Gambling Today

Beneath the stage of the $50K HORSE final yesterday was the $2K no limit hold’em event, smaller in stature perhaps but no less significant in terms of there being a bracelet at stake. It featured among others PokerStars sponsored player Kirill Gerasimov but also Alexandre Gomes, the first ever Brazilian winner.

Naturally the Brazilians in town went nuts and the drinks and celebrations began the moment photos had been taken and the cash bagged. The cheering then moved from the Amazon Room, out into the hallways and to the bars.

Part of that celebratory crowd was Team PokerStars Pro and native Brazilian Andre Akkari, who as a professional could appreciate just how much of a momentous occasion this was.

Andre Akkari

But unlike his compatriots it was not the late night you’d expect for Andre, who plays today in the $1,500 no limit hold’em. Instead, he went for dinner to toast the victory and then headed back to the hotel to be with his wife and two children for some vital R&R before playing today. And there was I thinking the dark glasses were to hide the effects of the night before.

It’s something that has changed his game this year, having his family close by, making the World Series less of an ordeal. Seven weeks is long enough, but spending those away from your nearest and dearest can make a long day even worse. So with them back at the hotel and there for him when the cards turn nasty, the whole experience has been more positive.

Akkari’s introduction to poker is a story of modest legend. Working on a software project in his native Brazil he began playing online poker as part of the research for the job. He then took advantage of the freerolls on PokerStars, soon winning them, and before too long was playing cash games with similar results – without ever having made a deposit.

Andre has the full poker player’s gear – the cap, sunglasses, a day’s stubble, headphones, working a lollipop as he plays. I tried to spot any convenient link between the angle of the lollipop stick and the hands he was playing – up for a good hand perhaps, down for bad, side to side when there’s thinking to be done. But there was nothing.

Now he’s into the last 900 players in level five of the latest $1,500 no limit hold’em event to fill the Amazon Room wall to wall. Steady progress in an event that started with 2,693.

It’s a week full of congratulations.

First biggest congrats go to Kongsgaard for winning this week’s Sunday Million and more than $158,000 (Sunday Million final table wrap-up). We should also congratulate last year’s PokerStars TLB winner, shaundeeb, for his final table finish in the $215 rebuy event, a finish that will no doubt help his quest for a two-time yearly TLB win. Finally, we can’t end without mentioning Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari’s performance this weekend. Akkari made three final tables in the Sunday majors, including a third place finish in the Sunday Second Chance event.

Congratulations to everybody who cashed in on Sunday. Full final table results for all the major Sunday tournaments are below.

PokerStars Sunday Million Final Table Results

1. Kongsgaard (Denmark) $158,554.50
2. swishes2000 (United States) $105,927.90
3. flylice (United States) $74,217.00
4. Terken89 (Norway) $60,723.00
5. zman2224 (United States) $47,229.00
6. gyndok (United States) $33,735.00
7. Wizard0f0dd5 (United States) $23,614.50
8. farquad72 (United States) $15,518.10
9. Djorgo (Sweden) $10,525.32

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Final Table Results

1. targhan (Sweden) $83,072.00
2. Akademnuk (Russian Federation) $59,136.00
3. Bushman (Canada) $41,676.80
4. MANinTHEmQQN (United Kingdom) $30,976.00
5. looshle (United States) $25,344.00
6. belly420 (Canada) $19,712.00
7. PlzBelieveMe (United States) $14,080.00
8. H_mailman (France) $9,011.20
9. shaniac (United States) $5,463.04

PokerStars Sunday Hundred Grand Final Table Results

1. tolaip (France) $18,691.01
2. irongoat 9Denmark) $9,345.51
3. suecurley (United States) $6,541.86
4. _MikeyKlubs (United States) $4,672.76
5. gjubii (Denmark) $2,803.66
6. jack3316 (France) $1,869.11
7. stevielarson (Canada) $1,495.29
8. TROFEL169 (France) $1,214.92
9. LoadtheToad (United States) $934.56

PokerStars $215 Weekly PL Omaha Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and three-way deal

1. HN Kakaroto (Uruguay) $3,348.00
2. soundjata (Guadeloupe) $3,348.00
3. SixthSenSe19 (Uruguay) $3,348.00
4. DonQuijote3 (Spain) $1,620.00
5. jdubbb (United States) $1,296.00
6. elipse (Canada) $1,053.00
7. A-laursen (Denmark) $891.00
8. RADLAH (United States) $729.00
9. Bugggger (Denmark) $567.00

PokerStars $215 FL Omaha Hi/Lo Final Table Results

1. zep1 (United States) $5,888.00
2. $hip It (United States) $4,096.00
3. bottsky (United States) $3,110.40
4. Iteopepe88 (Germany) $2,304.00
5. IgorFederal (Brazil) $1,536.00
6. HelloImNew (United States) $1,280.00
7. aakkari (Brazil) $1,024.00
8. Wishbear (United States) $768.00
9. G.C. King (United States) $640.00

