Everything Starts by Having a Good Place to Grind
“Everything starts by having a good place to grind, a good mindset, and the knowledge that you are not above variance,” Brazil’s Thiago kkremateCrema (pictured) told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “When you least expect it, success will reach you.” Crema shared his advice following a win in the PokerStars Sunday 500last weekend, a tournament score that saw him rake in just shy of $70,000 and helped solidify his standing in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings at #126 worldwide and #7 in Brazil.
The win served as retribution of sorts, as Crema took fourth in the PokerStars Sunday 500 last November for $28,000, one of two final tables he logged in the event in 2011. This time, he took it down un-chopped and bucked a sub-par trend at the tables: “I wasn’t having a good year, and winning one of toughest fields in online poker is so great. It gave me some motivation for the rest of the year.”
As Crema said at the top of the article, success begins by having a good place to grind. The Brazilian was camped out at the Latin American Poker Tour’s stop in Colombia with friends, which set the stage for a rousing Sunday showing. He explained, “I was at LAPT Colombia with my friends and there was a good vibe there. I knew for sure that I would win something big live or online.”
He made Day 2 of the LAPT Colombia Main Event, but bowed out in the first few levels. Instead of being cooped up in a stuffy poker room, he hit the town and primed himself for an online run the next day: “I made Day 2 of the LAPT Main Event, but busted in the first few levels. So, I enjoyed the city and rested up to focus on Sunday’s online poker tournaments.”
We should probably point out that Crema didn’t beat a bunch of cupcakes at the final table of the Sunday 500 either. Third place went to Canada’s Ryan ryanghallHall, who has over $2 million in tracked MTT cashes in his PocketFives profile. Finishing right behind Hall on the leaderboard was fellow Canadian Mike SirWattsWatson (pictured), a World Poker Tour champion. Seventh place went to the fifth ranked player worldwide on PocketFives, the Netherlands’ Paul padjes Berende.
Up until last weekend, 2012 had largely been a bust for the Brazil pokercommunity member. When asked to describe how the first few months of the year went, Crema spelled out, “I’ve played well and gotten some important victories, but 2012 didn’t start out so well. I wasn’t playing my best and was running a bit bad. The variance in high-stakes MTTs is high, but I know that is normal nowadays.”
Crema came over to poker after playing chess. As he admitted, “Lots of people who play chess play poker, so I started playing with them when they competed online.” He signed up for PocketFives on the first day of July two years ago and peaked at #26 worldwide in the Rankings in January 2012.
Other recent scores for the Brazilian include a runner-up finish in the PokerStars.be Hold’em Challenge: Online Edition Main Event for $16,000 in June and a second place run in the PokerStars Wednesday Hundred Grand in March for $18,000. He has a half-dozen logged MTT cashes of at least $20,000 and 24 of at least $10,000.
PocketFives has interviewed a number of Brazilians recently, including Bruno brunovolksVolkmann (pictured), who won last week’s 888 Poker Sunday Challenge, and Julio powerpokerbr Oliveira Lins, who chopped the most recent PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy.
The South American country has been churning out poker talent, which led Crema to tell us, “I know many Brazilian poker players and we have some good players here. It’s a big country, but regardless of the pro/fish proportion, I think we have some good players.” Maybe there’s something in the water.
Crema closed by saying, “It was such a nice Sunday, winning and having friends around to celebrate my victory. I was also happy for powerpokerbr for chopping the Sunday $100 Rebuy.”
Visit PokerStarsto play in this week’s Sunday 500. If you don’t already have an account, sign up through PocketFives and show your support for our online poker community. Plus, you’ll get a 100% deposit bonus up to $600 and be able to play at the world’s largest online poker room. Get started here.
