Vamos! Forca Brasil! Why Brazil Is Crushing At SCOOP

It is said they have actually invented football, not the British. Maybe they have, maybe they haven’t but they did invent a style of play that made football loved all around the world: Joga Bonito!

Now, after discovering the game of poker - invented by the Americans no doubt - the Brazilians are on the verge of inventing another unique style that resembles much with Joga Bonito. And with it, they can once again conquer the world. Can? How about will, ‘cause the conquest has already began.

So far, Brazil has been crushing at the largest and the most notorious poker festival in the online world - Spring Championship Of Online Poker - reaching new heights and dominating their competition like we haven’t seen in a long time. Their domination is crystal clear if we take a look at the SCOOP stats, facts and figures.

Brazil Is Dominating the SCOOP Leaderboards

The Brazilians are a top five lock in pretty much every single SCOOP leaderboard. And how about starting with the most obvious: the numbers of titles. So far, with four days to go till the end, Brazil is the clear leader with 16 total bracelets - 9 low-event bracelets, 3 medium-event bracelets and and 4 high-event bracelets. The second and third place, Canada and the United Kingdom are far away with ‘just’ 10 bracelets won so far.

Looking at the money list, the order is reversed: Canada tops the leaderboard with $4,860,884.39 followed by the UK with $4,203,732.90 and Brazil, the country that cashed in a total of $4,054,891.97. The Brazilians top the low-event money list with over $458K.

And we are just getting started: the South Americans have reached the SCOOP final table 73 times just two short of first-place Canada. They are first at the low-buy-in events with 32 final tables. Overall, the Brazilians have 3,748 cashes good for third - Russia and Germany are the first two. They also are in the top four by entries with 33,190 (again Russia and Germany are top two followed by the UK) a clear sign that poker is picking up steam in Brazil.

The individual leaderboards are much of the same: Rafael ‘GM_VALTER’ Moraes is currently second in the 2016 SCOOP money list after taking down Event #4 High Buy-in $2,100 for a grand prize of just over $300,000. Moraes has $570,141.71 in 2016 SCOOP cashes behind only unknown ‘Secret_M0d3’ from Slovenia who has $768,018.52. Secret_M0d3 won the $21,000 High-Roller and cashed in over $718K.

The player with most cashes so far at the SCOOP is also a Brazilian: Joao Mathias had 28 ITM finishes much like American Shaun Deeb.

All these numbers show us that Brazil is indeed the rising star in the poker world. But how did they reach this stage? And how are they dominating the action at the poker tables? The answer lies first and foremost in their playing style.

Joga Bonito Of Poker

Like in football where they can dazzle the opponents with their dribbles, most of the Brazilian poker players are unpredictable.They have a very aggressive play that constantly keeps the foes on their toes. They attack, attack and attack much like when they play the Beautiful Game and are relentless on the poker felt, whether is live or online. They aren’t too worried about the risks they take which can make a huge difference in any poker game.

Moreover, the Brazilians can surprise anyone with very creative lines that can easily confuse the opposition into making the wrong decision. That’s how they conquered the world through the Beautiful Game and that’s how they plan to conquer the world once more, this time through poker.

But the main question still remains unanswered: how did they reach this stage? And how did they pick up the game of poker so fast? The short answer: a very successful marketing campaign that put poker in its rightful place. The long answer?

Mind Sport And Football

Four years ago, the Brazilian Ministry of Sport recognized poker as a ‘competitive practice in which the participant requires intelligence, ability and intellectual and behavioral skills to succeed.’ In other words, for the Brazilian officials, poker is not gambling BUT a mind sport much like chess, Go and bridge. The news sparked the local poker landscape with more and more Brazilians becoming interested in the game.

The final spark though that fired up Brazil was PokerStars’ marketing campaign. In April 2013, one of the most popular figures in Brazil and a FIFA World Cup winner, Ronaldo joined forces with PokerStars in an attempt to popularize the game in his home country. The move was an instant success and because of it, poker could finally reach markets untouched before. Ronaldo started attending numerous poker events and since he is such a respected personality in Brazil, the interest in poker skyrocketed.

Last year, PS made another brilliant move and signed football superstar Neymar jr. to a sponsorship deal. The FC Barcelona forward didn’t disappoint and started promoting the game of poker right away. He starred in several marketing campaigns that also included The Phenomenon and didn’t miss any opportunities to show off his poker skills. Last summer for example, he posted on Instagram a hand in which he made an unlikely Royal Flush.

Jogando online, olha o que eu faço 🙈🙈🙈 ROYAL STRAIGHT FLUSH ♠️♥️♣️♦️ #Poker

A photo posted by Nj 🇧🇷 👻 neymarjr (neymarjr) on Aug 22, 2015 at 8:57am PDT

The post went viral in Brazil and all across the globe.

Team PS Pro and another important Brazilian figure who helped the game grow in his native country Andre Akkari praised Neymar saying he can actually develop into a good poker player. It remains to be seen but so far, the football superstar has had a very important contribution in the growth of the mind sport in Brazil. A growth that continues to happen day after day making the Brazilian players most feared at the poker tables. And this year’s SCOOP is a fine example of how far poker has come in the Amazon.

Can Brazil become the next ultimate poker villain in the world?

Have you played poker with Brazilians? What’s your experience with them? And how high is Brazil’s ceiling in poker? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.