In May, Helio hneves182Neves (pictured) finished second in the PokerStars Sunday 500 and banked $63,000. In June, just one month later, he took the same tournament down for another $58,000. Over $120,000 later, Neves has been on fire in the weekly Sunday tournament. We caught up with the Brazilian to get his side of the story.

“Winning the Sunday 500 feels pretty good,” Neves told us, “especially after coming in second one month before. It feels good to be on the luckier side this time.” The week he recorded his 29th win in an online MTT we track, there were 635 entrants and the Sunday 500 had a prize pool that ran circles around the $250,000 guarantee.

Fourth place in the Sunday 500 in June went to longtime PocketFiver Jon EMSBas Spinks. “I only played with him at the semi-final table,” Neves said, “which he came in quite short. He sucked out on me on the bubble with K-Q versus my A-Q. At the final table, he was pretty tight, but that’s the best way to play against a table full of maniacs, in my opinion, so I’d say he was pretty solid.”

He’s being fairly responsible with his latest barrage of cash. Rather than blow it on something random, Neves told us, “I’m trying to be responsible, think about the future, and not spend more than necessary. When I look back at how much I’ve won in poker and how much I have right now, I feel I could’ve done a better job in the past. We don’t really know what the future holds for poker, with markets closing and all that. If anything bad happens, I’d like to be able to have a lot of options.”

In case you’re wondering, the reason his second place finish in the Sunday 500 was worth more than his win is because the former took place during SCOOP, when the tables were flooded with humanity. He explained, “As a heads-up player, a small part of me gets a bit annoyed when I get second in a tourney, especially given how terrible MTT players are at heads-up, even the best ones, but I think I’m way beyond the point of being completely detached emotionally from results, whatever they might be. I am pretty zen about huge losing streaks and big wins.”

Speaking of heads-up, he has played around 150,000 heads-up sit and gos, turbos, and hypers. On Sundays and during big series, he dabbles in MTTs. When asked if he had gone blind from all of the screen time he’s had, Neves joked, “My eyes are still good. My back, not so much!”

Neves started watching poker on ESPN eight years ago and promptly downloaded PokerStars. “I played a lot of play money games and freerolls,” he said. “I slowly moved up playing the smallest cash games and sit and gos and then discovered poker forums and articles. I developed online friendships with other players and went through the usual path that a lot of players have gone through.”

Whereas we’ve heard quite a few positive things about Brazilfrom other interviewees, Neves’ take was less rosy. He explained, “I don’t share the traditional patriotism that my peers are famous for at all. The country is a political hell, the people have a natural desire for taking advantage of others any chance they get, and services such as internet are incredibly terrible. You don’t want to know how many heads-up sit and gos I’ve lost because of disconnection. The only good things about the place are the food and the weather. I’ll be moving out forever as soon as my fiancée finishes college.”

Visit PokerStars for more details on the Sunday 500. Congrats to Neves on his recent runs in the tournament.

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