Sanchez, Lewis Top Standings After Day 2, Manquant In Hunt For Second Title

Yori Epskamp

Level 22 : 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante

Romain Lewis, 1/5th Big Blind Short of the Chip Lead

The second day of the 2017 WSOP International Circuit Main Event in Casino de Marrakech is in the books! 23 out of 153 players survived a gruelling ten-hour day, which featured many miraculous rundowns and sudden twists and turns. At the end, it was Julio Sanchez of Spain who claimed the chip lead. Sanchez bagged 1,460,000 and edged out Romain Lewis by less than one big blind (1,456,000). Ricardo Manquant, who won the Main Event here in Marrakech two years ago, sits in third with 1,230,000.

Heading into the final day, the top 5 is as follows:

#	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Julio Sanchez	Spain	1,460,000
2	Romain Lewis	France	1,456,000
3	Ricardo Manquant	France	1,230,000
4	Teresio Ciancanelli	Italy	1,110,000
5	Jaouad Berrada	Morocco	1,006,000

The action on Day 2 started furiously right off the bat, with over 30 players busting in the first two hours. Clyde Tjauw Foe, Barny Boatman and Aurelie Quelain were among those who fell early. Selim Oulekki had a way better start and catapulted to the top of the standings in the first hour. Halfway through the day, a rivered one-outer set the French high staker back, but he managed to come back and finish the day in 7th place (837,000).

In the second two-hour block of the day, French soccer star Camel Meriem went down. He was joined by the likes of Samy Salah, Angelique Grasso and, surprisingly, end of Day 1 chipleader Alexandre Viard. Viard couldn't get anything going on the second day and lost all his chips before the money was reached.

Said El Yousfi was one of the last players to go home empty-handed. The 2016 WSOP Global Championship winner lost with pocket jacks against a king-high flush draw five spots before the money. His opponent, Roland Rozal, hit his flush on the turn to send El Yousfi to the rail. Sarah Herzali also finished just shy of the money when her pocket jacks lost out against the optional queen-five.

AFter a long bubble phase, it was Frederic Rizzo who ended up as the last player without a cash. Rizzo shoved ace-seven into ace-jack and couldn't catch up. After Rizzo's elimination, players quickly dropped like flies. Abdelhadi Kondah, Chris Da Silva and Alexandre Reard were among those to fall, with Reard's elimination being extra brutal. Holding pocket fours, Reard flopped a set of fours on a king-eight-four board against Arron Fletcher's ace-king. The board ran out eight-king to give Fletcher a bigger full house on the river. It was a massive pot, which helped Fletcher to eventually finish the day in 6th place with 878,000 in chips.

Seasoned pro's Fabrice Soulier and Jean Montury both finished just shy of Day 3. Soulier missed a flush draw against Sanchez' set of sevens, which proved to be one of the pivotal pots in Sanchez' eventual chip lead. Montury got it in drawing dead with king-nine against Manquant's king-ten on a board containing a king and a ten. Manquant, who is in the hunt for his second gold WSOP Circuit Ring after winning the inaugural edition two years ago, had a late surge on Day 2 that put him over the one million in chips mark.

The 23 remaining players will start their final day at 1 p.m. and levels will be 75 minutes for the remainder of the tournament. The winner at the end of the night will claim the massive first price of 1,400,000 MAD, the equivalent of �130,755. The blinds will start at 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000-ante. Follow all the excitement on PokerNews as we crown a new WSOP International Circuit Main Event winner on Sunday night.