used to, Benrebai didn’t let himself be intimidated. “I felt comfortable from start to finish; I followed the game plan, and it went well,” he summarized.
Day 3 Action
Brice de Kermadec set the tone of the day after doubling up through Quentin Girardet on the very first hand of play. De Kermadec shoved preflop with queen-jack and was called by Girardet, who had de Kermadec dominated with ace-jack. De Kermadec was one card away from elimination, but he spiked his queen on the river to double up and keep his run alive.
From that point on, a steady stream of eliminations followed up until the final table bubble, which lasted for nearly a level. The bubble burst after Erich Tedeschi got all-in preflop with ace-trey against Tung Nguyen's queen-seven. Nguyen ended up catching a seven, and Tedeschi was eliminated.
Damien Noraz was the first final table casualty after his heroic bluff was picked off by Angel Insua, who called three streets with pocket sevens on a Ax5xAxKxQx runout.
Despite the average chip stack being just 20 big blinds during eight-handed play, it would take nearly three full levels before the next elimination occurred. Karim Kaladjou, who entered the final table as the chip leader, endured the brunt of the elimination "dry spell" as other players were able to double through him on several occasions, including Robin Engelmann two separate times.
Shortly after Loris Corbelli bowed out in eighth place, Kaladjou was left short after de Kermadec doubled through him, which marked the fourth time someone had done so at the final table. Kaladjou was forced all in from the big blind a couple of hands later and busted with nine-seven against Insua's pocket eights to be sent out in a disappointing seventh place.
Cyril Peralez and Robin Engelmann, who had been nursing short stack during most of the final table, followed Kaladjou out the door in quick succession in sixth and fifth place respectively.
It was about this time that Benrebai began his ascent, particularly after calling down a triple barrel bluff by de Kermadec correctly.
Tung managed to close the gap between himself and Benrebai after busting Insua and de Kermadec in fourth and third place, but Benrebai never relinquished the lead.
The heads-up battle between Nguyen and Benrebai was largely one-sided, with Benrebai picking off a couple of bluff attempts from Nguyen to leave him short. Tung did manage to wrestle a nice pot off Benrebai after three-bet shoving over a raise from Benrebai holding just second pair, but Benrebai wouldn't be denied. Just a few hands later, Benrebai shoved preflop with king-jack, and Nguyen called all in with queen-ten. The runout left Benrebai best with a pair of jacks, and he collected the rest of Nguyen's chips to end the tournament.
That's a wrap for PokerNews coverage of this event. Be sure to check out our live-reporting hub for continuing coverage of events around the globe.