Two Brazilian Players Join Natural8’s “Team Bling” As Ambassadors

We are midway into the WSOP 2020 Online, and Brazil has been receiving a lot of attention for its players’ deep runs so far. Four players have won a gold bracelet each this festival: two-time bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski (Event #42: $400 PLO - PLOSSUS), Marcelo “Marolo” Jakovjlevic Pudla (Event #32: $100 NLHE - The Opener), Luis “Xapilskinha” Eduardo Assuncao Garla (Event #55: HK$8,000 NLHE Asia Championship) and Leonardo “Babaehduro” Mattos (Event #59: $2,500 Double Stack NLHE), bringing the total tally for Brazil to ten bracelets altogether.

Natural8’s “Team Bling”: Sponsorships of Up to $100,000 Up For Grabs Two of these players: Marcelo and Eduardo have also been inducted into Natural8’s “Team Bling” as ambassadors.

Team Bling was created specifically for WSOP Online 2020, and membership is only open to Natural8 players who win a gold bracelet event. Members also receive sponsorships worth between $7,500 to $100,000, depending on buy-ins of the event they’ve won. There are three different levels: bronze, silver and gold.

Both Marcelo and Eduardo will join Team Bling alongside other notable players like Daniel Dvoress, Hun Wei Lee and Paul Teoh.

Marcelo “Marolo” Jakovljevic Pudla: Team Bling Member & Winner of Event #32: $100 NLHE - The Opener

Marcelo is a relative newcomer to the game, having started playing poker in 2016 after making a $20 deposit on an online poker site. He started out with micro stakes, and slowly grew his bankroll to play bigger limits and eventually, live exclusively on his poker winnings.

He focused mainly on online games, and before winning his maiden gold bracelet this year, his only notable live cash was for approximately $3,681 (14th place - NLHE Main Event) in the 2018 Brazilian Series of Poker.

This year’s WSOP “The Opener” attracted an unprecedented 29,306 entries altogether with a total prize pool of $2,571,216. 3,039 spots were paid and Marcelo received the lion’s share of $265,880 for being the last man standing.

Marcelo claimed his career-best score and first ever WSOP bracelet after 11 hours of uninterrupted action. One of his notable opponents on the final table was fellow Brazilian Pablo Silva. Silva, who recently walked away with a cool $1,000,000 after taking down the main event in this year’s partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America, was eventually eliminated in 5th place and earned $71,742 for his latest deep run.

For winning this bracelet event, Marcelo also won a $7,500 sponsorship from Natural8, as well as an ambassadorship in “Team Bling”. When asked what he enjoys about playing at Natural8, Marcelo replied “There are many things I like about Natural8, especially the cashback which in my opinion is one of the best on the market. The special tournaments of the day have a very good value and guarantees as well. The emoji options at the table are also a great way to inject some fun and create a lighter atmosphere at the tables.”

Eduardo “Xapilskinha” Garla: Team Bling Member & Winner of Event #55: HK$8,000 NLHE Asia Championship

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The other Brazilian “Team Bling” member so far is Eduardo Garla, who took down the NLHE Asia Championship by beating poker coach Alexandros “THE Sheriff” Theologis in a head-to-head battle and walking away with a $15,000 Natural8 sponsorship package.

The NLHE Asia Championship featured a buy-in equivalent to slightly more than $1,000, and attracted a total field of 3,247 entries. The top 404 finishers were awarded a portion of the HK$24,677,200 ($3,208,036) prize pool, which was about triple the initial guarantee.

After almost 13 hours of play, Garla walked away with the top prize of HK$3,551,611 ($461,709) and his first career bracelet. His victory also shot him to the top of the WSOP 2020 Asia Timezone Online Leaderboard, where he is more than 1000 points ahead of the next contender. The winner of this leaderboard will walk away with a WSOP Pure Gold Dragon trophy.

Eduardo’s win marked his 8th WSOP career cash, and his only other first place victory since 2014 when he shipped the Brazilian Series of Poker High Roller event for $35,641. His biggest cash prior to this was also back in 2014 at the WSOP $10,000 NLHE World Championships Event, where he walked away with $230,487.

The shift of the WSOP from a live event to an online one definitely changes the way the game is played. Eduardo who prefers live events said “I like playing live poker more, because I like being able to look at the players and try to discover something different, something that I could not discover playing poker online.”

When asked why he enjoys playing on Natural8, he said “the structure of the tournaments are great, especially the deep stack structure that allows for good game development”.

Brazilian Players Who Have Won WSOP Bracelets So Far

Brazil has done very well in the WSOP Online 2020 tournaments so far, with a total of four bracelets won and bringing the tally for Brazil to an even ten.