Welcome to Day 1b of the 2020 WSOP Marrakech Main Event
Welcome to Day 1b of the WSOP Circuit Marrakech MAD 15,000 (�1,400) Main Event at the luxurious Casino de Marrakech, located in the heart of the luxurious Es Saadi Resort.
The Main Event kicked off yesterday with a bang with Day 1a attracting 227 entrants or 61 more than the 166 entrants that played on Day 1a the last time the WSOP Circuit visited Marrakech in June 2019.
A total of 61 players bagged chips into Day 2 with Morocco's Ayman Jarrar leading the way with a huge stack of 351,000 in chips. Also with a big stack was defending champion Phillip Huxley with 204,000 in chips.
Today features the first of two opening flights of the highlight of the festival, the WSOP Circuit Marrakech 15,000 (�1,400) Main Event where players start with 30,000 in chips and will be competing for 12 blind levels of 45 minutes each. Both flights allow for unlimited reentries during the first nine blind levels giving players plenty of opportunities to build a monster stack.
The field is expected to be even larger today than yesterday and will include many satellite players from the festival's online partner PMU.fr.
The structure is deeper for players that advance with 60-minute blind levels on Day 2 on Jan. 18 and 75-minute blind levels on the Final Day on Jan. 19.
Blind Structure
| Blind Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 100 | |
| 2 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 4 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
Former Champions
The WSOP Circuit has crowned seven Main Event champions in Marrakech since first visiting the city in 2015. One was awarded each year with the circuit coming to town twice last year when Huxley and Sonny Franco, who was also in action yesterday, claiming the coveted WSOP Circuit Main Event rings.
| Year | Entries | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 359 | Phillip Huxley | United Kingdom | �86,162 |
| 2019 | 544 | Sonny Franco | France | �140,140 |
| 2018 | 486 | Vladimir Shabalin | Russia | �118,182 |
| 2017 | 511 | Arron Fletcher | United Kingdom | �130,755 |
| 2016 | 446 | Mathieu Selides | France | �95,479 |
| 2015 | 484 | Ricardo Manquant | France | �122,330 |
The festival will award 10 gold rings with many other side events and satellites littering the schedule. Of course, there are cash games running around the clock as well.
Cards will be in the air at 1 p.m. CET. Stay tuned as PokerNews brings you the action of Day 1b of the 2020 WSOP Circuit Marrakech Main Event.