Maksim Martinov Eliminated in 3rd Place (€81,130)

SO SICK! SO SICK! SO SICK!

The room may be full of French speaking people but the words so sick must be in the French vocabulary because everyone is chanting it in this room! We thought we had seen it all in this wonderful game but this takes the proverbial biscuit.

Maksim Martinov raises to 150,000 on the button and both Moroccans call in the blinds. The flop is [6s] [5c] [3s] and Toufik Ourini bets 300,000, Mohamed Ali Houssam folds and Martinov moves all-in. Ourini asks for a count and the feedback from the dealer is 950,000 and what happens next is dumbfounding. Ourini gestures to the audience as if to say I have had enough of this and calls the bet holding [Jh] [9c] for Jack high! Martinov is happily stunned because he is holding [6c] [3c] for two pair.

The sound in the audience rises as the dealer prepares to give us the turn card. It is the [5s] and amazingly Ourini now has a chance if he can hit a Jack or a Nine. The river is the [9h] and the place goes supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! A Moroccan flag is thrown over the head of a bouncing Ourini. Houssam is jumping and cheering and poor old Martinov just looks like he has been slapped across the face with a wet fish.

A great hand to remind us how vital luck is in this game of poker!

Heads up Chip Counts

Toufik Ourini – 4,167,000
Mohamed Ali Houssam – 4,053,000