Poker is increasingly in fashion and the resumption of face-to-face tournaments this year has made the modality gain even more prestige and fans. To talk about the evolution of the sport in Brazil, GMB talked exclusively with Devanir Campos, director and partner of the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP), still during the event.
GMB - For starters, when you entered the world of poker playing with friends for fun and have a beer, did you imagine that the sport would grow to the level it reached today?
Devanir Campos - It was hard to imagine, because poker is not a cultural modality of ours. In the United States, it is very normal and people play at home with their family. Here in Brazil we have other games, such as buraco and truco. When we go to the beach and it's raining, we play cards, but not poker. So when we started playing, among poker-loving friends, we had no expectation that it could reach current proportions. We followed some tournaments that took place around the world and watched news about the game, but we could not imagine any expectation as to what it achieved. At that time, broadcasts of some big championships were starting to appear on TV and we thought how interesting it would be to have championships like those in Brazil. But never, at that first moment, did we think it would be easy or minimally quick to happen. But I'm glad we persevered.
And you didn't even imagine that you would lead a project of this scale!
Exactly. In the beginning it was a hobby and fun for us. Many people who have hobbies end up going to a professional activity. I know people who started cycling over the weekend and today are professional cyclists or businessmen of that activity. At first, we had no intention of undertaking it. We just wanted to have fun, because poker is social and a lot of fun.
Poker is increasingly in fashion and with the resumption of face-to-face tournaments this year, the modality has gained even more prestige and fans. What is such success due to?
First, that Texas Hold'em is very easy to learn. We have a phrase that sums it up: 'Texas Hold'em is a game you learn in 5 minutes but takes a lifetime to master'. At the same time that it is simple, it is complex due to the unfolding of situations that are very large. It's not just a combination of cards, but a game of people, in which differences in actions and behavior enter each of the plays. In addition, the emergence of major championships was accompanied by a technological revolution, with the boom in internet poker platforms. People started to have more information and I brought content for them to learn strategies and ways of playing from the big names in the poker community. This brought an exponential rise in popularity. It became easier for a first contact to happen. There are two big factors: a fun and easy-to-learn game and, second, because it came along with a technological revolution.
The 2022 edition of the BSOP itself is an example of this, as it broke all records. What is your assessment of the tournament and the receptivity of the poker community to the most important tournament in the Southern Hemisphere?
Our reflection is of great success. The event is bigger in many ways. We've increased the number of tables, professionals working, and tournaments available, as well as a huge range of tournament buy-in levels. We have from the cheapest, for those amateur players who just want to have fun and who will have their first contact with poker, to the most expensive tournaments in Brazil. We had, for example, the Super High Rollers tournament, with a registration fee of R$ 50,000, in which participated the greatest professionals and idols of this sport in Brazil. Many people came to follow the tournament and see the guys up close. It was very cool. We are pleased with the results, which are a reflection of a lot of planning time and the consolidation of a year-round championship that has brought great visibility and the biggest names in poker. Our final balance is of a very successful event.
How much is the tournament moving in figures and number of subscribers?
We are recording this interview with five days left for the event to end, but our expectation is that over all the days something close to R$ 45 million (US$ 8.4m) in prizes will be distributed, which will be generated by a total of close to 25,000 registrations in all the tournaments. So, it's a colossus when it comes to poker competitions, even compared to what happens all over the world. We are behind the World Championship (WSOP), which takes place every year in the United States, and we compete year after year with the Barcelona leg of the European Championship who takes second place. There are years when they have the biggest event, and others we.
You spoke of the World Cup. Did the WSOP bring to Brazil some of the celebrities who are successful at the tables in Las Vegas?