PokerStars $215 Weekly FL Hold’em Final Table Results

1. TheForeigner (Sweden) $3,780.00
2. Jdruck1 (United States) $2,520.00
3. kev19 (Canada) $1,512.00
4. EnzC (Canada) $1,260.00
5. murobiba (United Kingdom) $1,008.00
6. smurfen22 (Norway) $819.00
7. sunpharm (United States) $693.00
8. briaann1 (United States) $567.00
9. smurf0 (United Kingdom) $441.00

PokerStars $215 Weekly Stud Hi/Lo Final Table Results

1. redhookesb (United States) $2,560.00
2. knrooster (United States) $1,536.00
3. pokerhahntas (United States) $1,024.00
4. nevpete (United States) $768.00
5. Gamesmaster (United Kingdom) $512.00

PokerStars $215 Weekly HORSE Final Table Results

1. Little Kraut (United States) $7,668.00
2. brobo111 (United States) $5,083.60
3. grindnitout (United States) $3,464.80
4. Cardinal7 (United States) $2,470.80
5. MattyDaCobra (United States) $1,902.80
6. Pokerccini (Germany) $1,476.80
7. afcboy (United Kingdom) $1,164.40
8. simmsux (United States) $852.00

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance Final Table Results

1. WiCane (United States) $45,700.20
2. gravesen11 (United States) $33,852.00
3. aakkari (Brazil) $26,040.00
4. chubb10 (United Kingdom) $19,530.00
5. MIB727 (Canada) $13,671.00
6. thugmoneymkr (United States) $11,067.00
7. ScrewPool (United States) $8,463.00
8. spectrefax (United States) $5,859.00
9. barbar31 (Austria) $3,645.60

PokerStars Sunday $5,200 Freezeout Results

1. Boykee (Canada) $50,000.00

PokerStars $215+R NLHE Final Table Results

1. Kenny Rap (United States) $46,350.00
2. TheCronic420 (United States) $32,960.00
3. shaundeeb (United States) $22,660.00
4. Stammdogg (United States) $16,480.00
5. Pokerccini (Germany) $12,360.00
6. Michnak (United States) $10,300.00
7. aakkari (Brazil) $8,240.00
8. sam2price (United Kingdom) $6,180.00
9. trplthrt (United States) $4,120.00

Andre Akkari is not like many poker pros. He didn’t start his career with massive satellite parlay or bankroll built on multi-tabling 20 SNGs at a time.

Akkari started with a bankroll of exactly nothing.

At first, he was a struggling businessman in Brazil. His time was short and his bank account was shorter. One his clients needed some work done for a poker site and Akkari’s interest was piqued. He started teaching himself a little about the game. Then, he started looking for freeroll tournaments online. Before long, he’d hung pieces of paper all over his office to remind him when he could play for free and still have a chance to win some money. Before long, he’d built a modest bankroll and developed an unrelenting fascination with the game.

A few years ago, Akkari knew he had some soul-searching to do. Though he’d had some success online in freeroll and small buy-in events, he knew his talent had yet to be truly tested. He had $2,000 in his pocket and a bunch of Brazilian buddies in tow. He did what seemed simultaneously natural and frightening.

He went to Vegas.

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari

Akkari had barely stepped off the plane at McCarran International when he found himself on Fremont Street. Binion’s called him into the poker room. Before he went to bed, he’d made the final table of a small tournament and won nearly $500, a mini-fortune for a small-stakes player.

Akkari wasn’t ready to go home, but he didn’t want to blow his just-earned cash. He was at a loss for what to do. The next day, Binion’s was hosting a $450 buy-in event. His friends begged him to play, but Akkari was unsure. He called his wife back in Brazil. Her response was southern comfort.

“You just won $500. Consider it a freeroll.”

A freeroll. It was exactly what Akkari needed and exactly what he did. The result? Victory in the form of $22,000 cash.

From there, Akkari was free of the freerolls. Bills paid and a bankroll built, Akkari went to work. In 2006, he made the final table of two $1,000 Bellagio Cup events. In 2007, he made the final table of a Venetian Deep Stack event. Just a few days later, Akkari signed on to Team PokerStars Pro.

These days, Akkari is on the poker road and on television as an ESPN poker commentator in Brazil. A couple of months ago, he cashed in the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Now, the one-time freeroll junkie is playing in Europe for the first time. The setting is all he ever dreamed back in the day when he had no money at all. He sits today with the Monte Carlo Bay just outside the window and a stack of chips he hopes to take to the final table of the biggest poker tournament in Europe.

Editor’s note: You may or may not know, we have a wild and crazy Brazilian PokerStars blogger here named Maria. She’s been trailing the Brazilians around with a fervor that only caffeine and poker passion can produce. Since she writes in her native Portuguese (and I can’t understand 95% of it, I’ve asked her to write a bit about the Brazilian PokerStars players in the field today.

