Day 2 of the Winamax SISMIX Main Event, the largest tournament field ever in Africa, kicks off at midday with players' main goal being to make the money, and then set themselves up for a potentially huge score.
Leading the way is Day 1c chip leader and Winamax Team Pro Pierre Calamusa who amassed 1,030,000 chips yesterday, which is more than 20 starting stacks. Raphel Loiseau (747,000) was left trailing in his wake yesterday, as was Day 1a chip leader Mantas Petrauskas (643,000) and Day 1b chip leader Jean Chenonier (611,000).
Other big names still in contention include Winamax Team Pros Adrian Mateos (309,000), Sylvain Loosli (294,000) and Michel Abecassis (180,000), last year's final tablist [Removed:445] (423,000), Paul-Francois Tedeschi (287,000) and Anas Tadini (161,000).
Today there will be 12 levels played, with the level length increased to 50 minutes:
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
15
3,000
6,000
1,000
16
4,000
8,000
1,000
17
5,000
10,000
1,000
18
6,000
12,000
2,000
19
8,000
16,000
2,000
20
10,000
20,000
3,000
21
12,000
24,000
4,000
22
15,000
30,000
5,000
23
20,000
40,000
5,000
24
25,000
50,000
5,000
25
30,000
60,000
10,000
26
40,000
80,000
10,000
Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all the action here at the Casino de Marrakech at the Es Saadi Resort. We will post confirmed payouts and prizepool as soon as we get them.
Shortly before the start of Day 2, we caught up with Winamax SISMIX Day 1a chip leader Mantas Petrauskas, who has had the luxury of spending the last two days participating in various off-the-felt activities and chilling by the pool.
"They're the main two things that I've been doing," said Petrauskas. "It's my first SISMIX. Yesterday I was resting and relaxing before Day 2.
"I really enjoy the six-max format. Yesterday I played the bounty tournament and that was ten-max. And it was way worse than six-max! I get to play more hands and when I play more hands I have a bigger edge, and that's the main thing why I really enjoy it."
Yesterday, Pierre Calamusa bagged up over one million chips on Day 1c. Petraskas says that he has added incentive to overtake Calamusa after Petrauskas was eliminated at the semi-final stage of the Beer Pong Tournament, with Calamusa going on to win it!
"My goal for today is to take revenge because he won in the beer pong. I'm going to just play my own game. I'm not going to be tighter; maybe I will be, I don't know. It depends when the bubble is."
With 157 players remaining, there were two all-in and calls for tournament staff to deal with.
Firstly, Steve [Removed:433] was all in for a single ante with but was up against the of Michel Gaude. The board came sending [Removed:433] to the rail.
Then on a different table, it was Matej Zavacky who was all in for his tournament life with against the of Corentin Ropert. The board came with Ropert's full house keeping him in the tournament.
As the players go on their second break, slightly later than planned after an elongated bubble, it looks like two Winamax Team Pros are tussling for the lead, with Sylvain Loosli and Adrian Mateos well placed with seven-figure stacks.
In October 2017, Winamax signed Mustapha Kanit and Adrian Mateos to their stable. Then, in February this year, Leo Margets and Joao Vieira joined the ranks. In addition to their established list of Team Pros, including Triple Crown winner Davidi Kitai, this brought the number of Team Pros to 15. The man in charge of corralling this diverse and varied group of poker pros? Winamax Team Pro Manager Stephane Matheu.
He has been in the position for almost eight years and has recently overseen the acquisition of some of the biggest names in European poker, and we sat down to ask him how it’s gone.
“Given all the backgrounds, roots and cultures, yeah, I’m really happy with the way it’s turned out so far," said Matheu, "It’s pretty new; only a few months since the new guys joined, but it’s working out really well.
“With Winamax there’s always been a really strong degree of closeness between the Team Pros, but I’m really happy with the way this is turning out because going into it I didn’t know what to expect.”
Matheu holds a seminar each year for the Team Pros and says this year it was of even more importance with the new Team Pros joining the team.
“That changed the dynamic a bit, especially with the language. It’s international now; no French, now it’s English. This was the ninth seminar I’ve organised, and what I wanted is for the players to get together to get to know one another.”
Sports played a big role in the seminar, mixed with reviews and technical work. There were also guest speakers talking about a variety of topics, including mental strength.
“When I started doing this, in the first year the players were wondering what they were doing! They didn’t know what to expect! But over the years, the players are really happy to go. And in the past, there’s been a pretty impressive boost right after in Monaco, with Pierre Calamusa final-tabling the 2016 Main Event there, and Guillaume Diaz winning the EPT National there this year. It’s been working out well.”
There really is a mix among the Winamax Team Pros with the experience of Kanit and Mateos, alongside young motivated players like Calamusa, as well as Diaz and Adrien Delmas, who became a Winamax team Pro through the Top Shark Academy.
“It’s a great mix right now and I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re doing really well. It’s all very competitive, and they’ve all gotten to the point where they’ve realised if they put their brains together, and work together, everyone becomes better.”
With partypoker having a surge in their team pro numbers, we asked Matheu what his thoughts were on the matter.
“They’re definitely going with a big push, between their live events and their team pros. We were in Barcelona and it was a big success. I know our [Team Pro] model is pretty unique. I doubt they have something similar at party, but for sure they have big names. We have different models but their team is pretty sexy. The names and everything, it’s gonna be a strong team but they have very strong ambassadors as well.
The more poker pros Winamax signs, the more it seems that they are shedding the ‘French’ label that has always been associated with them.
