This November, the World Poker Tour (WPT) will once again head to the historic and picturesque city of Marrakech, Morocco, for its second ever poker tournament in the North African region.
For this year’s version, co-sponsors Chili Poker and the WPT have teamed up to make the stop at the Casino de Marrakech a full-blown festival for poker players. The event will begin on November 20th with a €500 Deep Stack event. According to Chili Poker, professionals who will be on hand for the Deep Stack tournament include Chili Poker sponsored pro Liz Lieu, Irish poker professional Andy Black, and European Poker Tour (EPT) champions Sandra Naujoks and Liv Boeree.
The Main Event of the 2010 WPT Marrakech will be the €5,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em tournament that will begin on November 27th, with the champion crowned three days later. As an official WPT event, the victor will not only walk away with the Marrakech championship and first place bounty, but they will also earn the bracelet awarded to all WPT champions and a $25,000 seat to the 2011 Championship event at the Bellagio in April.
The 2009 version of the tournament was highly successful for the WPT, drawing a global field of 416 players from 32 different countries. The 2009 WPT Marrakech tournament, which Chili Poker and the WPT also collaborated on, was the first major poker tournament held in North Africa. The tournament featured such standout players as the aforementioned Lieu, former Main Event champion Huck Seed, and inaugural World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champ Annette Obrestad. Christophe Savary defeated a final table that included such top players as Ludovic Lacay and Eoghan O’Dea to win the €379,014 first prize.
WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage will be on hand for the second year running to oversee the activities on the felt. “WPT Marrakech takes place in an amazing setting and, if last year is anything to go by, you can expect a loose, aggressive field,” said Savage during the announcement of this year’s event. “Casino de Marrakech is world renowned for its hospitality and WPT players can look forward to an experience unlike any other.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, Chief Executive Officer of Chili Poker, glowed about the locale of Marrakech along with the poker at hand. “Marrakech is a magic and relaxing place, so we are delighted to be bringing the WPT back to this mystical town in November,” Dreyfus commented. “We were so encouraged by turnout last year as well as the flawless organization and competitive hotel rates that, in 2010, we have built the Chili Poker Marrakech Festival around the prestigious WPT event.” Satellite tournaments for WPT Marrakech are currently running on Chili Poker and its French subsidiary, ChiliPoker.fr.
The WPT has been putting the “world” back in its name over the past couple of years after becoming almost exclusively U.S.-based. Earlier this year, the WPT held officially sanctioned events in Paris at the Aviation Club, the WPT Spanish Championship in Barcelona, and its most recent event in London, which was won by Jake Cody. Prior to the start of festivities in Marrakech, the WPT will make a stop in Amneville, France and finish its non-U.S. schedule come 2011 with a tournament in Vienna, Austria from March 24th through 28th.