From a starting field of 861, there remains just one champion of the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech. After three long days of play, Nicolas Barkusky reigns victorious at the Casino de Marrakech.
He takes home the first place prize of 705,000 MAD, equivalent to just over €65,000. Barkusky came into the day with a middling stack but he was short for the majority of the day. He came into the final table with just 16 big blinds. He picked his spots and stayed patient throughout the final table as other players busted. Eventually, he found a few clutch double-ups and rode that momentum all the way to the title.
In a day that started a 1 p.m. and ended at 4 a.m., Barkusky was the one hoisting the belt at the end of the night.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in MAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicolas Barkusky | France | 705,000 |
| 2 | Saul | Portugal | 490,000 |
| 3 | Lucien Cohen | France | 350,000 |
| 4 | Nizar Comaty | Canada | 300,000 |
| 5 | Joan Crespi | Spain | 205,000 |
| 6 | Henning Wendlandt | Germany | 155,000 |
| 7 | Daragh Davey | Ireland | 115,000 |
| 8 | Orey Canarinho | Spain | 89,000 |
| 9 | Soner Vanelderen | Belgium | 72,000 |
Day 3 began with 27 players, but the eliminations came quick and within a couple of hours the tournament was down to two tables.
With the elimination of Belmehdi in 10th place, the stage was set for the final nine on the beautiful TV feature table at Casino De Marrakech. Joan Crespi came into the final table with the chip lead, holding almost 30% of the chips on the table.
Play was tight at the beginning of play, and it would take over an hour until the first elimination. Soner Vanelderen was the first to fall in ninth place. He would jam his last eight big blinds with king-two only to run into the ace-king of Nizar Comaty and he did not improve.
The next casualty in eighth place was Orey Canarinho. He jammed 15 big blinds from the small blind with ace-four and was called by the pocket fives of 2023 EPT Barcelona champion Lucien Cohen in the big blind. Canarinho would flop an ace to take the lead, but Cohen went runner-runner flush to make the winner and send Canarinho to the payout cage in brutal fashion.
Shortly after, Daragh Davey’s run ended in seventh place. He slowly blinded down and eventually jammed his king-five suited from the hijack. Next to act, Saul woke up with pocket tens and rejammed. The runout was no help to Davey as he hit the rail.
The next to fall was the chip leader entering Day 3 Henning Wendlandt. He woke up with ace-king in the small blind off of 10 big blinds and jammed over an open by Nizar Comaty who called with pocket jacks. Comedy would flop top set and Wendlandt was dead on the turn as his day finished in sixth place.
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In fifth place was Joan Crespi. In a three-way pot, Crespi would flop bottom set. After a series of raises, he was all-in against the pocket kings of Nicolas Barkusky. He was in great shape to find a double, but Barkusky went runner-runner spade to make a flush and eliminate Crespi in dramatic fashion.
The final four were quite even in chips and continued to play for 30 minutes. However, on the next break, a deal was discussed between the players. They decided to make a small change to the payout structure and it was flattened to give more money to fourth place and less to first. However, there was still much to play for as the change was minor.
Four-handed play would continue for over two and a half hours before another elimination. The next to go was Nizar Comaty. He was decimated in a pot against Cohen after he flopped two pair. Cohen went runner-runner to make a better two pair to win a massive pot. Comaty was forced all-in from the small blind the following hand and was eliminated in fourth.
Three handed play was full of swings. Cohen held the chip lead but he doubled up Barkusky twice. Shortly after, he would be eliminated in third place. Cohen jammed with sixes over Barkusky’s button open only for him to wake up with kings. Barkusky held to send the EPT Champion Cohen to the rail in third place.
Barkusky came into heads-up play against Saul with a slight advantage. He would go on to win many of the early pots and take a four-one advantage within 15 minutes. After several all-ins each direction with no calls, the chips finally found their way into the middle. Barkusky limped the small blind with ace-jack suited before Saul jammed ten-nine suited and Barkusky snapped it off. Saul was drawing dead on the turn as the crowd cheered for the new champion.
That does it for our coverage here at PokerNewsfor the 2024 Unibet Deepstack Open Marrakech. Stay tuned as we bring you all the action from poker tournaments around the world.
