Player Focus: AK87

The stream of top young online players shows no sign of drying up, and the latest to catch our eye in recent weeks has been Alex Kim, aka AK87.

The 19-year-old has hit two big results recently: on August 5th he won the $200 NLH re-buy event on PokerStars, seeing off a field of 344 players to claim $62,250. That triumph came less than two months after he landed UltimateBet's $200k Guaranteed tourney for a prize of $46,000.

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For serious online followers, AK87 was already a name on the circuit. While in the Bahamas competing in the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, AK87 came fourth in the PokerStars Sunday Million. He worked his way through the field while in the lobby of the Coral Towers, surrounded by several other top online players who had travelled to the Atlantis resort for the PCA.

Kim’s performance in the Sunday Million compensated for the fact he made little impact in the PCA – but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good live tournament player. In March this year, he came 10th from a starting field of 706 at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. That outstanding performance earned him $132,772 and showed that, even at such a young age, he already has the skills to become a series contender in major offline events.

One of Kim's immediate ambitions is to build up his bankroll to a level where a long-term poker career will be sustainable. In an interview with cardrunners.com Kim said: "I try not to think too far ahead in my poker career, but I would like to have a million dollar bankroll by the time I am 21. This bankroll would be strictly for playing and hopefully I will have a lot of money in investments. Hopefully I can achieve this goal just from grinding cash games. I would like to have a huge tournament score before I start playing the WSOP in two years."

Before AK87 makes his WSOP debut we'll surely see a lot more of him online.

The stream of top young online players shows no sign of drying up, and the latest to catch our eye in recent weeks has been Alex Kim, aka AK87.

The 19-year-old has hit two big results recently: on August 5th he won the $200 NLH re-buy event on PokerStars, seeing off a field of 344 players to claim $62,250. That triumph came less than two months after he landed UltimateBet's $200k Guaranteed tourney for a prize of $46,000.

For serious online followers, AK87 was already a name on the circuit. While in the Bahamas competing in the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, AK87 came fourth in the PokerStars Sunday Million. He worked his way through the field while in the lobby of the Coral Towers, surrounded by several other top online players who had travelled to the Atlantis resort for the PCA.

Kim’s performance in the Sunday Million compensated for the fact he made little impact in the PCA – but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good live tournament player. In March this year, he came 10th from a starting field of 706 at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. That outstanding performance earned him $132,772 and showed that, even at such a young age, he already has the skills to become a series contender in major offline events.

One of Kim's immediate ambitions is to build up his bankroll to a level where a long-term poker career will be sustainable. In an interview with cardrunners.com Kim said: "I try not to think too far ahead in my poker career, but I would like to have a million dollar bankroll by the time I am 21. This bankroll would be strictly for playing and hopefully I will have a lot of money in investments. Hopefully I can achieve this goal just from grinding cash games. I would like to have a huge tournament score before I start playing the WSOP in two years."

Before AK87 makes his WSOP debut we'll surely see a lot more of him online.


View AK87's PVi Profile here


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