The Wonder 8 festival kicked off a few days ago on March 23th 2019 at the Casino de Marrakech in Morocco. Found in 1952 and part of the luxurious Es Saadi Marrakech Resort complex in the famous district of l’Hivernage, the Casino de Marrakech is one of the most popular casinos in the region and just a short flight away from Western Europe.
Among the highlights of the 9-day festival is the 15,000 MAD (Moroccan Dirham, ~€1,350) High Roller, followed by the 8,800 MAD (€800) Main Event tomorrow. The most-expensive tournament of the festival got underway on Wednesday, March 27th and attracted a field of 77 entries including 17 re-entries during the first 11 levels. Both numbers may change slightly still as the registration remains open at the start of Day 2 at 3 p.m. local time until the end of level 13, which means during the two first levels of the day.
Leading the field of 30 Day 1 survivors is Hassan Fares from France with 325,000 chips. With a total of $1,005,673 live tournaments earnings, including a 6th place finish at the Partouche Poker Tour II - Grand Final in Cannes and the victory of the 2010 Marrakech Poker Open, Fares will be a serious contender for final victory. He's followed by Pierre Zerbib (267,500), Drisse Maouchi (260,000) and Jose Luis (253,000).
Also through to Day 2 are Thierry Morel (118,500), Alexandre Andre Henri De Zutter (220,000), Mathieu Papineau (176,500), Henrique Oliveira de Sousa Pinho (107,00), winner of the WPTDS High Roller in Marrakech in 2018 and the Turbo Deepstack earlier this week, the Scottish Andrew John Leathem (96,500) and the young French pro Marius Conan in a short stack position (37,500) to name a few.
Among those who took part in the High Roller were such familiar names as the Spanish pro Javier Tsunamy, yesterday's winner of the Monster Stack for 125 000 MAD.
Registration stays open once the cards are back in the air for Day 2 for two levels and all new entries will receive 45,000 in chips, with a dealer bonus of 5,000 for 200 MAD, at blinds of 1,000-2,500 with a big blind ante format and 40-minute levels.
The PokerNews live reporting team will provide updates of the final day until a winner is crowned. The Main Event, with a single starting day, kicks off at 1 pm on Friday, March 29.
Tags:
Hassan FaresMarius ConanMathieu PapineauPierre ZerbibThierry Morel
in a three-way pot and with already more than 220,000 in the middle. 
and river 
and got eliminated from the tournament. Tavernier earned the big pot to climb around 325,000, while Voltolina said he folded 
.
appeared on the flop and Zerbib called another bet from Voltolina, this time for 25,000. 
and Voltolina checked. Zerbib looked at his stack and bet 50,000. It was enough to win the pot without more resistance from the Italian player.
