Stack Eventos, the company responsible for organizing the Brazilian Poker Championship, had promised a guaranteed minimum prize pool of R$40 million (US$ 8.2m), and the mark was surpassed halfway through the event.
Consolidating itself as the biggest individual sporting prize in Brazil, the final stage of the championship featured tournaments that offered millionaire prizes to the champion: the Main Event, the main tournament of the schedule, allocated R$ 1.5 million (US$ 310k) to the champion Matias Pereda, from Uruguay. The High Rollers tournament, a modality in which each competitor needs to invest a registration fee of R$15,000 (US$ 3,100) to participate, awarded its champion, Luis Felipe Abdo de Souza from São Paulo, with R$1 million (US$ 205k).
The tournaments played over the 15 days of the stage involved registration fees that varied between R$500 (US$ 102) and R$50,000 (US$ 10,200), in addition to featuring competitions in different types of poker, putting to the test the skill and experience of the players who formed the more than 32,200 registrations in all tournaments.
The most important poker competition in Brazil also reaffirms its status as one of the most important series in the world, with a guaranteed place in the calendar of championships played throughout the year by professionals from all over the world.
Players from 44 different countries, representing all continents on the planet, participated in the BSOP Millions over these 15 days. Another impressive milestone that shows how much poker as a sport has grown in Brazil is that almost 1,000 new players competed in a tournament in the series for the first time.
As traditionally, poker competitions are open: even amateur players can sign up and challenge the big names in the sport, such as world champion André Akkari, a member of the PokerStars Team Pro team from São Paulo.
Devanir Campos, CEO of Stack Eventos, celebrated the success of the event and confirmation of the growth of the sport in the country. “In 2022, we distributed R$46 million in prizes, a record. This year, we jumped to more than R$72 million. These prize amounts place us as the third largest sports prize in the country, behind only the Brazilian Championship and the Copa do Brasil, both football tournaments.”
“However, the impact of BSOP goes further: the event attracts thousands of competitors to São Paulo from all over the world, bringing another millions of reales in impact on the hotel network, food and transport. Ultimately, the balance is positive for the participants, for us as an organization, for São Paulo, for Brazil and, of course, for poker,” highlighted Devanir.
The 2023 season of the BSOP (Brazilian Series of Poker), which is the Brazilian Poker Championship, featured a special stage in the Bahamas, in January; three stages in São Paulo, in March, July and now, in November; a stage in Brasília, in June; and one in Foz do Iguaçu, in October. In total, more than R$125 million (US$ 25.6m) in prizes were distributed throughout the year.
In 2023, the series also featured sponsorship and activations from important brands internationally such as the cryptocurrency broker Bitso, the beverage market giant Pernod Ricard, with its Chivas Regal whiskey, and PokerStars, the most traditional and reliable online poker platform. of the world.
The presence of several brands and companies associating themselves with poker shows how this modality has aroused the interest of different segments in a sport that grows year after year and offers countless marketing possibilities.
The 2024 season of the Brazilian Poker Championship already has a start date: from February 28th to March 5th, again at the WTC Sheraton, in São Paulo-SP.
Source: GMB
