It took nearly 34 hours of poker to do it, but there’s finally a champion in Event 43, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. Andre Akkari survived the marathon that was spread over four days of poker, defeating Nachman Berlin heads-up to win the bracelet and $675,117.

As play entered the third level of the day on Friday, we finally had the first all-in and call confrontation. Akkari was ahead with A8 against Berlin’s KQ, but if Berlin was to hit his hand, he would win the tournament. The Brazilian rail erupted when the A hit the flop, and Berlin was drawing dead by the turn. This hand pulled Akkari dead even with Berlin.

After Berlin retook a slight lead, the players traded blinds and antes until the biggest pot of the tournament went down. Facing an all-in bet from Akkari, Berlin debated for some time before calling with the AT, but he was well behind the KK of Akkari. The board ran out 752J3 and Akkari crippled Berlin, leaving him with just over 1 million, compared to almost 12 million for Akkari.

Berlin would double up once, but on the final hand he would have A8 against Akkari’s KJ. The flop came out KQ3 and the rail erupted, as Akkari took the lead and was just two cards from a bracelet. The K on the turn brought the roof down as Akkari sealed the deal, winning the bracelet, just the second ever for a Brazilian player.

Akkari was there in 2008 when Alexandre Gomes was the first Brazilian to capture a WSOP bracelet, and it’s impact on the game of poker in that country was immeasurable.

“It was unbelievable, after he [Gomes] won the bracelet,” said Akkari. It changed everything about poker in Brazil. Poker was growing before, but after that it was unbelievable. Now 3 million people in Brazil are playing poker online and live.”

When final table play began after the dinner break all the way back on Monday night, most of the early hands were taken down before the flop. As is often the case in tournament poker, the slow, mostly uneventful pace was shattered in a single hand, where three players had their hands on their backs in a crucial all-in situation.

Akkari opened the action with a raise, Ray Foley went all-in, and Phillip Meulyzer went all-in for a little bit more behind him. A call would take a sizable portion of Akkari’s stack, but he eventually put both Foley and Meulyzer at risk.

Akkari’s AK was up against Foley’s JJ and Meulyzer’s TT, and Akkari would take control of the hand immediately as the flop came out AQ7. Neither a jack nor a ten would come on the turn and river, giving Akkari the monster pot and sending both of his opponents home. By virtue of their chip stacks to start the hand, Foley would finish ninth while Meulyzer would get the pay bump for eighth.

It wouldn’t take long for another all-in confrontation, as Jacob Naquin would go head-to-head with Zachary Hall. Naquin called Hall’s all-in, and when the cards were exposed Hall was way ahead, with JJ against Naquin’s A8. But the A on the flop and A on the river brought Hall’s tournament to an end with a seventh place finish.

After doubling up the shortest stack, Scott Sitron, Nicolas Chouity was left severely short stacked. On his third all-in attempt in an orbit, Chouity’s bet was called by Matthew Carmody, who was ahead with the AK against Chouity’s J9. The KT4 flop put Carmody solidly ahead, leaving Chouity only four outs, but the turn 8 doubled the cards Chouity could hit to stay alive. The 2 on the river ended any doubt as Chouity hit the rail in sixth.

Sitron’s run of success would not last very long. He was victimized by a difficult cooler situation, running his AK into Carmody’s AA. There would be no miracle for Sitron, and his tournament would end in fifth place.

Carmody took a commanding chip lead following this hand, but he’d give up almost half of those chips in just a few hands. Berlin took the opportunity to double through Carmody twice, holding pocket jacks on both occasions. This brought the final four fairly close together in chips, with Berlin holding a slight lead.

Chips moved around between the four players for more than a level without significant change, thanks in large part to how deep the stacks were in comparison to the blinds and antes. Akkari became the shortest stack at one point during this stage, but a couple of hands against Naquin would take the Brazilian from the bottom right back into contention.

In the first confrontation, Akkari moved in on his short stack with Q7 against Naquin’s 66, with a Q on the flop to double Akkari up and leapfrog him ahead of Naquin. A few hands later they were at it once again, with Akkari holding JJ and Naquin as the all-in player with A8. The board ran out KT437, eliminating Naquin in fourth place and sending Akkari’s supporters into the loudest roar of the evening to that point.

Berlin led when three-handed play began, but Carmodi and Akkari were each within one double up of the chip lead. And each of the three players held the chip lead at one point, with the short stack doubling through the chip leader several times.

They finally emerged from that quagmire after Akkari doubled up through Carmodi into the chip lead, leaving Carmodi quite short stacked. He got a few chips back by doubling up through Akkari, and was poised for another double-up in a confrontation with Berlin.

It was a coinflip, as Berlin had 99 against Carmodi’s AQ. Carmodi hit the flop, but Berlin hit it much harder, as it came out QJ9. The T on the turn gave Carmodi four kings to hit to win, or four eights to chop the pot, but the A made Carmodi a useless two pair, and he would head home with a third place finish.

After winning that pot, Berlin held a chip lead of 1.6-1 over Akkari, and he built that lead to over 2-1 early in the heads-up match. As they hit the end of the tenth level and a hard stop for the night, here’s how they stood.

• Nachman Berlin – 9,465,000
• Andre Akkari – 3,400,000

Upon returning Friday afternoon, Berlin and Akkari traded jabs back and forth, with the stacks barely deviating more than 500,000 from where they started the day during the first two levels of Day 4.

Akkari had the cards an held in the three most important pots of the day, and when the blinds and antes are as high as they were, that is more than enough to win a tournament.

Here are the results for Event 43, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em:

1. Andre Akkari – $675,117
2. Nachman Berlin – $419,173
3. Matthew Carmody – $295,635
4. Jacob Niquin – $213,520
5. Scott Sitron – $156,090
6. Nicolas Chouity – $115,477
7. Zachary Hall – $86,434
8. Philip Meulyzer – $65,452
9. Ray Foley – $50,140

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