Hell, there was a time when Andre Akkari couldn't play a $10 event, and it wasn't too long ago.

Just a couple of years back, Andre Akkari didn't have a bankroll. He wanted one, but as many of us know, buy-ins don't grow out of the ground. So, Akkari created lists of online freerolls and posted them all over his office. He played as many as he could. He started winning. Then he went to Vegas with a few bucks in his pocket and kept winning. Needless to say, the victories continued unabated. Now, Akkari can look back at a $1 million year.

Really? Well, take a look at his interview below.

Watch PCA 09: Andre Akkari on his year on PokerStars.tv

In related news, Akkari just busted fellow Brazilian Gualter Salles. So, the trend continues.

The apparent chip leader at the moment is Argentina's Leo Fernandez who sits at 56,000 after rivering a flush to crush Boris Becker's aces. Becker is now on the rail. His seat has been filled by Maria "maridu" Mayrinck.

In other news, we have some unofficial numbers in on the PCA. Although the lists are still being audited and someone has run off to find an abacus, the unofficial tally lists a grand total of 1,340 players in this year's main event. That is nearly 18% bigger than last year.

It's really been a walkover for the Austrian TD. Ever since he first came to public consciousness as the man presiding over Late Night Poker on Channel Four in Great Britain, Kremser has been synonymous with two things. Firstly, his impeccable tournament direction: Kremser issues rulings that are invariably considered, firm and fair, and there are diamond-encrusted watches produced by Rolex that run less smoothly than a Kremser poker tournament.

Secondly, his dress sense. Kremser has the finest tailor in Europe and his wardrobe is full to bursting of hundreds of perfectly pressed suits, with silk ties, handkerchiefs and shirts to complete a consistently flawless appearance. His shoes are not actually made from mirrors, but the shine from them serves the same purpose. He is the very picture of sartorial excellence.


Thomas Kremser, in his natural habitat

Kremser is in the Bahamas this week, but there's a difference. A big difference. Here, Kremser is a player: he's taking a well-earned break from tournament direction and has instead joined the assembled ranks around the tables, vying for a shot at the big time.

And when you're a player rather than a tournament director, the rules change over your appearance as well. This, folks, is Thomas Kremser poker player. It's nothing we have ever seen before.


Thomas Kremser, poker player

"I'm relaxed," he told me at the start of play. "I'm looking forward to it." Kremser has also been joining the players in their predilection for prop bets. His assistant tournament director on the EPT is the equally well-attired Gerard Serra, a native of Catalonia and a passionate supporter of Barcelona FC.

For the non-soccer fan, it's important to know just how hostile is the rivalry between Barcelona and their arch nemeses Real Madrid in Spain. It's Red Sox versus Yankees and then some: no friendly joshing this, it's all out hatred.

Serra won't even wear white shirts as that's the colour that Real Madrid play in. He sometimes asks hotels to change the towels in his room because their whiteness reminds him of Real.

Kremser has, however, sealed a prop bet with Serra that should he make the final table of the PCA, Serra will fly here from Spain and rail the final nine wearing a Real Madrid shirt emblazoned with the name of Luis Figo, the most hated man in Catalonia after he was traded to Madrid from Barcelona.

It's all happy enough at the moment, but this could get ugly. Not usually a word associated with Kremser.

- Tournaments can be festive affairs. Aside from the guy in the Cookie Monster outfit, there's another guy with dyed pink hair and another guy sporting a fake dreadlocks. Jah, mon!

- Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler and WSOP bracelet winner Dan Heimiller are two Las Vegas pros that don't get much attention. They are true grinders more out of the Joey Knish variety. Heimiller and Kessler are seated at the same table. Chainsaw was snacking on a slice of pizza with an entire box sitting on his lap.

- Former bracelet winner Kathy Liebert and the 2008 PCA champion Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier are seated at the same table.

- Joe Sebok and high stakes cash games guru Eli Elezera are tablemates. Elezra regularly played in the Big Game in Las Vegas with Sebok's father Barry Greenstein.

