The first time I visited and reported on poker in Marrakech it was November 2025. I had wanted to complete my mission of playing all over the world. Africa was the last inhabited continent in which I had not played. So, the mountain came to Mohammed, so to speak. I visited and played poker at Casino de Marrakech. I won a tournament. I enjoyed myself enormously, touring the city thoroughly. I vowed to return.
Return I did, this time with my wife Debi, as guests of the affable and helpful casino assistant director, Paul Mateescu. We stayed for five days.
Tournament Poker in Marrakech: Updates
The poker room still operates every day of the week, opening at 6:00 PM for cash games, with tournaments starting at 6:30 (or a few minutes later at times). The once-a-day tournaments range in entry fees from about $25 to $80. If those stakes aren’t big enough for you, you can make sure to schedule your visit during one of the many poker festivals held at the Casino de Marrakech. There was a WSOP Circuit event held there in March. While we were leaving, the Marrakech Miniseries – boasting a $350 main event – was just getting started.
This time my tournament adventure was not nearly as profitable as my last time. I didn’t win or even cash. I feel like I played well, but busted out in 19th of 67 entries — after 9 levels of play. Hey, you can’t win them all!
Though I only played in the one poker tournament during my stay, I did check in on the room many times. I can report that the cash games, including $2/5 and $5/10 NLHE and $5/10 PLO were busy and vibrant through the morning – with the last players getting kicked out at 8:00AM when the room closed. Similarly, the nightly tournaments were always full – with all six tournament tables of nine active – and often with significant waiting lists of alternates, as mine had.
Though I wasn’t financially successful, I enjoyed my playing experience this trip – having made friends with a few players from Casablanca – the largest Moroccan city, located about a two-hour drive to the north east. There are no public poker rooms there; but I got a good lead on a private game I can check out when and if my travels take me Morocco’s biggest city (pictured below).
Non-Poker Adventures in Marrakech
Typically, when I travel, I search out great bargains — for eating and touring. Not this time. This time, traveling with my wife Debi, I wanted her to appreciate the full opulence of the resort and the full beauty of the surrounding countryside. So, we engaged in uncharacteristic (for me) high-end experiences – sampling all of the five restaurants of the resort, and taking a private tour of the Atlas Mountains.
A Culinary Delight
I can report that the restaurants all lived up to their extremely high recommendations. We had a sumptuous Italian meal at Othello; an unparalleled Moroccan dining experience at La Cour Des Lions, three fantastic dinners at the Es Saadi Hotel restaurant – “where a traditional French restaurant meets a Mediterranean-inspired table.” We were drawn there by its convenience, in the lobby of our hotel, but returned for the music by Louis, the gifted pianistwho played great jazz standards during each of our meals.
We also enjoyed great meals at the piano bar, the pool-side snack bar, and the restaurant inside the casino. In addition, each morning, we were treated to an elaborate complimentary breakfast/brunch buffet. All tallied, six great places to eat. With the exception of our day touring the Atlas Mountains, we did not dine off the premises during our entire four nights and five days in Marrakech. And we were never disappointed!
The Atlas Mountains & More
Aside from eating, we hired a driver/guide for a full day, taking us up into the Atlas Mountains. He stopped at a local shop, where the proprietor is also an artisan who oversees the local production of the many ceramic, silver, and beaded artwork sold on site. We stopped at a small cooperative manufacturing business, where they make products using the locally sourced spice, argan. They showed us how a cooperative of 30 or so women created a dozen or more product using this spice — which only grows in Morocco and in Turkey.
Our driver then released us into arms of a local guide who took us up to the waterfalls and then to his mother’s house for a delicious local meal: chicken tangine for me and vegetable tangine for my wife. We dined with our guide and his father. His mother came in to meet us as well, as children from the family and around the neighborhood paraded by, sneaking peeks at the exotic American guests as they did. We learned about the Berber culture, its language, alphabet, and history. It was a splendid time — something I would not have done had I been by myself. We returned after 7PM, exhausted but enthralled with our experience.
We’ve also done the typical touring through Marrakech — walking to and through the Medina with its snake charmers, monkeys, elaborate fruit juice displays; to a couple of museums, through some elaborate rug and spice stores, past tall mosques, through the beautiful gardens, the souks, the Jewish Cemetery, and the old enclosed Jewish neighborhood. It was an exceptional trip, leaving me eager to return once again. When I return, it will be for one of the major poker tournaments. I’m eager to do so before too long!
