The WPT National, known to be WPT’s international poker tour with stops in different exciting destinations throughout the season, is currently guest to two such destinations – Casino De Marrakech in Marrakech and Holland Casino Valkenburg in the Netherlands. Although both festivals are equally worthy to be paid attention to, this particular article is focused on action in Casino De Marrakech where the PMU.fr WPT National Marrakech MAD20,000 High Roller has just been completed.
Spanish player Nabil Cardoso topped the event’s field to take home MAD650,000 and the tournament trophy. Cardoso emerged victorious over a field of 146 entries to scoop his career first major poker title.
Including the winner, who understandably took the biggest share of the prize pool, the best 17 performers left the tournament with a payout, min-cashes starting from MAD35,000. Here it is important to note that the overall prize pool amounted to MAD2,540,000.
The High Roller Event was played over two days. Day 1 was completed with 40 survivors. They were joined by 6 other players who had decided to re-enter the tournament before Day 2 kicked off. And it was quite a long second day of play. It took more than 12 hours for the 46-player field to be whittled down to a single winner.
The final table of nine was set with PMU pro Sarah Herzali, French player Bernard Guigon, and Portuguese poker pro Henrique Pinho being the headliners. Eventually, Cardoso faced Soufiane Ouadoudy from Morocco heads-up, after several hours of final-table play.
On the very last hand in play, Cardoso moved all-in and Ouadoudy called for his last 1,345,000. Cardoso tabled [3s][3h] against his opponent’s [Ad][3c]. The board ran out [6d][6h][8h][6s][7s] securing Cardoso with a full house and the title. Ouadoudy left the tournament as the runner-up and with a consolation prize of MAD450,000.
Cardoso has cashed in five events over the span of his career, including last night’s in-the-money finish. Last year, the player finished 8th in the EPT Season 12 Malta €5,300 Main Event for his biggest live cash so far. His live tournament winnings now amount to more than $150,000.
Henrique Pinho from Portugal finished 3rd in the MAD20,000 High Roller for MAD315,000. Anas Tadini from Morocco took 4th place in the event for MAD230,000. Sarah Herzali from France collected MAD170,000 for her fifth-place finish. Mathieu Selides from Egypt took home MAD130,000 for taking 6th place. Gabriel Ergen from Belgium finished 7th, good for MAD100,000. Frenchman Bernard Guigon scooped MAD80,000 of the entire prize pool for taking 8th place. Joseph Pineiro, yet another French player at the final table, took MAD65,000 for his ninth-place finish.
