Christophe Savary Crowned WPT Marrakesh Champion 2009

Frenchman Christophe Savary has beaten a field of 416 players over three days to win the WPT Marrakesh and take home €377,262 in prize money. The €4,500 no-limit hold’em tournament saw 17 players return on the last day of the event and 5 hours later six players had taken their seats at the final table.
Savary was sitting comfortably as 2nd chip leader as play got underway, and cleverly sat back as the small stacks went for each other’s throats. Spindler was the first to exit after his pre-flop shove with K 4 was called by chip leader Lacey holding A 8. An hour later it was Adrian Marin’s turn to go  when his pre-flop all-in with A 5 was met by Savary’s pocket 7’s. Fourth place and €105,077 went to Julien Arneodo after his A 6 was trumped by Lacay’s A 5 on a board which read K-3-3-5-7.
Third place was an all-in pre-flop affair with Lacay’s Kd Jd up against Savary’s Ad 10d. Despite both players hitting their diamond flush on the turn when the board fell 9d 8h 2d 7d 2h, it was the most recognisable player remaining who exited in third spot and took home €164,182 worth of prize money.
Heads-up play started with Savary on 5,060,000 chips against O’Dea on 3,260,000. The final confrontation took just 30 minutes to conclude when Savary with 8c 7c raised 160,000 from the button and was reraised to 420,000 by O’Dea holding A 3. The action was always assured after the flop of Ad 9s 6d gave both players a piece of the action and it wasn’t long before all the chips were in the middle of the table after Savary’s shove was called. A 10c on the turn followed by a Qc on the river improved the Frenchman’s hand to a straight and handed him vicory in Morocco.
O’Dea collected €262,446 for his second place finish while Savary earned his first major tournament win and €377,262 as the champion. Savary is now only the fourth Frenchman to win a WPT title joining seasoned pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, David Benyamine and Thomas Bichon.