Mohamed Ali Houssam Wins WPT Marrakech 2011

Mohamed Ali Houssam has just won the WPT Marrakech, after overcoming a field of 246 players over four days to secure the title, and collect the $267,011 first place prize.
The €3,000 WPT event was held at the Casino Es Saadi in Morocco’s second largest city, which is situated near the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.
Moroccan player Mohamed Ali Houssam lead the field after Day 1 and remained near the top flight, even entering the final table of nine as the chip leader. In total there were two Moroccans at the final table in addition to five French players, as well as a Latvian and a Canadian.
Amongst the big names at the final table were Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, who finished 8th for €25,400 ($33,990), with Jonathan Duhamel, too, hitting the rail early in 7th for €27,975 ($37,433).
Mohamed Ali Houssam (J-J) then eliminated Rodney Assous (A-K) in 6th (France) for €34,192, while Hassan Fares (France) then became the next player to fall in 5th (€42,185) holding pocket fives to Toufik Ourini’s K-10.
Maxsims Martinovs (Latvia) then eliminated Arnaud Mattern of France in 4th (€57,727), before being dispatched himself by Toufik Ourini in 3rd (€88,811), thus heralding-in the heads-up phase of the competition.
The all-Moroccan affair started off pretty even in chips eventually reaching its conclusion forty minutes later when Mohamed Ali Houssam was dealt 8-8 to Toufik Ourini’s K-J.
Houssam limped in from the button and both players saw and checked the K-8-3 flop. The Q turn then had Toufik Ourini betting out before subsequently re-raising his opponent all-in only to discover the bad news.
Toufik Ourini collected €137,657 ($184,226) for his runner-up finish while Mohamed Ali Houssam was crowned the 2011 WPT Marrakech Champion The Moroccan pro has now earned $341,260 playing live since cashing-in at his first tournament back in November 2010.