A grand total of 70 entries took to the felt in the beautiful Casino de Marrakech during Day 1a of the 55th edition of Marrakech Poker Open MainEvent.
After twelve levels of play, 14 of them have found their path to Day 2 and are still in the running for the trophy. Claiming the chip lead for Day 1a is Franck Eburderie with a massive 423,000 in chips.
It was a slow start today with five players that were registered at the start of the event, and tournament's director decided to delay the shuffle up and deal for one more hour.
Many regulars of Marrakech events, including Sabry Ferhaoui (188,000), Kamal Jbirane (85,000) and Rosalie Petit (62,000) found a bag tonight and will be back Saturday at 1 p.m as the bubble approaches.
Member of 888poker Team Lucia Navarro, and French famous players Paul Tedeschi, Karim Lehoussine, Roger Tondeur and WSOP ring winner Cecile Ticherfatine also took a seat today but didn’t make it untill the end of the day.
Guillaume Darcourt, who just won the MPO Deepstack the day before for MAD 230 000 (€21,000), was constantly in the action over the course of the day but ended up busting during the last level not long after losing an important pot versus Nuno Correia.
Another notable also joined the field today but hit the rail, Stephane Albertini, who lost his last chips against Tondeur before the dinner break, followed not long after by Remi Castaignon who had his flush beat by the nut flush from Eburderie in a massive pot.
Play resumes tomorrow at 1 p.m for Day 1B of the Main Event, while the High Roller is still in action on the feature table with five players left, so stay tuned to PokerNews for a full new day of action and all the updates from the Marrakech Poker Open festival.
with two players involved. Guillaume Darcourt checked and faced a bet worth 36,500 from Nuno Correia, putting him into a decision. 
by Correia for two pair. 
was already dealt and with pot containing around 105,000 chips. 
for a lower flush before exiting the tournament's area and Petit told to the table she folded 
for the straight.
when Kamal Jbirane check-called a bet from El Mostafa Belkhayate for 20,000. 
was dealt on the turn and after another check from Jbirane, Belkhayate fired 50,000. Jbirane went deep into the tank. 
to the table with a smile.
, when Albertini shoved for 32,000 and Tondeur quickly called:
paired the board on the turn and Albertini still had hopes for a double up, but a 
hit the river, giving the straight to Tondeur who climbed to a stack over 100,000 chips.
on the turn. Jbirane took the lead with a bet of 1,100 and Moreno responded by raising it to 4,400. Both Brunel and Jbirane stayed in the pot. 
and Jbirane checked. Moreno sent 8,000 in the middle and both Brunel and Jbirane called, but mucked their hands when Moreno showed 
for the straight.,
.