- Former EPT Champion Brandon Schaefer drew the same table as wunderkind Stevie Chidwick.

- And then there's the Team PokerStars Pros table that includes Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, and Alexande Gomes.

- The massage girls are out in full force and have their hands fully occupied. Among those getting worked on? Victor Ramdin, Jeff "Happy" Shulman, Isabelle Mercier, and Jean-Robert Bellande. Poker players have it tough.

- Former tennis pro Boris Becker was sipping a Red Bull in between folding hands. Becker is sitting at the same table as Chris Moneymaker. If you polled all the participants in the PCA and asked them who was more recognizable, Moneymaker or Becker, without a doubt Moneymaker would win hands down. The majority of people (and media) in the Imperial Ballroom are here because of the Moneymaker Effect. Somewhere back in the States John McEnroe is reading our coverage on PokerStars Blog and screaming at his laptop, "You can't be serious!!!"

- And take a peek at the latest video blog from Victor Ramdin titled "Victor Ramdin Poolside..."

Watch PCA 09: Victor Ramden Poolside.... on PokerStars.tv

This, however, is a group of poker players. While they may not give a hoot about traditional studies, they are constantly on the hunt for the latest and greatest in poker theory. Enter the PCA PokerStars Poker Camp.

Starting tomorrow, the people here at the PCA will have a chance to learn from some of the game's best players. Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker and Vanessa Rousso will be heading up some one-of-a-kind training sessions. The campers will also have a chance to play a a live multi-day tournament with somoe big PokerStars event packages on the line.

Players can buy directly into the three-day camp for £1,250 or take a shot in one of the $250+$25 Sit and Go tournaments tonight. You can get a full schedule of camp events at the PCA Poker Camp homepage.

[As an aside, we would be remiss not to point out that the PokerStars FPP Store has gone brick and mortar at the PCA. On the walk into the tourney room, PokerStars players can literally walk in, feel the goods, and browse an honest-to-goodness FPP Store. I'm waiting for the day the PokerStars opens up a place on Rodeo Drive.]

Two of the people playing in Day 1B have turned Frequent Player Points into a lifestyle. Brandon Schaefer and Bernard Lee managed to convert their FPPs into years of professional poker playing and travel.

Schaefer, a Washington state native, had planned in 2005 to go the EPT French Open in Deauville with his buddy Carl "colson10" Olson. The idea was Schaefer would just tag along and have some fun. Just before it was time to leave, Schaefer won an FPP satellite to the main event.

A few days later, in a story that would seem silly if it weren't 100% true, Olson and Schaefer got heads up for the title. Schaefer came out with the victory and a seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Just a month later, Schaefer went to the Grand Final and came second place to Rob Hollink. Between the two events, Schaefer won more than half a million euros. His life since has been a non-stop trip around the world.

Bernard Lee made his bones at the World Series Main Event. An FPP freeroller in the main event, Lee made a Cinderella run to the final two tables. His 13th place finish earned him $400,000.

Since then, Lee has won another million bucks playing poker, turned into a well-known poker columnist and radio host, and has recently penned two poker books.

Now, both guys are sitting within a few feet of each other on Day 1B. If you ever questioned how valuable your FPPs are, you should meet these guys. You'd probably be a Supernova Elite by the end of the year.

And then there's Boris Becker and Chris Moneymaker on another.


Boris Becker and Chris Moneymaker

And how about: Phil Ivey and Brandon Adams. Then there's Ivan Demidov, Andrew Li and Redmond Lee.

And when the first table broke, Minieri joined Noah Boeken and Alexandre Gomes in his new home.


Dario Minieri and Alexandre Gomes

Lodden, meanwhile, skipped off to join Eli Elezra and Joe Sebok. Elsewhere the EPT Prague champion Salvatore Bonavena sits a couple of seats away from EPT London final table player Eric Liu.

The "random" table draw seems to be anything but at the PCA today, but with such a star-studded field, these things were always likely to occur. As tables break and players are eliminated, expect the concentration of talent to become even more extreme.

