Reda Achnit had never played a live poker tournament before arriving in South Korea. Now the 24-year-old Moroccan freeroll qualifier is sitting among the leaders of a $25,000 Triton Poker event, competing against players he previously watched from home on YouTube.
At the latest chip count, Achnit had 764,000 chips, enough for seventh place among the 63 remaining players. Phil Ivey was immediately behind him with 746,000.
It is already one of the most remarkable stories of Triton Jeju II.
From Micro-Stakes Poker to a $25,000 Triton Seat
Achnit’s route to Jeju began thousands of miles away in Morocco.
The computer engineering graduate was watching a Triton stream from his parents’ home when he heard about a CoinPoker promotion offering players the opportunity to qualify for Jeju through a freeroll. Achnit had previously played predominantly micro-stakes poker online, but decided to open an account and enter.
He progressed through the satellites and eventually became the last player standing.
The prize was extraordinary for someone with his poker background: travel to South Korea and entry into a $25,000 Triton Super High Roller Series tournament.
Speaking to Triton Poker about the moment he qualified, Achnit said:
“It was one of the biggest moments of my life, and it happened in complete silence.”
There was another extraordinary detail still to come. Achnit had never previously played live poker and, according to Triton, had never even been on a plane.
His first flight would take him from Morocco to Jeju, where his first live tournament would put him across the table from some of the best high-stakes poker players in the world.
Reda Achnit Wasn’t Going to Jeju for a Photo
Achnit made it clear before playing that he did not see the prize simply as a free holiday.
He told Triton that he was treating Jeju as a “professional opportunity” and wanted to reach the money at a minimum. He also acknowledged the enormous gap in experience between himself and the players he would be facing, revealing that he had only been playing poker seriously for around three months.
That difference in experience could hardly be illustrated more clearly by the company he encountered.
Achnit has already found himself competing with established high-stakes players including Stephen Chidwick, Eelis Parssinen and Mike Watson. Elsewhere in the field are many more of the names that have made Triton one of poker’s toughest tournament series.
Yet Achnit has done considerably more than simply survive.
Achnit Climbs Into Triton Jeju Top 10
With 63 players remaining from a field of 131 at the latest count, Achnit had climbed to seventh with 764,000 chips, equivalent to 64 big blinds.
Latest $25K Chip Leaders
| Rank | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seth Davies | 1,591,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Brandon Wilson | 1,253,000 | 104 |
| 3 | Jesse Lonis | 1,143,000 | 95 |
| 4 | Sasaki Yoko | 973,000 | 81 |
| 5 | Alex Anton | 784,000 | 65 |
| 6 | Daniel Rezaei | 767,000 | 64 |
| 7 | Reda Achnit | 764,000 | 64 |
| 8 | Phil Ivey | 746,000 | 62 |
| 9 | Philip Sternheimer | 725,000 | 60 |
| 10 | Ander Vallinas | 687,000 | 57 |
Only 23 players are due to make the money, so there remains a long way to go. Nevertheless, sitting ahead of Ivey on a Triton leaderboard is a remarkable position for a player whose poker experience until now consisted largely of micro-stakes games played from home.
Achnit’s run also adds another Moroccan storyline to a festival that has already produced one.
Mehdi Chaoui finished fourth for $292,000 in the $20,000 event won by Klemens Roiter, and Achnit credits his fellow Moroccan with helping inspire the journey that eventually brought him to Jeju. He told Triton that seeing somebody from his own country competing on the tour was originally what encouraged him to start watching.
“I found out about Triton because a Moroccan was playing there,” Achnit explained. “A man I’d never met changed the direction of my life without knowing I existed.”
Now Achnit has an opportunity to do something similar for somebody watching him.
The freeroll is long finished. Reda Achnit is now playing a $25,000 tournament against poker’s elite, and with a top-10 stack deep into Day 1, the trip of a lifetime could yet become something much bigger.
