With a return of live poker hopefully on the cards, PokerNews wants to make sure that you are up to date on what players could be making a splash in events and tours during 2022. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be taking a close look at which poker players we should be looking out for!
Poker is an incredibly popular game in Brazil in both the live and online spheres. When logging into your favourite legal poker app or site, you can be certain that there’ll be a host of Brazilian poker players in the cash game and tournament lobbies.
It’s popularity in the country is also helped by the fact that Neymar Jr, the nation’s biggest star and one of the most famous soccer players on the planet, is also a huge poker aficionado. The Paris Saint-Germain forward has been an on and off again PokerStars ambassador, first representing the online platform in 2015 before rejoining the brand in 2020. Neymar Jr also recently racked up two final table appearances in PokerStars’ Winter Series for a combined payout of $149,562.
With a population of over 200 million, there is also a wealth of poker talent in the South American state. Brazil has 15 World Series of Poker bracelets to it’s name from 14 different players, two of which are included in this list.
To help us get the best insight into Brazilian poker players, we spoke with Superpoker Editor in Chief Gabriel Grilo. So without further ado, here are five Brazilians we should keep an eye out for in 2022!
Yuri “TheNERDGuy” Dzivielevski
The only two-time Brazilian WSOP winner, Yuri Dzivielevski is an absolute behemoth when it comes to poker. The former #1 ranked player on the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings has over $15 million in all-time earnings and sits in eighth-place on Brazil’s All Time Money List.
Not only a master of No Limit Hold’em, Dzivielevski is particularly skilled in Mixed Games, proven by the fact that his first bracelet came at the 2019 WSOP where he won Event #51: $2,500 Mixed Omaha8/Stud8 for $213,750. A year later, in the WSOP Online at GGPoker, he snagged his second WSOP title after taking down Event #42: $400 PLOSSUS for a further $221,557.
Most of Dzivielevski earnings have come from the virtual felt, where he operates under “TheNERDGuy” alias. In September 2021, his services were acquired by partypoker, where he is their latest Team Pro ambassador.
Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani
For those who are familiar with the upper echelons of online poker, you’re likely aware of the name Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani. The online high stakes pro has $8.4 million in earnings from the virtual felt and was recently named online player of the year for 2021.
In the space of 12 months, Garagnani picked up a PokerStars WCOOP title, two WPTDeepstacks High Roller titles, a Turbo Series win, a GGPoker WSOP High Roller victory, and a runner-up finish in the GGPoker Super MILLION$.
Surprisingly, Garagnani only has $79,481 in live cashes with all of them in taking place in either his native Brazil or Argentina. That could all change in 2022 now that live poker has returned globally.
Lucio “WizardOfAz” Lima
Lucio “WizardOfAz” Lima was one Brazilian player who flourished during the pandemic online bonanza, highlighted by his triumph in 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Event #9: $525 Superstack Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em. For his performance, Lima captured his WSOP bracelet after he overcame the 2,229 player field for $91,025.
Lima reached the lofty heights of second position in the online poker rankings for the first time in his career this year and has spoken openly about wanting to replicate the feats of Dzivielevski and Garagnani in getting to top spot. So, could 2022 be the year that Lima achieves his goal?
Tauan “kylix42” Naves
Having played for most of his career as “kylix42” on PokerStars, Tauan Naves surprisingly made his big break on the GGPoker felt at this years WSOP Online. Naves finished in third place for $700,270 in the Millionaire Maker event for $700,270. Since then, Naves has taken his game up a notch and has regularly delivered results in some of the biggest tournaments in online poker.
Eduardo “Eduardo850” Silva
Eduardo “Eduardo850” Silva was another Brazilian online poker player who shone brightly in 2021, winning most of his career’s biggest hits in a short span. In last year’s World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP), he won WCOOP-63-M: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] for $224,372 just days after he netted $104,128 for his runners-up finish in WCOOP-51-H: $2,100 Thursday Thrill.
Other notable achievements Silva procured in 2021 was final tabling the WSOP Online Event #21 $25,000 Super High Roller Championship, Silva would bow out in fifth-place for $330,433. He then capped off the year in excellent style after winning the partypoker MILLIONS Online #02 Super 500 for another six digit prize.
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
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