As yet, the big guns seem to have been steering wisely clear of one another - the odd Minieri v Gomes clash notwithstanding. (That one went to Minieri with a strong bet on an ace-high flop after some pre-flop jousting.)

We have just entered level two after the first 15-minute break of the day. We also still haven't yet seen the World Champion Peter Eastgate, although his chair on Carter Gill's table remains. It's difficult to know whether his future table-mates know who is coming to join them, but at the moment are simply enjoying picking off the undefended blinds.

Below you'll find regular updates from the final table of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker which you can also see for yourselves, live on EPTLive with every hand, including hole cards, shown from start to finish. Click refresh for latest updates as the final progresses and for a detailed explanation on the structure of the final check out today's introduction.

Latest update 5.06pm ET

5.06pm: The new line up...
Antoine Barriere - Mexico
Pawel Chmiel - Poland
Juris Saicens - Latvia
Laurence Houghton - Great Britain
Wanda Whitlock-Canada
Greg Raymer - USA
Peter Schmidt - Germany
Villa Fabrizio - Italy

5.05pm: Play resumes
Blinds are now 75-100. Peter Schmidt wins the first pot of the level.

5pm: Laganovska laggingLaganovska takes another hit for Latvia on the last hand of the level.

4.55pm: End in sight
The level is coming to an end. The next round of players are getting ready to take their seats.

4.51pm: Relief for Laganovska
Ance Laganovska makes it 500 pre-flop holding Ac-Kd. Karl Mahrenholz raises to 1,025 with the same hand only his are suited hearts. It's folded back to the Latvian who calls. They see a flop of 9h-3h-Kc. Top pair for both but a dangerous looking flush draw for Great Britain. Laganovska bets 1,500 and Mahrenholz raises to 3,600. Laganovska calls for an ace on the turn. The money was always going in. Laganovska made it 3,000 and suspecting he was free rolling, Mahrenholz moved all in, getting the call. Laganovska saw the outcome and asked for no hearts. A plain looking Qs on the river chopped this one.

4.45pm: First for Armstrong
Bilancetti makes it 500 pre-flop with pocket jacks which Armstrong of the USA calls holding K-Q. They see a flop of Qd-Ts-5h which is checked to Italy who makes it 500. USA calls. The turn card is a nine which both players check before a seven on the river. Armstrong makes it 1,000 for USA which Bilancetti calls, sending the pot to the USA, a first for Armstrong.

4.39pm: Waking up in a 7k pot
Karl Mahrenholz finds himself in a pot worth more than 7,000 with middle pair, folding it in time to save himself more chips with Leszak Krawcynski of Poland holding a flush.

4.30pm: Canada on the rise
Daniel Negreanu tangled with Wayne Lo in a pot, his 9-6 hitting a nine on the flop to ultimately trump Lo's pocket fours.

4.27pm: Good fold.
Munoz of Mexico makes a good fold against Mahrenholz's set of tens, kicking off this second level.

4.25pm: Any minute now
A delay in the action ends and play re-starts...

4.15pm: Reloading
Another chunk of chips arrives for each chip stack with each new player bringing their share with them. Blinds are up to 50-100 and the new line up looks like this...

Jose Munoz - Mexico
Leszak Krawcynski - Poland
Ance Laganovska - Latvia
Wayne Lo - New Zealand
Karl Mahrenholz - Great Britain
Daniel Negreanu - Canada
Bruce Armstrong - USA
Bastian Wulff - Germany
Valeriano Bilanetti - Italy

4pm: Players take a break
Play pauses for a short break while the new players are wired up and take their seats at the final table.

3.59pm: Huge hand
A scary hand develops started by Vicky Coren with pocket aces who makes it 150 pre-flop. Tammy Bailey of Canada calls with pocket jacks. Strothmann of Germany does to with a jack and Omar of Italy does the same with K-Q.

The flop seems to hit everything... J-9-T.

