It was an action-packed final day of the PMU.fr WPT National Marrakech MAD13,200 Main Event. As many as 14 players returned for Day 3 of the exciting tournament on a quest to capture the tournament trophy and the biggest share of the prize pool. It was local player Rachid Rami who emerged as the winner and eventually lifted the WPT National trophy at Casino De Marrakech.
The winner also collected the amount of MAD950,000 (or a little less than $100,000) for his latest victory. Rami is a frequent visitor at Casino De Marrakech and has cashed in a number of poker tournaments to have taken place in the venue in the past several years. Prior to his victory last night, the player had a total of $476,257 in live tournament earnings. He scored his best live cash of €202,200 back in 2007, when he bested the field of a Paris Open €4,200 No-Limit Hold’em tournament.
Day 3 of the WPT National Marrakech Main Event began with fourteen players and Frenchman Alexandre Riccomi as the leader of what had remained from the overall field of 396 entries. Riccomi held a total of 2,251,000 in chips and was in fact the only player to have passed the 2-million mark. Rami was tenth in chips at that point but his close-to-the-bottom position in the chip counts table did not seem to bother him much.
Action developed quite quickly and it did not take long before the official final table was set. Of the nine finalists, there were six Frenchmen, two Moroccans, and a single Portuguese player. By the time there were only three survivors left at the table, all French players but one had gone together with Portugal’s contender. The three remaining survivors were led by Mohammed Lahlou from Morocco. At that point, Rami offered a three-way deal and it looked as if Lahlou was willing to discuss the opportunity. However, Arthur Conan, the only Frenchman left, declined to negotiate a deal and play continued.
Eventually, Conan was eliminated in 3rd place, thus setting an all-Moroccan final match. Heads-up play between Lahlou and Rami started with the latter holding the bigger portion of chips in play. The two players needed some time to battle it out. Rami had a very slight chip advantage at the time when the final hand in the tournament was played.
Lahlou raised to 500,000 pre-flop and Rami called. The [3d][2d][2s] appeared on the flop to see Rami check. Lahlou bet 650,000and Rami check-raised to 1.4 million. Lahlou moved all in for his last 4,910,000 and Rami called immediately, tabling [6c][2c] against his opponent’s [Jd][Jc]. The [6d] came on the turn making things even better for the eventual winner. The [Ah] that ran out on the river was of no help to Lahlou and he had to console himself with the MAD650,000 payout he received for his runner-up finish.
Arthur Conan was paid MAD450,000 for his 3rd place. Dimitri Sukhorukov from France took home MAD323,000 for finishing 4th. Alexandre Riccom from France again finished 5th for MAD248,000. Alexandre Andre Henri De Zutter, yet another Frenchman at the table, collected a payout of MAD198,000 for taking 6th place in the event.
Portugal’s Joao Pinto Correia finished 7th, good for MAD158,000. Mathieu Maroccini from France received MAD128,000 for his eight-place finish. Jean-Claude Guiot, yet again from France, took 9th place for MAD103,000.
The tournament attracted as many as 396 entries and generated a prize pool of MAD4,547,500 for the top 45 finishers. Played at Casino De Marrakech, the Main Event took place from September 29-October 2.
