Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
https://twitter.com/PokerStarsLIVE/status/1698282271357243588
2023 PokerStars EPT Barcelona
�5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 7
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 7
2023 PokerStars EPT Barcelona
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€10,282,000
Entries
2,120
Level
35
Blinds
200,000 / 400,000
Ante
400,000
Players Left
1
Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
Joao Sydenstricker opened to 525,000 on the button with Q?9? and Andre Akkari three-bet jammed in the small blind for 3,750,000 with 2?2?. Sydenstricker laid it down.
Not long after, Carl Shaw opened to 500,000 from under the gun with 9?8? and Ezequiel Waigel three-bet jammed a stack of 4,000,000 from the small blind with A?Q?. Shaw folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
18,300,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
8,300,000
-780,000
|
-780,000 |
|
5,000,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
4,780,000
530,000
|
530,000 |
|
||
Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
Simon Wiciak raised to 500,000 from early position and Joao Sydenstricker decided to tangle with the chip leader again, calling from the cutoff with A?Q?.
Sydenstricker took the lead with two pair on the 7?A?7? flop and both players checked. Wiciak again checked the 2?, then instantly folded when Sydenstricker bet 700,000.
The next hand, Ezequiel Waigel opened to 525,000 from the button with Q?J? before Carl Shaw moved all in from the big blind holding A?4?. Waigel, with 4,500,000 behind, snap-folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
21,330,000
-500,000
|
-500,000 |
|
||
|
|
18,050,000
650,000
|
650,000 |
|
|
9,080,000
2,130,000
|
2,130,000 |
|
|
4,500,000
-650,000
|
-650,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
Simon Wiciak opened to 500,000 from the cutoff and Andre Akkari three-bet jammed a stack of 4,000,000 from the small blind. The chip leader called.
Andre Akkari: A?J?
Simon Wiciak: A?J?
"Andre very likely to be surviving his 47th all-in of this tournament," commented Joe Stapleton.
Both players had ace-jack and chopped the pot as the board ran out 5?5?4?5?2? to bring a chorus of cheers from Akkari's rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
21,830,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
4,250,000
-250,000
|
-250,000 |
|
|
||
Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
Action folded to Simon Wiciak in the small blind who raised to 800,000 with K?2?. Joao Sydenstricker defended Q?J? as they went heads-up to the 4?7?5? flop.
Wiciak checked and Sydenstricker checked behind. The turn came the 8? and Wiciak checked again. Sydenstricker then bet 625,000 with his queen-high and Wiciak snap-mucked to award the pot to the Brazilian, with shouts of "Vamos" ringing out from his rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
21,580,000
-1,295,000
|
-1,295,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
6,950,000
800,000
|
800,000 |
Level 33
: Blinds 125,000/250,000, 250,000 ante
The remaining six players have done their interviews, posed for their group photos, and stacked up their chips as the final table is now underway.
Level: 33
Blinds: 125,000/250,000
Ante: 250,000
A friend introduced Ezequiel Waigel to poker in 2009, when he was only 18 years old. In the 14 years since, he has made his way steadily into the top 10 on the Argentina money list, closing in on $2 million in live earnings.
Waigel credits the increased availability of online poker material as the catalyst for his surge through the ranks. He studied patiently to improve his game. He is also a firm advocate for online satellites, and qualified for the Estrellas Main Event at PokerStars, which brought him and a group of friends to Barcelona.
He didn��t cash in the record-breaking Estrellas event but won a seat to the EPT Main Event in a live qualifier. Now in the last six, Waigel is guaranteed to claim his third six-figure score �C and maybe more, should he win.
Uniquely among the players still left, Waigel already knows what it feels like to bank a million-dollar score. As ��eze88888�� online, he won the WCOOP Main Event on PokerStars in 2018, outlasting more than 5,000 runners.
The leading light of Brazilian poker for more than a decade, Andre Akkari has been pivotal in the explosion in popularity of poker in his home country and continues to show that he can mix it with the best. There are now numerous Brazilians in the very top echelons of the world game, and all owe a debt of gratitude to the PokerStars Ambassador from Sao Paulo. He is a well-known figure in the Brazilian media, advocating for poker, and has mentored countless players as they build their careers.
Akkari himself continues to be a tremendous talent at the tables, with a particular affinity for Barcelona. He recorded his first ever tournament cash on European soil here in 2006, and also picked up his best finish at a PokerStars event in this room in 2017, when he finished fifth in what was then the PokerStars Championship. He has cashed in at least one EPT tournament in Barcelona every year for the past 10 years (Covid cancellations notwithstanding).
The latter stages of this EPT Main Event have showcased Akkari��s incredible survival skills. He had the shortest stack of all 32 players when Day 4 ended and was 16th of 16 at the end of Day 5. But Akkari is still there in the final six, with a very good chance of surpassing the payday that came with his World Series bracelet in 2011. Back then, he won $675,117 for victory in a $1,500 event.
Jo?o Sydenstricker started playing poker with friends for peanuts when he was only 12 years old, usually 5-card draw. In 2009, he discovered hold'em �C and that's when he realised he could make a living from the game he used to play just for fun.
Sydenstricker��s best results have come in recent years, including a spectacular victory in the Sunday Million on PokerStars �C well known as one of the toughest online tournaments.
He doesn't have too many hobbies apart from poker, but he is also a poker coach as well as player, which takes up much of his time. He says used to like football but couldn��t handle his nerves during big games, so now he enjoys walking with his dogs.
He says that it is incredible to be at an EPT final table �C particularly alongside Andre Akkari, who is one of his idols. Having only really started playing live poker recently, he says it is something he has not even dreamed of yet.