It was a bit of a slow week as far as big money goes, but yours truly has searched far and wide for as much tournament action as you can stomach in this week\’s report.
WPT Marrakech (Marrakech, Morocco)
Coming to a conclusion just after last week\’s report hit the \”presses\”, the main event at the WPT Marrakech managed to pull in quite a few big names, including Carlos Mortensen, David Benyamine and Bertrand \”ElkY\” Grospellier. No one in this group managed to make much of an impact, and in fact there were very few names that would recognizable for American poker fans.
What the final table of WPT Marrakech did have was the French version of this year\’s WSOP Main Event final table. Instead of a handful of Joes they had a pair of Guillame\’s as well as a Sebastien and a Sebastian, the latter holding the chip lead entering eight-handed play. Sebastian Homann never relinquished his top position, dominating the final table on the way to a win and €244,508. [Bluff]
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Just 54 of the 439 players who entered the main event of the WPT Five Diamond World Poker classic have survived through Day 3. A venerable murderer\’s row of pros are still vying for this title, including Doyle Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Vanessa Rousso and The Chainsaw Himself, who bagged just enough chips to come into Day 4 in 53rd of 54. No word on whether or not his lobbying of Matt Savage to reset blinds and antes has been effective, but we\’ll keep you posted as news comes in. Antonio Esfandiari is the chip leader, and the only player to eclipse the 1 million chip mark. Creeping up behind him in second place is the infamous Doug Lee.
Speaking of Lee, he recently did a lengthy interview with Marco of QuadJacks that should not be missed. This four-part opus delves into many of the controversies involving and having been linked to Lee over the last couple of years.
Earlier action in the prelims at the Five Diamond saw Tom Marchese take down a $1,000 rebuy event in his push for various Player of the Year awards, while in a result that would shock nobody if they had stopped watching tournament poker on TV in 2005, Josh Arieh flexed his Omaha skills in winning a slim field of 22 in a Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys event. [WPT Live Updates]
UKIPT Galway (Galway, Ireland)
Heavy snow in Ireland actually managed to delay this event by one day, but apparently not even Mother Nature could stop Nick Abou Risk from becoming a two-time winner on the UKIPT and €67,100 richer. The bigger story may have been local amateur Trish Mallin continuing the \”Year of the Woman\”, putting up quite a run before ultimately finishing in second. [PokerStars Blog]
WSOPC Harrah\’s Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
One of the \”Big 4\” Regional Championship locations on the redesigned WSOP Circuit, Harrah\’s Atlantic City started preliminary action on Saturday, with 1,250 players signing up for the $350 event, a Harrah\’s AC record. One of those involved was your fearless author, who managed the impressive feat of winning just one pot in the first four 30 minute levels of play. The aptly named Christopher Rivers had a bit more success, taking down the circuit ring and $65,000 for his troubles. [WSOP]