Andre Akkari Leads the Final 16 Players of the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event
What was originally scheduled as a short day ended up being a marathon session with 6 levels of play. Day 4 of the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event started with still 70 hopefuls remaining. When the dust had settled just after midnight, only 16 players remained with nonother than PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari in the lead.
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Andrew Hedley | United Kingdom | 1,005,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | 6,160,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 3,440,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Usman Siddique | United Kingdom | 4,650,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Sorensson | Sweden | 2,555,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Aeragan Arunan | United Kingdom | 3,480,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Yaron Zeev Malki | Israel | 1,510,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Albert Daher | Lebanon | 3,810,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Mauricio Salazar Sanchez | Colombia | 655,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Brian Kaufman Esposito | Uruguay | 5,480,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Donald Duarte Sierra | Nicaragua | 2,510,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Lachezar Plamenov Petkov | Bulgaria | 3,630,000 |
| 2 | 5 | [Removed:146] | France | 4,065,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Rens Feenstra | Netherlands | 1,565,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Alex Difelice | Canada | 2,775,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Raffaele Sorrentino | Italy | 3,000,000 |
While sometimes action starts out slow with players nervous at the start the day, plenty of all ins were seen this time around. "All in and a call!" could be heard left and right and the camera teams trying to catch the action for PokerStars.tv ran around like their lives depended on it.
Gregory Janin was the first to go, his ace-nine couldn't outrun the ace-ten of Nuno Pereira Ascensao in the first hand of the day. Many would follow him out the door with Martin, Gabriel Chiva, and Pim Kuipers close behind him.
Andre Akkari got involved in a big hand early on as well, busting Erik Friberg in a monster pot with ace-queen against pocket tens. The queen on the river busted Friberg but was only the start of the run good for Akkari. The Brazilian PokerStars Team Pro later busted his neighbor Patrick Leonard with ace-king against queens (king on the river) and Jakub Senk with ten-six against ten-nine (back door straight after it had gone in on the flop). Akkari surpassed the 5 million mark when he did in German high roller Jan Eric Schwippert, hitting an eight with king-eight against ace-five.
He wasn't the only one to start with some nice increase of his stack. Scott Wellenbach coolered Daniel Smiljkovic in a set over set situation where the latter had fours but Wellenbach had queens. Wellenbach would add to his stack throughout the beginning of the day, but wouldn't finish it. After a long day of poker, the last 2 levels weren't too good for the Canadian where few pots were won. With the end of the day already insight, Wellenbach got it in with ace-jack against jacks.
"It's funny, I always get knocked out of tournaments with ace jack," Wellenbach said before the dealer got underway dealing the board.
The community cards brought the amicable Canadian no help and with 11 minutes left on the clock in the last level of the night, the clock was paused and the bagging and tagging began for the remaining 16 players as Wellenbach made his exit.
On Day 5 of the PokerStars Championship Barcelona, the plan is to play down from 16 to 6. The players are all guaranteed €61,400 but looking for that first place prize of over €1.4 million. Andre Akkari is in best position with over 6 million in chips, followed by Brian Kaufman Esposito who'll bring almost 5.5 million in chips.
Regulars like Rens Feenstra and Albert Daher are still in contention but a lot of eyes will also be on Raffaele Sorrentino. It took the PokerStars Championship's predecessor, the European Poker Tour, 10 seasons to find a 2-time winner, but Sorrentino might pull it off in the inaugural first season of the PokerStars Championship. He won the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino back in April for €466,714 and will try tomorrow to make another final table and win it on Sunday.
Day 2 chip leader Mauricio Salazar Sanchez is the shortest player still in. The 655,000 he brings to the penultimate day of the event is worth 13 big blinds, soon to be 11 big blinds when the next level gets underway.
The tournament resumes at noon local time with blinds at 25,000/50,000 (5,000 ante). After 11 minutes and without a break, the tournament's next level of 30,000/60,000 with 10,000 ante will get underway. PokerNews will again be on the floor from start to finish to bring you all the updates.