WPT Marrakech Goes to Local Player

Mohamed Ali Houssam bests the likes of Grospellier and Duhamel The past week was truly fantastic for Moroccan player Mohamed Ali Houssam who not only claimed the main prize at the Euro 3,000 World Poker Tour Marrakech final table and a $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship, but he also managed to outplay top names such as Bertrand Grospellier and WSOP champ Josh Duhamel in an entry field of 274 players.. To get to the main prize of almost Euro200,000, Houssam played cleverly and steadily, thus managing to stay in the top 15 players for most of the match. At a final table he held the chip lead and was followed by Josh Duhamel, Hassan Fares, Toufic Ourini, Maksim Martinov, Rodney Assous, Bertrand Grospellier and Arnaud Mattern. Even though he went short-stacked by the time play reached the three-handed stage, Houssam still managed to persist, regain the lead and clash his fellow local player Ourini in the heads-up. However, Toufic Ourini proved to be a tough nut to crack, so Houssam had to get out of the shell and play more aggressively, which was obviously a recipe for success in Ourini's case, who had to settle with the second placing prize of Euro 137,657.