Hugo Larachiche Dominates Final Table to Win the Winamax SISMIX Main Event (1,000,000 MAD)
The third and final day of the record-breaking 2017 Winamax SISMIX Main Event saw 18 survivors out of a 1,078 strong field return to the tables in the palace building of the Casino de Marrakech. Play was resumed just after 1 pm local time, and shortly before midnight, France's Hugo Larachiche emerged victorious after utterly dominating the final table, knocking out four players within 90 minutes of play and ultimately defeating Japan's Kazuma Fujiyama in a quick heads up encounter of just seven hands.
It was the fourth time the Winamax SISMIX set sail at the beautiful Es Saadi Resort in Marrakech and the first time to break the bar of 1,000 runners. When Davidi Kitai won the inaugural SISMIX Main Event three years ago for 630,000 MAD, the tournament had 670 entries, and last year's edition saw another Winamax Team Pro, Bruno Lopes, best a field of 901 entries. This year's runners created a prize pool of a staggering 5,627,200 MAD (€497,982), and thus the biggest first prize ever of a cool one million dirham equaling more than €88,000.
Final Result 2017 6,000 MAD Winamax SISMIX Main Event
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (MAD) | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hugo Larachiche | France | 1,000,000 | 88,496 |
| 2 | Kazuma Fujiyama | Japan | 720,000 | 63,717 |
| 3 | Hector Gonzales | Spain | 500,000 | 44,248 |
| 4 | [Removed:445] | Morocco | 350,000 | 30,973 |
| 5 | Paul Guichard | France | 250,000 | 22,124 |
| 6 | Rakesh Lalwani | India | 175,000 | 15,487 |
| 7 | Florent Vaz Martin | France | 130,000 | 11,504 |
The start of Day 3 quickly saw the 18 player field dwindle to two tables within the first few hours of play. The eliminations kept coming at a blistering pace, and it took less than four levels of play before the final table was set. That happened with the elimination of a short stacked Ivan Deyra, who's ace-four could not best the jack-deuce of Hugo Larachiche.
Five of the seven final table players started relatively equal in chips, with Spaniard Hector Gonzales narrowly holding the chiplead over Kazuma Fujiyama. Frenchman Florent Vaz Martin came in with the shortest stack of 15 big blinds, and he was also the first one out as he ran queen-jack into the ace-king of Paul Guichard, who would continue to river quads.
The next to hit the rail was Rakesh Lalwani. The Indian shoved his last 1,1 million chips to the middle holding ace-five but Kazuma Fujiyama woke up behind him with a pair of jacks, and they held up to score the knockout of Lalwani.
The former EPT Deauville runner-up Paul Guichard was eliminated shortly after at the hands of Hugo Larachiche, and that kickstarted Larachiche's steamroll of the final table. Just a few hands later he knocked out local player [Removed:445] in fourth place to hold more than 80 percent of the chips and play.
With three players left, Hector Gonzales and Kazuma Fujiyama were both desperately trying to stay in contention for the trophy, but Larachiche was unstoppable. In the end, it was former chip leader Gonzales who would miss out on the heads-up duel, as his ace-ten fell short to Larachiches king-jack.
With an overwhelming 9-to-1 chiplead the Frenchman was in pole position to take the trophy, and the heads-up lasted no more than ten hands before Larachiche was crowned the winner. In the final hand of the day, Larachiche limped the button and instantly called the shove of his Japanese opponent. Larachiche' ace-queen suited was dominating the ace-deuce of Fujiyama, and this time the best hand held up as Larachiche clinched the victory, the trophy, and the 1,000,000 Moroccan dirham first prize.
That marks the end of the PokerNews live reporting of the record-breaking 2017 Winamax SISMIX Main Event at the Casino de Marrakech, but make sure to check back in regularly for updates from tournaments all over the world.
All photos from the 2017 SISMIX courtesy of Winamax and photographer Caroline Darcourt