Brazilians are a very passionate people. In everything they do there is a lot of energy and intensity. When professional poker started in Brazil in 2005, some thought that those characteristics could reflect in a negative way in their performance at the tables. Fortunately, they are also very open to adaptation. And when they learned that the game requires a lot of discipline, focus, study and concentration, they changed.

This year, Brazil finished the Spring Championship of Online Poker with 21 titles, leading the Events Won by Country leaderboard ahead of United Kingdom (20), Canada (14), Germany (14) and Russia (11). In 2015, Brazil had just six titles in 2015, so an additional 15 titles is a vast improvement that goes beyond the expectations of even the biggest Brazilian supporter.

BRAZIL’s 2016 SCOOP BY THE NUMBERS

Entrants: 52,945
Winnings: $5,947,618.78
Cashes: 7,824
Average Cash: $760.18
Final Tables: 99
Titles: 21

One interesting fact: Brazil was only fourth overall in Players by Country. Less players, more titles, amazing efficiency. And the vast majorities of those titles came in Low events, showcasing Brazil’s new generation of disciplined and focused players that can compete in the highest levels in the near future. Years ago, a “Brazilian Storm” – as the success of the Brazilians was dubbed, happened in pro surfing and it appears something similar is happening at the poker tables.

“I’m really happy to see my country doing so good in SCOOP”, said André Akkari, member of Team PokerStars Pro and Brazil’s biggest poker ambassador. “Poker is experiencing a boom here in Brazil in the last few years and it’s really good to see the passion that Brazilians has for the game translate into big results in the tables. We had amazing victories this year and I’m looking forward to see what we can do at WCOOP next.”

The highlights of the 2016 SCOOP titles for Brazilians came from Leandro ‘mmleandro’ Macedo victory at the Main Event Low, where he won $196.058,77, and Rafael ‘GM_VALTER’ Moraes achievement in Event #4 (H), $2.100 No Limit Hold’em, where he pocketed $301.625,49 for first place. Interesting fact: in both events, the heads-ups finales were all “green and yellow” with two Brazilians battling it out each time.

All those numbers in one of the most important online series of poker show Brazil’s progress at the tables. The big question now is will the success of Brazilian players continue during the 2016 World Series Of Poker? The WSOP schedule offers fewer events than SCOOP but much more pressure. Given the overwhelming success they showed by taking 21 of the 168 available SCOOP titles, a bracelet or two this summer doesn’t seem to be an impossible target.