5 Brazilian Players With Over $2 Million In Live Winnings

What pops up in your mind’s eye when someone asks you think about Brazil? It’s amazing national soccer team? The Rio Carnival? What about Brazilian poker players?

It’s staggering to see the lack of coverage Brazilian poker players receive outside South America. The country famous for its Samba beat has produced some incredible poker players over the years. These players tend to grind online poker more than venture out into the live arena, yet still rack up some impressive results.

Let’s look at five of the biggest Brazilian live poker winners and check out their online exploits too.

Alexandre Gomes Is No. 1 In The Brazilian All-Time Money Listings

Alexandre Gomes is the only Brazilian in the current top five to have banked a seven-figure prize. It’s this $1,187,670 score that sees his sit proudly on top of his country’s all-time money listings.

Gomes secured this mammoth-sized prize by winning the $15,400 Bellagio Cup V in 2009. He topped a field of 268-entrants to get his hands on the lion’s share of the prize pool. Gomes defeated Faraz Jaka heads-up on his way to victory.

That impressive victory came almost exactly a year after Gomes won his WSOP bracelet. The Brazilian triumphed in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2008 for $770,540.

Gomes hasn’t cashed in a live event since September 2018 but still has $3,689,989 in earnings. He still grinds online where he’s won close to $1.75 million.

Joao Simao Is a Brazilian Beast In Online and Live Poker

Joao Simao is the Brazilian with the most combined winnings thanks to his online talents. Simao has collected $3,099,138 from his live exploits plus an additional $9,490,575 online.

Simao has seven six-figure scores from live poker events, the largest weighs in at $345,274. He’s yet to win a WSOP, WPT, or EPT live title, but he’s practically won it all online. More than $5.6 million of Simao’s online winnings stem from his play at PokerStars. His sponsor’s site, partypoker, is Simao’s next best profitable with just shy of $3 million in winnings.

It’s not only playing poker where Simao excels because he also runs a poker training school. He’s helped countless Brazilians on their way to follow their poker dreams.

Andre Akkari Is a True Brazilian Ambassador

Andre Akkari has long been a major force in Brazilian poker. Akkari was one of the first Latin American players PokerStars signed as an ambassador. It gave Akkari a prominent role in promoting Brazilian poker outside of his country.

He’s done a great job so far, helping give prominence to some of Brazil’s stars. It helps when you’ve won $2,673,060 live and nearly $3.62 million online.

Akkari is also a WSOP bracelet winner, locking his up in 2011. Akkari went into heads-up against Nachman Berlin trailing 3-to-1 in chips. But Akkari had two secret weapons: his unwavering self-belief and an army of fans on the rail. Both these things helped Akkari defeat Berlin to become the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em champion.

Felipe Ramos Looks Forward To Winning a Bracelet

Joao Simao isn’t the only Brazilian with an online poker site sponsor because Felipe Ramos has one too. GGPoker, who are awarding 54 WSOP bracelets this summer, recognized Ramos’ talents and signed him up.

Ramos has accumulated $2,600,746 in the live arena and millions more online. His online winnings are not accurately known because he removed his tracking profile, but Ramos is respected and feared in equal measure.

It’s surely only a matter of time before Ramos becomes a Brazilian bracelet winner. He’s enjoyed 31 cashes, including five top 10 finishes. A third-place in the $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2018 is the closest he’s come…for now.

Thiago Nishijima The Former Banker

Thiago Nishijima is one of a handful of Brazilian bracelet winners, having won his in 2015. Nishijima was victorious in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, a result that awarded him $546,843. It more than made up for his third-place finish in a WSOP event five years previous.

He was a banker before becoming a poker pro and the switch is going well for him. Nishijima has more than $2.17 million in live winnings and more than $5 million online.

It’s online where Nishijima concentrates much of his efforts these days where he’s known as “XTheDecanoX”.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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