Coren makes it 1,200 which is called by Bailey and Omar. The four on the turn is checked to Bailey who bets 1,500 before Omar raises to 3,000. Coren folds her aces leaving them to it. Bailey calls but needs the board to pair to avoid being crushed by Omar's straight. It doesn't come and when he bets all in on the river Bailey calls, ending her World Cup.

At the end of the hand the level ends, to Italian cheers. Next up for Canada though will be their captain, Daniel Negreanu.

3.55pm: No lay down for Latvia
Five minutes of the level left to play before the players are replaced. Latvia may regret that as their captain Jurdzs has begun picking up a few pots.

3.52pm: Again with the fives
Malthe Strothmann finds pocket fives again and makes it 150 pre-flop. Krisjanis Jurdzs of Latvia re-raises with 5-4 and it's folded back to Germany. Strothmann folds this time, giving Latvia the pot.

3.50pm: Germany calling?
Another pot for Great Britain thanks to Coren's betting with 9-6 on a nine high flop. Strothmann thought about calling for Germany but decided no.

3.42pm: Big pot for Poland
Pennisi Omar of Italy runs into trouble in the form of Patryk Slusarek's pocket fours. The Italian had an ace and must have liked how things were running when the flop and turn brought two more. But Poland had flopped a set and the two aces gave Slusarek a full house. Poland up to 8,500.

3.32pm: The first level players
Jorge Lozcano - Mexico - 8,200
Patryk Slusarek - Poland - 7,400
Krisjanis Jurdzs - Latvia (Captain) - 5,400
Lee Nelson - New Zealand (Captain) - 5,800
Vicky Coren - Great Britain (Captain) - 10,000
Tammy Bailey - Canada - 5,000
Jarred Gabin - USA - 9,000
Malthe Strothmann - Germany - 6,200
Pennisi Omar - Italy - 6,800

3.29pm: First hand
With blinds at 25-50, Malthe Strothmann bets 150 pre-flop for Germany, flopping a set on a board of... 5c-9h-2h

Coren calls with K-Q but Lozano raises to 2,000. Germany pushes all in, sending hope and fear through the German ranks. It's 4,050 more. Lozano calls with pocket tens. Tens and a backdoor flush would save Mexico. The turn is a 5d giving Germany quads, doubling up Strothmann. Not a bad start.

3.25pm: Order of battle
Team captains submitted their rosters before play began. Three team captains will play first. Vicky Coren of Great Britain, Lee Nelson of New Zealand and JC Alvarado of Mexico.

3.22pm: What the..?
In a moment of unscheduled fanfare the New Zealand team perform a traditional Haka, more commonly seen performed by the All Blacks rugby team around the world and here strung together by three Kiwi poker players not ashamed to show a bit of heritage. Meant to intimidate this one entertains. A fine turn though.

3.19pm: Opening ceremony
The teams march into the Imperial ballroom, Olympic style, to start the final, draped in flags, led by the team captains as the PCA plays out either side of them.

2pm: We're nearly set...
Players are gathering around the feature table in team formation. The action will begin at 2.30pm ET but due to issues of fairness a time delay of one hour will be in effect on the broadcast. Updates should appear here from 3.30pm ET.

Players are enjoying a break before the final gets underway. From the five tables top points went to Italy, Poland, Mexico, Great Britain and USA winning tables. But there remains everything to play for with Canadian captain Daniel Negreanu, his team in last place, the most buoyant and optimistic. Perhaps sensing there's nothing to lose.

Here's how they stand...

1st - Great Britain - 45 points (50,000 starting stack)
2nd - USA - 37 points (45,000 starting stack)
3rd - Mexico - 37 points (41,000 starting stack)
4th - Poland - 35 points (37,000 starting stack)
5th - Italy - 31 points (34,000 starting stack)
6th - Germany - 30 points (31,000 starting stack)
7th - New Zealand - 26 points (29,000 starting stack)
8th - Latvia - 22 points (27,000 starting stack)
9th - Canada - 12 points (25,000 starting stack)

As detailed at length in an earlier post the teams will divide their starting stacks by five, a share for each player, who will take their turn as each 20 minute level passes. It's also worth remembering that you can follow every hand, seeing all the hole cards, on EPTLive which starts any minute now...

