With 156 players in the field so far, there are bound to be some familiar faces. From the very first round on the tournament floor, there's been two Winamax Team Pro sightings: Nicolas Torossian and Aladin Reskallah.
The latter is off to a great start, after being called down by opponent Houssine El Otmani on a board of . Reskallah check-raised the flop from 500 to 1,500, bet 2,500 on the turn and a massive 10,000 on the river. Otmani called rather quickly, but couldn't quite beat the of his opponent.
Besides, there's a number of repeats from yesterday, with Rakesh Lalwani being one of them. The Indian were in for two bullets during day 1a but wouldn't end up bagging anything at the end of the night. Lalwani looks fit for fight, though, and is ready for another long day of poker at Casino de Marrakech.
Timothee Scotti is another familiar face in the crowd, as he was is in action last night as well, but things didn't end up going his way. He's back at it today, but haven't quite gotten the start, that he was hoping for.
In the very first hand of the day, he made trip queens on a board with , but they were outkicked by the of his opponent Raphael Cudina holding .
The tournament staff at Casino de Marrakech is just giving the players a few final messages before cards will be in the air.
So far 117 players have registered for the second start of this Winamax SISMIX Main Event, which is exactly 50 players more than were seated when Day 1a commenced, and more players are signing up by the minute. It could be a big one, stay tuned!
In a couple of hours from now, the second of three starting days of the 2017 Winamax SISMIX Main Event gets underway as of midday local time at Casino de Marrakech. Yesterday's heat drew an impressive field of 217 entries, exceeding expectations and making it the biggest SISMIX Day 1a in numerous years. 46 of those players succeeded in bagging up chips by the end of the night and will be back by the felt Saturday to continue their run for the title, but for those who didn't, today is another opportunity to secure advancement.
For the buy-in of 6,000 Moroccan Dirham (€550) participants will receive a starting stack of 50,000 chips; good for 250 big blinds during the first level. The three starting days will feature 13 levels of 40 minutes each, with late registration being open until the completion of level 10. For players busting, a single re-entry will be allowed during the first ten levels as well.
Day 1 Blind Structure
Level
Ante
Small Blind
Big Blind
1
25
100
200
2
25
150
300
3
50
200
400
4
75
250
500
5
100
300
600
6
100
400
800
7
100
500
1,000
8
200
600
1,200
9
200
800
1,600
10
300
1,000
2,000
11
400
1,200
2,400
12
500
1,500
3,000
13
500
2,000
4,000
The chipleader thus far, Jerome Sgorrano, is a former champion of this event, as the Belgian rose to the top in the 2015 edition and got 700,000 Dirham (€64,300) for his victory. By amassing a stack of 550,500 chips, more than 11 times the starting stack, Sgorrano is now in pole position to make another deep run at Casino de Marrakech. Close behind follows local player Daniel Cervan with 523,500, while former WPT National Belgium-finalist Quentin Roussey comes in third (504,000). They will be the crowd to catch for today's fighters of the felt.
For those already through Winamax offers plenty of options for entertainment today. For those craving some time out of the tournament area, it is Urban Sounds night by the Es Saadi Resort pool, while the yearly Winamax Beer Pong Open will kick off at 10 pm. For those who are up for a game of poker, there will be a 2,000 MAD (€185) progressive bounty tournament starting at 5 pm, while the night owls are invited to join the 1,500 MAD (€138) Iron Main Side Event by 9 pm.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor at Casino de Marrakech to provide updates for the entirety of the Main Event: From the very first Shuffle up and deal to the very last river card is dealt Sunday night.
. Reskallah check-raised the flop from 500 to 1,500, bet 2,500 on the turn and a massive 10,000 on the river. Otmani called rather quickly, but couldn't quite beat the 
of his opponent.
board with 
, but they were outkicked by the 
of his opponent Raphael Cudina holding 
