Barbara Akemi made history at the EPT Barcelona Main Event, becoming the deepest-running Brazilian woman ever in a European Poker Tour Main Event before finally bowing out in 10th place for €97,700. The result caps a run that saw Akemi survive deep into the €5,300 buy-in tournament, one of the largest and most prestigious events on the entire EPT calendar, outlasting all but nine of the 1,823 players who built an €8,841,550 prize pool over the course of the festival.
A Landmark Run for Brazilian Women in Poker
Akemi’s tournament life was never just about the money, though €97,700 is a serious score by any measure. It was about where the run placed her in the history books. Coverage of the event repeatedly flagged her as a “history-maker,” and for good reason: no Brazilian woman had previously gone this deep in an EPT Main Event, a tournament format that draws some of the toughest and most experienced fields anywhere on the international circuit. Getting to the unofficial final table of a 1,823-entry field is a significant achievement for any player. Doing it as the lone woman left standing for large stretches of the tournament, as reporting on the event described her, adds a layer of significance that goes beyond the prize money.
Akemi arrived at EPT Barcelona with a résumé that already marked her as one of the most accomplished Brazilian players in the game, online or live. She holds the distinction of being the first Brazilian woman to win the Sunday Million, one of online poker’s most storied recurring tournaments, and she has also added a WSOP bracelet to her collection, making her the first Brazilian woman to hold both achievements at once. That combination of online and live pedigree made her deep run in Barcelona feel less like a surprise and more like a continuation of a career that has been building toward exactly this kind of moment.
Surviving the Grind to the Final Two Tables
The path to 10th place was not a short one. Akemi was still alive on Day 4 of the tournament sitting in the top half of the remaining field, holding roughly 3,445,000 in chips, good for 86 big blinds at that stage, as the tournament whittled down toward the unofficial final table. That stack depth allowed her room to maneuver through the tightening blind levels that typically define the closing stages of a Main Event this size, rather than being forced into desperate shove-or-fold decisions immediately.
By the time the field reached the final two tables, Akemi remained one of the standout stories of the tournament specifically because of how rare her position was. Large-field EPT Main Events routinely see the number of remaining women dwindle sharply as the money bubble bursts and the stakes escalate, and Akemi’s ability to keep advancing while representing Brazil on one of the sport’s biggest stages made her one of the most closely followed players left in the field, regardless of her chip position relative to the outright leaders.
The Scale of the EPT Barcelona Main Event
Context matters here. The €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event is not a mid-tier stop, it is one of the marquee events of the European Poker Tour’s entire annual schedule, and this year’s edition drew 1,823 total entries to build a prize pool of €8,841,550, with €1,370,050 earmarked for the eventual champion. Even the minimum cash for players finishing in the 24th-to-28th range was worth €34,850, which underlines just how top-heavy and competitive the payout ladder becomes once a field of this size narrows down to its final stages. Finishing 10th in a field like that, ahead of well over 1,800 entrants that included seasoned pros and hardened grinders from across the world, is a result most players spend an entire career chasing.
What Comes Next for Akemi and Brazilian Poker
A 10th-place finish worth €97,700 instantly becomes one of the largest live scores of Akemi’s career, and it arrives at a moment when Brazilian players have been making consistent noise throughout the EPT Barcelona festival across multiple events on the schedule. For a fan base that has grown increasingly connected to the European tour through live streaming and real-time updates, watching a Brazilian woman push deeper into a Main Event than any of her countrywomen ever had is the kind of story that resonates well beyond the poker community itself.
It also raises the profile of Brazilian women’s poker more broadly at a time when representation in the deep stages of marquee international tournaments remains rare. Akemi’s combination of online pedigree, a WSOP bracelet, and now a landmark EPT Main Event result gives her one of the most complete résumés among Brazilian players of either gender, and it sets a benchmark that future competitors from Brazil will be measured against for years to come.
For readers hoping to build the tournament fundamentals that make deep runs like this possible, our how to play poker guide is a solid starting point for understanding the structures and strategic adjustments that separate a min-cash from a final table appearance. As always, tournament poker remains a game of skill mixed with significant variance, and results at this level should be viewed as the product of years of dedicated study and bankroll discipline rather than a shortcut anyone should expect to replicate. Players should always compete responsibly and within their means.