Ricky "FiveFingerz" Puleo

Puleo's future looked bright until tragedy struck just before he turned 17 years old when he suffered a disastrous motorcycle accident and hit a tree at 90 mph. He was hospitalized for several months. He was fortunate and did not have any internal or head injuries but the accident left him with a bad leg fracture and his entire left side was paralyzed. Puleo's physical health as an athlete and his willingness to improve his health attributed to a quick recovery.

"Between the accident and playing hockey, it gave me a good drive to get through it and get better," said Puleo. "I got out of the hospital much faster than the doctors expected and impressed everyone with my recovery."

After a year or so rigorous rehabilitation, he nearly recovered with the exception that he lost the majority of mobility in his left arm. That physical impairment did not deter him one bit.

"The accident turned my life around but it made me grow up and realize how short and precious life is," he mentioned. "It made me value things much differently. It kinda ended my hockey career but open doors for me in other areas. I use that as a positive and grew off of it."

Puleo worked in construction and very few people ever noticed his disability. He eventually started his own business that began to flourish.

"I always had that drive that you have to give it 110% no matter what you do and I apply it to poker," he said. "You have to have patience and that desire to win. I try to use that experience everyday."

After a downturn in the housing market that affected his construction business, Puleo made a tough decision to try to play poker for a living. Like so many players on PokerStars, he began his foray into online poker after he watched Chris Moneymaker win the 2003 WSOP.

"Things were good with work until business got kinda slow," he said. "So I took a year off to give playing full time a shot. I play some SNGs online but mostly cash games in Atlantic City. I occasionally play tournaments at the Borgata Casino."

Puleo had a bad run in September playing different events during the Borgata Poker Open. When he returned to Maryland, he deposited some money on PokerStars specifically to win a seat to the PCA.

"I didn't say I'm going to give it a shot, I said that I'm going to win a seat to the PCA. I set a goal for myself and I achieved it by playing the Steps tournaments. I bought directly in Step 2 and won that. The next night, I played the rest of the Steps and won my seat. I was running really good. There's a couple of guys that I play with, like Travis and Paul, who are big online players or play live with me in a home game. Their advice and support were part of the reason why I'm here."

Puleo brought his father with him to the Bahamas. "I unfortunately couldn't bring my fiancee with me," he said. "We have some kids at home, but they're cheering me on and constantly sending me words of encouragement."

Puelo's father mentioned that he was both impressed and proud of his son's accomplishments. "I was a little surprised when he said that he was going to play professionally for a living, but now I have seen that he really applies himself as a student of the game."

Great Britain captain Vicky Coren sent Malthe Strothmann to the rail with ace-king, helping her stack sour to more than 6,000. At her table is Lee Nelson, still in contention and supported by his team mates cheering his every play.

Then Italian player Valeriano Bilancetti moved all-in, called by Coren who apologetically turned over a pair of kings. Even more apologetically Bilancetti turned over his aces, getting a cheer from the crowd. The board ran out 5-J-T-A... prompting Coren to yell "Queen!" She got one on the river - more cheers from the rail and the Italian exited his table in fourth place.

On the table alongside Jerzy Slaby wins his heat for Poland, good for 15 points, leaving attention on Coren and Nelson who go heads up when the Mexican player is eliminated.

"Let's see who cares about their country the most" quipped Coren. "And let me point something out... I was born in mine" Bring it on!"

The good natured scrap didn't last too long. Coren bet big with J-6 and Nelson called with K-8.

"I haven't got much" confessed Coren.

"I didn't think you had" replied Nelson, before watching a jack hit the turn.

"Never in doubt!" claimed Coren, winning her table and 15 points for Great Britain. Nelson picks up second place, worth 12 points, for New Zealand.

***

Stop press: All the tables are now completed, with Team USA, Mexico and Poland leading going into the final. We'll have the official results when they're made available by tournament staff.