Brazil as an Online Powerhouse
The success of the BSOP Millions goes hand in hand with Brazil's growing influence on the global online scene. In recent years, Brazilian grinders have become synonymous with massive volume, aggressive play, and endless deep runs in series like SCOOP and WCOOP. Many reports openly talk about an era where Brazilians dominate online tournaments.
One of the faces of this era is Joao Simao. Under the nickname INeedMassari, he collected online titles and as one of the few players achieved the prestigious “COOP Triple Crown” – victories in WCOOP, SCOOP, and TCOOP. According to the PocketFives portal, he has racked up approximately $7.6 million in online tournaments and has repeatedly risen to the top world ranking.
Super High Roller Series: A New Masters League in São Paulo
A new addition to the BSOP Millions 2025 is the Super High Roller Series – a standalone high stakes “festival within a festival” running from November 14th to 23rd. The program opens with a $10,000 Super High Roller Invitational and continues through $20,000, $30,000, and $50,000 events, culminating in Brazil’s first-ever $100,000 Super High Roller, complemented by one-day $10,000 and $20,000 tournaments.
The first trophy of the entire Super High Roller Series was the $10,000 Super High Roller Invitational, which dealt cards on the first day of the festival in the packed halls of the Sheraton WTC. It was a unique format – “BSOP guests” and their invited professionals competed in two separate starting fields. Recreational or business players competed among themselves, professionals clashed in the second field, and only on Day 2 did everyone merge into one common field.
Names like Yuri Dzivielevski, Pedro Padilha, Kelvin Kerber, Martin Kabrhel, Masato Yokosawa and Brazilian idol Joao Simao graced the tables. The total number of entries ultimately stopped at 113, which meant a prizepool of $1,130,000, divided among the nine finalists, with $256,000 awaiting the winner. The final of this tournament was broadcast live, and you can watch the live stream recording here:
A Star-Studded Final Table and Brazilian Dominance
The final table was dominated by the home country – eight Brazilians were joined by a single foreign guest, Argentinian Ivan Luca. Luca battled his way to the final heads-up, where he faced Joao Simao – a showdown between a Brazilian online legend and one of Argentina's most successful professional players.
Simao entered the heads-up with a lead, but a series of smaller pots swung the balance towards Luca. A critical hand occurred when both opponents' stacks nearly equalized – Simao pushed all-in with A d 6 c and was on the brink of elimination against K d Q c. However, his hand held on the board, and the Brazilian regained a significant lead.
Luca survived three more all-ins, but the fourth attempt was unsuccessful. In the final hand, they got into a preflop flip – Simao held Q c J h and Luca pocket 6 h 6 s. The board brought a higher pair for Joao, and an explosion of joy in the Brazilian rail zone announced the first title of the Super High Roller Series: Joao Simao became the champion of the $10,000 Super High Roller Invitational, taking home $256,000 and a trophy he had long wanted to display next to his computer.
Results of the $10,000 Super High Roller Invitational Final Table
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1. | Joao Simao | Brazil | $256,000 |
| 2. | Ivan Luca | Argentina | $174,000 |
| 3. | Thiago Macedo | Brazil | $112,000 |
| 4. | Dennys Ramos | Brazil | $93,000 |
| 5. | Eduardo Parra | Brazil | $75,000 |
| 6. | Rafael Mota | Brazil | $60,000 |
| 7. | Luiz Ferreira | Brazil | $45,000 |
| 8. | Vinicius Rezende | Brazil | $34,000 |
| 9. | Gabriel Tavares | Brazil | $26,000 |
Sources: PokerNews, BSOP.com, X
