The 2017 Winamax SISMIX Main Event is off to quite the start after day 1a of the tournament not only matched but smashed the records of the previous years. 180 poker players took their seat at the green felt in the Casino de Marrakech during this very first day of play in the five-day event, and the 37 additional re-entries brought the total tally up to 217, more than a 25 percent increase from the 2016 edition.
After 13 levels of 40 minutes each, the record-breaking Day 1a field was whittled down to a mere 46 players, with 2015 SISMIX Main Event champion Jerome Sgorrano topping the standings by bagging up an impressive 550,500. Two years ago Sgorrano got 700,000 Dirham (€64,300) for his victory, and the Belgian has put himself in pole position for another deep run in sunny Morocco. Close behind him follows Daniel Cervan, who managed to end on a high note of 523,500, with Quentin Roussey (504,000) rounding out the top-three after the very first day of play.
A number of well-known poker names were also on location at the Casino de Marrakech today, and while players like Alexandre Luneau (240,500) and Romain Lewis (417,000) were fortunate enough to make it through to Day 2, a number of notables did not. Among the eliminated players today were Team Winamax Pros Gaelle Baumann, Davidi Kitai and Guillaume Diaz, while Belgian Pro Bart Lybaert managed to bust twice thanks to the option of re-entry.
Tomorrow will feature yet another installment of Day 1 of the Main Event, as 1b kicks off at midday local time. At 5 pm a 2,000 MAD (€185) progressive bounty tournament will start, while the night owls are invited to join the 1,500 MAD (€138) Iron Main Side Event at 9 pm.
Tune back in tomorrow for more action, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing you every bit of the poker action from warm and sunny Marrakech.
Alexandre Luneau just eliminated his fellow Winamax Team Pro Gaelle Baumann
There are no friends at the poker table. Gaelle Baumann just learned that the hard way after busting to fellow Winamax Team Pro Alexandre Luneau in a multiway pot.
Luneau made it 5,000 to go from first position, and both Alex Tailhardat, Gaelle Baumann and Aurimas Laivys came along for the flop. Baumann and Laivys checked their option, Luneau threw two blue chips worth 5,000 each over the betting line, Tailhardat folded, and Baumann moved all-in for somewhere in the neighborhood of 60,000. Laivys quickly got out of the way, and Luneau quickly made the call despite not looking overly thrilled.
Gaelle Baumann:
Alexandre Luneau:
Neither the on the turn nor the river was of any help to Baumann, and the 2012 November Nine bubble girl exited the tournament in 69th.
There is no stopping Jordy Colliot. The Frenchman has been sporting quite the stack for a few levels, and he just surged into the chiplead by winning a massive pot with the flopped nut flush. The board ran out , and his opponent, Hugues Caunille, couldn't find the big fold with a flopped flush of his own.
The very next hand Colliot send Davidi Kitai packing. Colliot made it 3,500 to go, and quickly called when Kitai moved all-in for his last 15,200 chips. Colliot's were flipping against the of Kitai, and with the lurking already in the door, the Belgian Winamax Pro needed quite some help.
The board ran out and Kitai joined teammate Guillaume Diaz on the rail.
Winamax Team Pro Guillaume Diaz was down to his last 11,700 before finally finding a spot to put them in the middle when the action was folded to him in the small blind. Hugo Larachiche in the big blind wasted no time calling with and a team pro bounty on the line, and the hand was even dominating that of Diaz, as the pro held .
The gave Diaz plenty of outs to a straight before the on the turn took some away again. The river was as blank as they come, and Diaz handed over a slipper confirming the bounty to Larachiche, before heading for the rail.
The biggest pot of the tournament just went down at table 13 as Nicolas Lecoeur and Alexis Tailhardat got all the money in preflop blind versus blind in a classic coinflip. The of Lecoeur was slightly trailing the of Tailhardat, but the flop turned that around and put Lecoeur in pole position for a massive double up.
There's no certainties in poker, however, and the turn put Tailhardat right back in the driver's seat, and the kept him right there. After a recount Lecoeur was declared eliminated, and Tailhardat could rake in the massive pot of almost 220,000.
"Three-handed. Yeah, bring it on," Romain Lewis happily exclaimed after Lecoeur had hit the rail. Lewis has got both chips (170,000 as of now) and momentum, as he recorded his biggest score just a month ago in Monaco for €127,385.
A very warm welcome to the equally sunny and beautiful Morocco, where Casino de Marrakech for the next five days will set the stage for the Main Event of the Winamax SISMIX festival. The first of three starting days will kick off at midday local time (GMT), just under 2.5 hours from now, and with every hand being dealt at short-handed tables (6 players per table), action is to be expected from the very beginning.
For the buy-in of 6,000 Moroccan Dirham (€550) participants will receive a starting stack of 50,000 chips; good for 250 big blinds during the first level. The three starting days will feature 14 levels of 40 minutes each, with late registration being open until the completion of level 10. For players busting, a single re-entry will be allowed during the first 10 levels as well.
Day 1 Blind Structure
Level
Ante
Small Blind
Big Blind
1
25
100
200
2
25
150
300
3
50
200
400
4
75
250
500
5
100
300
600
6
100
400
800
7
100
500
1,000
8
200
600
1,200
9
200
800
1,600
10
300
1,000
2,000
11
400
1,200
2,400
12
500
1,500
3,000
13
500
2,000
4,000
The tournament is expected to draw a lot of well-known players on the circuit as well as numerous of the Team Winamax Pro's including Davidi Kitai, Sylvain Loosli, Alexandre Luneau, Gaëlle Baumann and Michel Abecassis. The festival is also featuring both a Super High Roller (buy-in of €2,300) and a High Roller (buy-in of €1,375), with the latter drawing more than 115 entries for the Day 1 last night and late registration still open until the tournament restarts at 2 pm.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor at Casino de Marrakech to provide updates for the entirety of the Main Event: From the very first Shuffle up and deal to the very last river card is dealt Sunday night.
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flop. Baumann and Laivys checked their option, Luneau threw two blue chips worth 5,000 each over the betting line, Tailhardat folded, and Baumann moved all-in for somewhere in the neighborhood of 60,000. Laivys quickly got out of the way, and Luneau quickly made the call despite not looking overly thrilled.
on the turn nor the 
river was of any help to Baumann, and the 2012 November Nine bubble girl exited the tournament in 69th.
, and his opponent, Hugues Caunille, couldn't find the big fold with a flopped flush of his own.
of Kitai, and with the 
and Kitai joined teammate Guillaume Diaz on the rail.
.
on the turn took some away again. The river 
was as blank as they come, and Diaz handed over a slipper confirming the bounty to Larachiche, before heading for the rail.
of Lecoeur was slightly trailing the 
flop turned that around and put Lecoeur in pole position for a massive double up.
