The MicroMillions Main Event on PokerStarsbrought out almost 58,000 entrants, each paying $22. The result was that the $1 million guaranteed tournament ended up with a $1.1 million prize pool and, in the end, Diego dilimaa Lima (pictured) from Brazil walked away with a third place finish for $57,000, or 2,590 times his buy-in.

“I’m feeling great,” Lima told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “It was my biggest score and came a short time into me playing full-time.” It was his largest cash by a factor of nine and he started playing full-time in March.

He commented that the MicroMillions Main Event was “just like any other Sunday Major,” saying, “I started without any real hopes, with 57,000 entrants, but all of sudden there were fewer than 1,000 people left and it started to seem like I could make it.” Everyone who made the final table got at least $8,900 and the tournament itself ended in a two-way chop.

As far as the money goes, Lima said that his plans are to “keep playing low-stakes with my team and try to make it again.”

What kind of game plan can a person have when it comes to playing in a tournament with almost 58,000 entrants? Lima remarked, “I tried to keep playing well without making big mistakes and then, in the end, it was really unusual. Everyone was folding down to two big blinds waiting for A-A. I tried to open as many hands as possible and chip up.”

Before playing poker for a living, Lima was a law student. After taking on a few internships, he met fellow Brazilians hneves182and sydens (pictured) and joined up with them to begin his ascent up the poker ladder. Lima is one of 36 PocketFivers with a PLB score from the coastal city of Salvador.

As we mentioned, Lima hadpreviously studied law, so when asked how his friends and family took the news that he’d instead be playing poker full-time, he told us, “Everybody criticized me for poker’s insecurity and the general instability associated with the game, but I stood my ground and tried to show that I was serious about it.” We suspect the doubters have quieted following his MicroMillions haul.

Lima got into poker originally after watching the James Bond flick “Casino Royale” (2006 version pictured) and began hitting up micro-stakes games with friends after football. As he said, “Everybody played for fun, but I tried to make the most of it and turn a profit from them every week.” He has since amassed almost 700 in the money finishes in online MTTs.

Finally, outside of poker, Lima enjoys watching movies, following television series, playing basketball, and going to the beach. Who doesn’t like going to the beach, anyway?

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