Coverage of the WSOP Circuit Marrakech 2025 – The professional circuit & coverages

A legend, in his own way

Day 1A of the Opener continues, and as midnight approaches, the pressure begins to build around the tables. I see on the board that there is still 39 players in the race for only 33 ITMand that Javier Tsunamy is for example one of the last exits from this tournament.

But if the news of Javier’s elimination is very anecdotal, what he came to tell me a little earlier today is much less so, as you will see: “Steven, I have to introduce you to someone. I think you’ll be interested. It’s about Dominick French.”

Cool story coming? In truth, I was very scared… but I was totally wrong, I have to admit. You should always let yourself be carried away by the Tsunamy, it is very reliable!

But who is this famous Dominick French? This is quite simply the record holder for the number of ITMs in different countries all time, and in particular in 2024. He obtained ITMs in… 48 different countries, in 2024 alone! Hello !!!

Wait, wait… go ahead, I’ll give you a few moments to realize the crazy thing anyway.

There are 52 weeks in a calendar year, I’ll let you continue to imagine the crazy pace you have to put yourself through to achieve this performance. Go to a country, find a poker tournament, do ITM, take a plane again, move on elsewhere, start again, again and again… “I left my home in Canada last September. I haven’t been back since.” He’s not a poker player I met, he’s a mutant from another galaxy, ready to make the pace of life of a professional card player ridiculous.

“It all started with Timothy Adams”m’expliquait Dominick French, “he held the record in Canada, with 22 cashes in 22 different countries, and I said to myself that it would be interesting to go and challenge this record. One day, I obtained a 23rd flag, and I then wondered what to do… so, I took the option to continue to raise this record ever higher, and now I am in 58 different countries in my life, and 48 for the year 2024 alone!”

Dominik has more than $650,000 in career winnings, with his maximum cash at less than $40,000, in a near random 74th place on a WPT in. 2008. This guy is crazy, he goes through tournaments at an incredible speed, at a totally frantic pace, even with tournaments each more tired than the last.

But the record seems all the crazier, as we are talking about a retired person, who is therefore far from his 20 years and his maximum physical form. Nevertheless, Dominick is indeed standing on his own two legs, for the moment.

By completing this long journey, he also took the opportunity to achieve another completely crazy record, which will earn him a few lines in the next Guiness Book of Records, just that: “In just seven days, I have cash on three different continents. It had never been done before.”. You amaze me!

I have seen a lot of crazy things in this industry, a lot of stars, a lot of victories, I personally know Dominique Terzian, the FR record holder with his 476 ITM lifetime… but I never thought I would one day meet a player with 58 different flags on his Hendon Mob.

I think one of the craziest things about all this is that it’s missing the flag… of Morocco! It seems completely lunar, to us, regulars of the place, that he did not think to mark a day, a date right here, in his mentally ill calendar, but it is nonetheless true: “I won’t be playing in the Main Event of these WSOPC Marrakech, but I spotted a nice little PLO tournament, I’m planning to take the flag on this one!”

How far can he go, seriously? The world is big, but there may be limits: “I think that after Morocco, it is possible that I will return to Canada, home. And from there, I don’t yet know if I will have the strength to continue such a crazy year. But what a journey to get to this point… I’m not a little proud.”

Records are made to be broken, I agree with you, but now, I am in a hurry and very curious to meet the one who will erase it from the shelves one day.

Amended 2 hours ago by veunstyle