If we talk about Brazilian celebrities, surely all the great professionals are here. The world is very big and there are competitions taking place all the time, so we have a slight disadvantage when it comes to bringing in big names from other countries. It's our currency. Latin American currencies are devalued against the dollar and euro. So, a top-level player from Europe, for example, who is used to playing tournaments costing €10,000, 20,000 or even €50,000, will find tournaments much cheaper in Brazil, even if they are very expensive for us. For the European or North American, it ends up being very cheap and, therefore, the big names end up not coming to Latin America due to the exchange rate devaluation. Even so, we managed to see the big names. During this event we had the presence of a great Canadian professional and an Irishman, Sam Grafton, who were disputing the biggest BSOP tournaments. We also have other important professionals from all over Latin America.
In other words, Brazil has already entered the world calendar of this sport of the mind!
Certainly. Today the BSOP Millions is categorically a Grand Slam of poker worldwide. There are some stages and tournaments on the international calendar that professionals don't want to miss and the BSOP Millions has definitely joined this group of unmissable events.
And the partnership with PokerStars is yet another demonstration of the importance of Brazilian poker!
PokerStars has been the largest, most important and reputable poker platform on planet Earth for decades, so having the world market leader as a partner, in addition to being a strategic position, is a seal of quality. BSOP is the market leader in Brazil and nothing fairer and more appropriate than having the partnership of the largest and most respected poker site in the world.
Especially since online poker has caught on in the poker community and brought new people into the sport.
Of course, yes. Every day online poker brings new fans, as contact is easier. In addition, tournaments can be played for as little as a few cents and others, free of charge, from the comfort of home. Before venturing into a regional or even a national tournament, it is possible to learn, take the first steps and acquire a certain competitiveness and minimum level of knowledge of how the game works in order to compete in bigger tournaments. So, online poker without a doubt is very beneficial for the entire ecosystem that permeates the poker universe. From live clubs, regional and national and even international tournaments, online poker is key to this.
Talking about 2023, what are your expectations for the Brazilian poker market for next year?
The Brazilian poker market tends to grow even more. In recent years, we have observed a significant growth rate, varying between 10% and 15% per year. Of course, we've had the pandemic years, as well as difficult economic times, which are reflected in poker. As a sport and entertainment, we are also affected, but now we are seeing Brazil coming out of a difficult moment in the economy, with positive indicators, so everything leads to believe that 2023 will be very positive, not only for poker in Brazil, but in America Latin as a whole.
From a legal point of view, how is poker being viewed by the Brazilian authorities?
It is important to point out that the law has not changed at all in the last 20 years. What changed was society's understanding, for whom we showed that poker never was and still has nothing wrong or illegal. Poker is a game of skill and a mental sport. And it's not a skill game or mental sport because I think it's beautiful to say that it is. It's because it follows a hierarchical chain from the sporting world and because we've been able to prove even mathematically and through studies, including from respected universities like MIT and Tel Aviv College in Israel, that poker is a game of skill. In Brazil, poker is operated very calmly, in the same way as a chess or snooker tournament would be operated, which despite having different skills, are games that require skill and do not depend mainly or exclusively on luck.
Finally, I would like two messages from you. One for the poker community and especially those just starting to deal cards and sit down at a poker table.
The first message that I think is very important is that poker is a lot of fun and it has to be fun. For those who are starting now, gather a group of friends and have fun. That's pretty cool before you have ambitions of trying to play big tournaments. For those who will try to venture into tournaments, there is a lot of free content on the internet. It is important to update because, as it is a skill game, it evolves and the strategies and tactics learned two or three years ago, today people already know how to present countermeasures to these tactics.
And the message for the partners who were hand in hand with this year's BSOP?
We are very grateful to all our partners and sponsors. We are extremely happy to have big brands on our side, such as PokerStars, which is our main sponsor; Copag, which has been with us since the first edition of the BSOP, in 2006; GamersWallet, which is the official payment method and has been with us since the beginning of last year. We appreciate and encourage all of our customers to use our partners' products and services. We also have Royal Brand, a brand that produces clothes and accessories that are sold at the event; Real Poker, which makes all the tables and chips we use; Bitso, cryptocurrency broker; Flush Tour, official travel agency for the event; Jumper and Betfair. The entire network of partners makes BSOP even more successful.
Source: Exclusive GMB