Brazil’s Igor Federal and Maria
Credit: Neil Stoddart

by Maria of the Brazilian PokerStars Blog

Today is a big day for Brazil, since it is the first time ever that PokerStars has sponsored two Brazilian players in the World Series Main Event. One of these players is Igor Federal. He is a strong online player (final tabling the Sunday Million with Greg Raymer at the same final table and several other impressive scores that include the 100+R, 50+R and many more). He is also known for his impressive live results. Last year he had the biggest result a Brazilian ever achieved in a WSOP Main Event, finishing in 339th place and cashing for a little more than 38,000. Right now, on Day 1B, Igor is out there holding 26K, after dodging a straight on the river after flopping a set. But hey, we Brazilians are used to dodging bullets…

Federal makes very intimidating faces at the table, (sometimes he even scares me!) and last year even earned the nickname “The Assassin”, but truth be told, he is pure butter and that is all a facade for his poker image. So is the beard, which he starts growing in Brazil before coming to Vegas in order to intimidate his opponents! Hey, whatever works.

André Akkari, known online on PokerStars as Aakkari, is another display of how PokerStars is always one step ahead of the game by scouting out Latin American poker players to add to its elite PokerStars team. Akkari has just signed a contract with PokerStars to play under its prestigious banner. This is a huge step for Brazil (Brazilian poker’s version of America’s first moonwalk). Akkari is a also a player who has put up a series of impressive results, online and live (several 100+R, final table of the Sunday Million, Bellagio Cup final tables with one win, etc.) and is as laid back as a Brazilian can be–except when he is raising you, of course. Aside from being one of my closest friends and one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, Akkari is always smiling at the table, and playing with pictures of his wife and 2 lovely daughters next to him, saying “They are the reason why I have to win!”

Andre Akkari
Credit: Neil Stoddart

He is sitting out there currently with 23,000 and growing steadily. Hopefully we can count on good vibes from you to the Brazilians. We’re famous for our loud and rambunctious rails (all the other Brazilians here in Vegas are already in line waiting to enter the Amazon room and make some noise — oh Lord, I hope they don’t kick us out). Feel free to scream out “Vamoooooo” anytime you feel compelled to! It is our mantra at the poker tables, which means Gooooooo Brazillllll!!!

Best of Luck to all the Brazilians and all PokerStars players fighting for that Main Event title!

PokerStars announced today that Brazilian Player Andre Akkari is joining the elite Team PokerStars. Anyone who watched poker in Brazil has likely seen Akkari as the leading poker commentator for ESPN Brazil. Now, Akkari is in Las Vegas flying the flags of both his native Brazil and his home poker site, PokerStars.

Over the past several years, Akkari’s aggressive poker play has turned him into a successful and well-recognized player in his home country and on the international tournament circuit. A native of Sao Paulo, Akkari was a marketing man for a software company until he turned himself over to his true love, poker. Starting off battling in freeroll tournaments, Akkari built sizable bankroll and a name for himself in the PokerStars community.

Akkari turned pro in 2006 at age 31 after spending 2005 at more final tables than he could count in Las Vegas and South America. From there, he couldn’t stop winning live or online. Just last year he put up a fourth in the Sunday Million. In just two short years he has already participated in more than 43 tournaments in Latin America, Europe and the United States. He’s won more than $600,000.

After watching Team PokerStars play on TV, Akkari dreamt of being one of them. “I didn’t just want to play with them,” he said. “I wanted to join them on Team PokerStars, and help bring this incredible sport to more people in Brazil and all over South America. After years of playing on PokerStars, I’m truly grateful to have that chance.”

“Poker has been growing at an explosive rate in Brazil, as it has all over Latin America,” said fellow Team PokerStars Member Humberto Brenes. “I believe that our society has begun to see poker differently–it’s the stakes, the challenge, the strategy, and the mental game that Brazilians and all Latinos have come to love. Not only is Andre a great addition to the Team, but its great to have South America additionally represented on Team PokerStars.”

Andre believes he was born a poker player. His screen name AAkkari gives him aces full of kings in the first five letters. His fellow Brazilians are a loyal lot of PokerStars players and the national pride is evident everywhere they go. In fact, any time Akkari or any of his friends make a final table on PokerStars, the rail is flooded with Brazilians who get in trouble for speaking in their native Portugusse. You’ll often find them typing “Vamu!” Portuguese for “let’s go!”). The cheers for Akkari are growing so popular that the Brazilians hope that one day “Vamu” will become standard poker speak in the PokerStars chat.

Akkari is more than just a poker player, though. His entire life is built around his wife and two daughters.

“They are the center of my life and definitely the reason why I work so hard to grow in my career and within the worldwide poker community,” Akkari said.

You’ll find Andre playing on PokerStars under the name, “AAkkari”.

Welcome to Team PokerStars, Andre.