French Tourist Wins €162,500 in Prestigious Marrakech Poker Tournament

An unforgettable stay in Marrakech for Jérôme Crantz and his friends. While they were spending a few days relaxing in the ochre city, the Besançon native decided to participate in this prestigious poker tournament. After four days of competition, this amateur player emerged victorious from the Winamax Sixmix and left with a prize of 162,500 euros. "I would never have imagined such a thing! At no point had I planned for this," exclaims this industrial designer by profession to Est Républicain. "The idea was to spend a week of tourism and relaxation in Morocco with four buddies, my partner, and one of her friends. And of course, to play a little poker. We hoped that one of us would get a good result, but to hope for a victory..."

The Besançon native confides that he was "super zen" during the competition, which allowed him to play his game without stress: "It’s quite incredible, but I never felt the pressure. I’m happy because I was able to play my game. Mentally, I felt super zen, I had the impression that nothing could touch me. But physically, it was hard, with marathon days." To stay focused for the final on Sunday, Jérôme preferred to stay sober the night before. "My friends partied the night before, but not me! It was the tournament of my life, sparkling water all the way, I wanted to stay focused," he details.

The amateur player assures he had a great experience. "It was the first time I was filmed. The hands were broadcast with a thirty-minute delay. We had to place our cards on sensors installed in the table. And no phones allowed." At the announcement of his victory, he and his four friends couldn’t believe it. "They supported me a lot. It was crazy. I didn’t really understand what was happening to me, everything happened so fast, the official photos, the administrative formalities for the winnings... They also reserved a VIP table for us in a nightclub." Jérôme and his friends could order champagne at will and his photo was on all the screens in the club.

The Besançon native won a prize of 162,500 euros. A gain he doesn’t intend to squander: "I’m not the type to splurge, I have my head on my shoulders. I’m going to set aside a small sum to play a few more tournaments, but I don’t plan to work hard on my poker like young people do today, to try to make a living from it. It will remain a side activity, a pleasure. We had started some work on the house, so this comes at a good time! We’ll also treat ourselves this summer with my wife and two children."