“Historically it has been a French company,” says Matheu. “I think Europe is really going to change that. Every new market we go into, we do the best we can to be number one. So, in a way, we’re probably going to drift away from that label.
“As far as I’m concerned with the Team Pros, my job is to make sure that they perform well and that they’re working well together and doing their job. Whether they’re French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese it doesn’t really matter to me. Down the road, there may be more countries and many more players. My job is to keep this team spirit alive.”
With such a great selection of players, we asked Matheu for his pick for someone who will have success at the WSOP which starts later this month.
“Obviously Adrian [Mateos] has been a machine,” he says, almost instantly. “He’s been so consistent at such a high level. He’s such an example of dedication and hard work, he really does grind.
“Also, the young guys are due a win; Adrian, Ivan [Deyra], Romain [Lewis]; the good thing right now is that everyone has a shot at winning something big. Last week showed that, with Joao [Vieira] in the 25k, and Guillaume [Diaz] winning the EPT National. It’s really exciting so I don’t know where it’s going to come from! I hope I get a lot of success.”
Michael Chassard opened to 75,000. He got one caller before Paul-Francois Tedeschi three-bet to 240,000. It folded back to Chassard who moved all in for 966,000. The caller folded before Tedeschi called.
Paul-Francois Tedeschi:
Michael Chassard:
There was an ace on the flop for Chassard as the board ran out and Chassard doubled up.
Julien Polge raised to 130,000 and Bernard Guigon three-bet to 335,000. Polge moved all in for 1,400,000 and Guigon, with about the same behind, proceeded to tank for a minute or so before calling.
Bernard Guigon:
Julien Polge:
There was much bemusement with Guigon's tank. The board ran out with the queen on the river meaning Polge doubled to stay alive, and left Guigon short.
After just under 12 exciting levels of play, there are just 17 players remaining in the 2018 Winamax SISMIX Main Event, including Winamax Team Pro Adrian Mateos.
Mateos says that at his worst point on Day 2 he had an average stack, not a bad place to be on a day where the money bubble burst.
"All the way through I had a pretty decent stack," he said. "I played a couple of big pots, but not too many. Just lots of small pots, and winning a lot of small pots."
The Spaniard is best known for his trio of WSOP bracelets, with his first coming at the 2013 WSOPE. He followed that up with two more bracelets and an EPT Grand Final title. Nowadays he's more often seen in HIgh Roller tournaments, but he jumped in the Winamax SISMIX Main Event nonetheless.
"I usually play more High Rollers, mainly because I think I'm a winner in these tournaments," he explained, "But I always say, I love to play Main Events. They're a big challenge because normally in High Rollers we all know each other and how we play, but playing in Main Events you get to play with new people all the time, which for me is pretty fun."
Joining Mateos on the final day of the SISMIX Main Event is fellow Winamax Team Pro Sylvain Loosli. Mateos says that people will just have to wait and see how the pair get on on the final day.
"It's something really difficult to win a big tournament with a lot of players. Over 1,000 entries makes it hard to win. There's still a lot of hands to win and work to do. I have a good stack and I have a good chance to make the final table. I have to play good, run good and try to win.
"Winamax has some good Team Pros, and all of us are good players. That means we have a chance to win the tournament."
The chip lead bounced around from player to player towards the end of the night, but in the end, it was two Portuguese players who emerged with the big stacks. Henrique Pinho had been towards the top of the chip counts for most of the day, battling with Mateos at times, but Miguel Tavares and Kamel Atoui emerged towards the end of the night after a series of eliminations to be a serious contender heading into the final day's play.
The day started with 253 players with only 155 of them guaranteed money. The bubble burst when Steve [Removed:433] and Matej Zavacky were sent to the rail in quick succession, guaranteeing the remaining players 12,000 MAD (€1,073). There was also the matter of which of the two bubble boys would receive the ticket to next year's SISMIX Main Event, with [Removed:433]'s flush beat Zavacky's pair of fours to secure him the consolation prize.
Among the players finishing in the money were Alexandre Reard (128th - 12,000 MAD), Day 1c chip leader and Winamax Team Pro Pierre Calamusa (121st - 12,500 MAD), Samir Beldjoudi (115th - 12,500 MAD), Day 1b chip leader Jean Chenonier (95th - 14,200 MAD), Cheng-Wei Yin (93rd - 14,200 MAD), Fadhil Farag (77th - 15,200 MAD), Aurelie Reard (71st - 16,500 MAD), Day 1a chip leader Mantas Petrauskas (63rd - 16,500 MAD), and Paul-Francois Tedeschi (30th - 32,000 MAD).
Here are the remaining payouts in the Main Event
Position
Payout (MAD)
Payout (EUR)
Payout (USD)
1
د.م. 1,000,000
89,453 €
$106,849
2
د.م. 730,000
65,301 €
$78,000
3
د.م. 510,000
45,621 €
$54,493
4
د.م. 360,000
32,203 €
$38,466
5
د.م. 265,000
23,705 €
$28,315
6
د.م. 195,000
17,443 €
$20,836
7
د.م. 150,000
13,418 €
$16,027
8-9
د.م. 115,000
10,287 €
$12,288
10-11
د.م. 90,000
8,051 €
$9,616
12-14
د.م. 71,000
6,351 €
$7,586
15-17
د.م. 57,000
5,099 €
$6,090
The Winamax SISMIX Main Event resumes at 1 pm local time on Sunday 13th May at the Casino de Marrakech at the Es Saadi Resort. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com as we play down to a winner.