Joao ‘joaosimaobh’ Simao topped the April Monthly PLB race with 3,180.87 points (photo: Danny Maxwell)

With 3,180 PLB Points, Joao ‘joaosimaobh’ Simao from Brazil, who hit #1 worldwide a few days ago, won the April Monthly PocketFives Leaderboard (MPLB). This is his first MPLB win and the sixth all-time for Brazil.

“It’s really nice,” Simao said. “I’m very happy to find that my ways keep working. Now all I need is to keep balance in my life. Poker is amazing, but it’s only one of the many amazing things in life.”

Simao started off April by taking second in the partypoker Heavyweight Main Event for $20,000 and 263 PLB Points on the 4th. Six days later, he hit it big in the Mountain Series on PokerStars, barreling to a win in the $1,050 Rebuy Denali, a Pot Limit Omaha tournament, for a commanding $167,000 and 872 PLB Points, his largest score of the 30-day month.

On April 21, Simao took down the Hot $162 on PokerStars and put back $5,500 and added another 168 points to his coffers. He closed out the month in style, winning the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance on April 24 for $37,000 and finishing fourth in the partypoker Super High Roller the same day for $27,000.

Simao’s 3,180 PLB Points were the most by an MPLB winner since Sweden’s Christian ‘eisenhower1’ Jeppsson had almost 4,000 last September. His average score in April was 159 points.

Sweden’s Andreas ‘Sheater’ Samuelsson was the runner-up in the April MPLB with 2,987 points, almost 200 fewer than Simao. He closed out the month on a winning streak, taking down four tournaments in the last two days of April.

Whereas Simao was about big scores, Samuelsson was all about volume. His largest score PLB-wise was a win in the partypoker Heavyweight Uppercut for 223 PLB Points. He also final tabled the site’s Super High Roller for another 222 PLB Points, his second largest point haul of the month.

“I’m kind of surprised actually,” Samuelsson said. “But I played a lot last month, so that’s probably why I did so well.”

Another Swede, ‘Discoovery‘, who moved all the way up to a personal best #13 in the PocketFives Rankings this week took third in the April MPLB race. After claiming his first Triple Crown on the final day of March, he came out swinging in April, taking down the partypoker Super High Roller on April 24 for $67,000, his largest score of the month. The same day, the Swede finished fifth in the Sunday 500 for another $17,000.

All told, ‘Discoovery’ had 10 tracked wins in online MTTs, bumping his career total to 31. He’s nearing $1 million in online tournament winnings and is already over 800 in the money finishes in total. He had 2,959 PLB Points in April and trailed second place by only 28 points.

Sweden’s ‘lena900‘, who won back-to-back MPLB titles in January and February, nearly added one more to his mantel by finishing fourth in April. ‘lena900’ was the runner-up in the Thursday Thrill on the third-to-last day of April and bagged $36,000. He final tabled the Sunday 500 on April 13 and took eighth in the Kilimanjaro tournament as part of the PokerStars Mountain Series for almost $20,000. He started the month off by winning the partypoker High Roller and earned 2,653 PLB Points during the month.

Finally, Norway’s ‘prebzzz‘ finished fifth in April, helped in part by a gold medal on the month’s third day in the PokerStars Sunday 500 for $67,000 and almost 600 PLB Points. One week later, he was back at it, scoring $58,000 for final tabling the Everest event of the Mountain Series, a $2,100 No Limit Hold’em tournament. He won the PokerStars $109 No Limit Hold’em Cubed on April 24 for $12,000. ‘prebzzz’ amassed 2,575 points during the month.

“It feels great,” ‘prebzzz’ said. “I had some big scores in April and I have a lot of confidence going into SCOOP this month.”

Here were the top 10 in April:

  1. joaosimaobh – 3,180.87
  2. Sheater – 2,987.68
  3. Discoovery – 2,959.22
  4. lena900 – 2,653.64
  5. prebzzz – 2,575.82
  6. RoccoGe – 2,482.07
  7. Ariados – 2,437.77
  8. aJarov – 2,401.45
  9. 1bigacehole – 2,399.12
  10. mjw006 – 2,366.91