Big Names Alive at World Poker Tour Marrakech

The World Poker Tour Marrakech may not be one of the most glamorous stops on the poker circuit, but it might deliver one of the year’s most talented final tables. Just nine players remain at the €3,000 Main Event, including several big names hoping to make it to the official six-player final table.

However, before talking about the big names, we should talk about the chip leader – local player Mohamed Ali Houssam, who has built a stack of over 1.3 million chips in order to have the chip lead late in the tournament. He is one of two Moroccan players in the top three, as Hassan Fares is sitting in third place with just above 1.1 million in chips.

These two locals will have their work cut out for them, though, as they’ll have to face off against some of the world’s best players in the final stretches of the tournament. WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel is sitting in second places with over 1.1 million in chips, and looks to be in great position to contend for another major title. Also in the hunt is Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who holds 904,000 in chips, good for 6^th place.

Perhaps lesser known – but just as talented – is French pro Arnaud Mattern, who has over $2 million in live tournament earnings.  He sits in 5^th place with 952,000.

The entire final table is rather tightly packed, with even the 8^th placed player – Maksim Martinov – having about half of the chip leader’s stack. Only 9^th place Sebastien Ta is truly short stacked, holding just 282,000 chips.

Heading into the final table, each player was guaranteed to win at least €21,161 (about $28,000), while the winner will ultimately take home €201,700 (about $268,400). The official chip counts going into the final nine are as follows:

Mohamed Ali Houssam - 1,330,000

Jonathan Duhamel - 1,126,000

Hassan Fares - 1,110,000

Toufil Ourini - 1,054,000

Arnaud Mattern - 952,000

Bertrand Grospellier - 904,000

Rodney Assous - 813,000

Maksim Martinov - 646,000

Sebastien Ta - 282,000