As a Spanish Poker Festival Team Pro, Ibon Berriozabal was expected to shine in the 6,000 MAD SPF Main Event during the last days, here at the beautiful Es Saadi Resort. He didn't, and the tournament was won tonight by Aiman El Hafiz De Pablo for MAD 300,000. However, Berriozabal performed much better in the 10,000 MAD Marrakech Poker Open Main Event, ending up as the chip leader of Day 1a.
41 entrants were recorded in this first flight, with only 12 players remaining at the end of the day. Berriozabal bagged 341,000 chips and built his big stack thanks to a double-up with aces against El Mehdi Mbarek's kings, and another big pot won against Andrius Terebeiza.
Despite losing this pot, Terebeiza is still fourth in chips tonight (176 000), behind Eduard Rau (271,000) and Sebastien Lesoif (233,000).
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ibon Berriozabal | Spain | 341,000 | 85 |
| 2 | Eduard Rau | Germany | 271,000 | 68 |
| 3 | Sebastien Lesoif | France | 233,000 | 58 |
| 4 | Andrius Terebeiza | Lithuania | 176,000 | 44 |
| 5 | Miguel Couceiro | Portugal | 173,000 | 43 |
| 6 | Jeremie Canetti | France | 167,000 | 42 |
| 7 | Alexis Ibarrola | France | 149,000 | 37 |
| 8 | [Removed:482] | France | 140,000 | 35 |
| 9 | Dmitrii Laverichev | Russian Federation | 116,000 | 29 |
| 10 | Vzero | Spain | 116,000 | 29 |
| 11 | Fabian Rolli | Switzerland | 114,000 | 29 |
| 12 | Samiyel Duzgun | Switzerland | 107,000 | 27 |
Miguel Couceiro took fifth place tonight with 173,000chips. He is followed by Parisian players Jeremie Canetti (167,000), Alexis Ibarrola (149,000) and [Removed:482] (140,000), who all have between 35 and 40 big blinds. Dmitrii Laverichev (116,000) also qualified for Day 2, as well as Vzero (116,000).
Last but not least, Fabian Rolli (114,000) and Samiyel Duzgun (107,000), both from Switzerland, have the shortest stacks of the day. But their opponents need to keep an eye on them, as they are some of the most experienced of the remaining players.
Unlike them, notable players like Guillaume Darcourt, Antoine Goutard, Rosalie Petit, Grzegorz Kozieja, Sylvain Cisterna and Javier Tsunamy failed to qualify for Day 2 and will have to come back tomorrow for Day 1b.
Day 1b begins tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time with 40-minute levels and the same structure as Day 1a. There is also a turbo Day 1c flight scheduled at 9 p.m. featuring 20-minute levels. Everyone to advance combines for Day 2 on August 3. Late registration remains open until the end of Level 9 on each flight.
PokerNews will be back providing live updates tomorrow for what is sure to be another packed poker room at the Es Saadi Resort in Marrakech!
