Former Champion Leads the Pack after Strong Turnout on Day 1a of the Winamax SISMIX Main Event
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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.
All photos courtesy of Winamax