After finding online success Brazil's Alexandre Mantovani has taken to the live circuit.

In September 2017, Alexandre Mantovani outlasted all but three of the 2,183 players in the 2017 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. Busting in fourth place came with a life-changing score of $612,697.15. It was 40 times larger than his previous best career cash.

Rather than spend the money on a party or a new car, Mantovani decided to put some of the money to work for him in an effort to expand his horizons, both personally and professionally.

“After my big online score, I wanted some new challenges,” said Mantovani. “Live (poker) is a completely different environment. It was really fun to understand and travel to different places. I love traveling. It’s more about getting out of my comfort zone and having new stuff happen. Something different.”

He played more live events in Brazil, but wanted to play poker in other countries and cities. One place he knew he had to visit was Las Vegas. Mantovani headed to Vegas last summer for the first time in his life to play some poker and see the sights. It was a decision that paid immediate dividends.

“It was really fun. I was with a friend there and we crushed. I final tabled a tournament at Venetian in the first week there, he final tabled two WSOP events so it was a blast, really,” Montovani said. The Venetian event earned him $45,620, a career-best live score.

This week, Montovani is in the Bahamas for the first time, playing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He finished 10th in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event and picked up $27,410. He also took a shot in the $25,000 PokerStars Players No Limit Championship.

“When I heard about (the PSPC) I knew I wanted to be here, so I went to a lot of Platinum Pass events. I was preparing myself to play the $25K,” said Montovani, who bought into the event. “I final table final table bubbled the $5,000, which was alright. It was my second PCA tournament ever. The first being the $25K. It was good.”

Late Friday night, the #27-ranked online poker player in Brazil, was deep in the $1,100 PCA National event with a shot at the $148,200 first place prize. As the field got smaller, Mantovani was faced with a decision and couldn’t shake the memory of bubbling the final table of the $5,000 event.

“I had an actual decision at the final table bubble and I said ‘Man, I’m not going to back-to-back bubble’ so I folded a close-jam. I’m feeling good, I’m happy,” said Mantovani, who made the final table with an average stack.

Focusing on more live play the last 18 months has given the 30-year-old a perspective that he doesn’t believe he would have found had he continued to grind online. It’s allowed him to improve his overall game by paying attention to the other players around him.

“I’m all about learning and understanding that you can learn from everyone, even from players that are not very good or recreational players and I think when you play live you get to learn more and not just about poker,” said Mantovani.