Two weeks ago, the nation of Brazil continued its hot streak after Mateus Lessa (pictured), known on PocketFives as Matu11, chopped the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up two ways and bagged $94,000. It was his largest tracked cash by a factor of four and the latest in a string of impressive results from Brazilians.

“I’m really, really happy,” Lessa told PocketFives in an exclusive interview, “but it’s not about the money. What makes me happy is to make my family, friends, and partners feel proud about what I did, not only about the Warm-Up, but also the long battle since I decided to become a professional poker player.”

He plays for a group called Smart Team in Brazil and explained that part of the money is due to them. After that, he aims to travel the world and said, “The main thing is I’ve started the year the best I could and now have the chance to fight for the Rankings and prove I am among the best in our sport.” He is currently the 34th ranked player in the Brazil poker community and #541 worldwide.

Brazil has grown to be freakish when it comes to poker. It’s #5 worldwide in our Country Poker Rankingswith a combined PLB score of its top 20 players of 100,698 points. “Brazilian players are really good and we are getting better and better,” Lessa observed. “The results show that. We all saw what Pessagno (pictured) did last year and he is only one example. We have dozens of players who work really hard to get on top of the world and I really believe we deserve something special this year in Vegas. I definitely think it is time for Brazil to be in the November Nine.”

Pessagno is a former #1 ranked player on PocketFives and Lessa called him “the most famous Brazilian PocketFiver right now.” Pessagno has fallen back to #48 worldwide in recent weeks, but Lessa explained, “As a player, he is one-of-a-kind. His style is unique and nobody can do it like him. What is really nice is how humble he is, how hard he grinds, and how he is always trying to improve, especially on his live poker game, where he has no big results so far.”

Lessa got started playing poker while in Houston, Texas, where he was camped out on a soccer scholarship. “We played a home game once per week,” Lessa said, “and quickly I was shipping three-quarters of the games we played. When I got back to Brazil, I had a cousin who was playing poker. He saw I could be really successful at it. The first books I studied, the first tournaments I played, the first deep discussions about the game I had – they were all with him and I’ll always be grateful.”

Last January, Lessa finished in ninth in the Brazilian Series of Poker Main Event in Sao Paulo and earned $9,100. He dropped a huge pot with A-K against Q-Q, which he called “the most important hand of my life.” He added, “On January 5, I got 40th in the Sunday Warm-Up and lost a big hand with J-J versus A-J versus A-Q. I consider that the second most important hand of my life.”

Following his setback on the 5th, Lessa thought to himself, “When will I win a sick, important hand like that? When am I going to have a chance to get so close to a big hit like that again?” He told his teammates he’d win the Warm-Up during 2014 and, as fate would have it, he needed all of a week to make good on his promise.

The Sunday Warm-Up runs weekly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have an account on the site, create one through PocketFives’ links to get a 100% deposit bonus up to $600 and one free month of PocketFives Training when you make a deposit. Plus, PokerStars will host a special PocketFives Open as part of a three-tournament series on January 28. Get started here.

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