German Takes World Poker Tour In Marrakech

The classical Casino de Marrakech was the location for the latest round of the World Poker Tour (WPT). This marvellous venue, with its traditional 1950s façade that has been completely renovated, proved a popular attraction. 

There were 222 entrants who ponied up in Morocco for the 2,500 buy-in WPT event, and Germany’s Sebastian Homann won through the field to take away the €254,746 first prize. Homann’s personal poker income before the competition included cashing in at six other competitions, but this time he made his intentions clear by becoming the chip leader at the end of day 1a and maintained the pressure throughout the tournament. 

By the time the tables had been whittled down during heads up, it was the inexperienced Frenchman Guillaume Cescut who was staring down a 2-1 chip disadvantage. It took the German only 40 minutes to make his lead count and take down the latest final. The deciding hand saw Homann produce a top pair, with the table showing J-4-3-K-3 to win the title. 

Organisers were a little disappointed at the low turn out, which was 50% less than last year, but with competition from the EPT across the Mediterranean in Barcelona this was always a possibility. The final table ran out with Homann (254,746) in first, Cescut (135,831) second and Sebastien Compte (90,554) in third. Felix Obernauer (72,439) came in fourth and Guillaume de la Gorce (54,334) was fifth. The last four finishers on the final table were Dominik Nitsche (36,220), Johan Williamsson (28,977), Julien Labussiere (25,356) and Patrik Muleta (19,920).