To open the month of December, Brazil’s Gabriel Otranto(pictured) kicked it into high gear by chopping the PokerStars Sunday Millionand Sunday 500 on the very same day. After the final cards were dealt, he took second in the former for $149,000 and was the runner-up in the latter for $56,000. All told, he raked in over $200,000 following his two deals and etched his name in the annals of poker history. We caught up with Otranto, who has a tiny three-month-old child to contend with as well, to break down his monstrous Sunday.

“This kind of hit is what we all play for,” the Brazilian told us. “I’ve been playing professionally for three years now, but just decided to take online poker seriously a few months ago. Because of my new family, I felt like I needed more time home, fewer trips, and less variance. It was so incredibly nice to hit these even before I was sure I had a decent return playing online and that it was worth it to go online.” He joked that he’s still not sure playing internet poker for a living is in his best interest.

We asked Otranto why he chose to chop both tournaments rather than play each one out. His response: “I was heads-up in the Sunday 500 with a much more experienced player (at least online) and I had the Sunday Million going at the same time, which gave me a very good excuse to propose a deal.” His opponent, the United Kingdom’s pvas2, accepted right away in the Sunday 500 and the heads-up chop shook out as follows:

1. pvas2 $66,235.12 (pvas2)
2. gabriel171 $56,059.88 (Gabriel Otranto)

The December 5th installment of the PokerStars Sunday Million ended in a four-way chop. Otranto explained how it went down: “In the Sunday Million, I had a good chip advantage, but I was also the best player left by far. That made my decision much closer in that scenario, but since I had only 20 big blinds and the numbers were pretty huge, I felt it was okay to chop it.” The four-way Sunday Million deal went down like this:

1. traxxart $143,666.05
2. gabriel171 $149,496.62 (Gabriel Otranto)
3. MARCIN123 $128,407.36 (marcin123)
4. needcashquik $129,801.83

Following our discussion of his two chops, Otranto retreated to change a diaper. When he came back, and after this author responded to a few support e-mails, I asked how tough it is juggling poker with raising a newborn: “The pressure is pretty high. I was always providing for just myself; now, I provide for three people. That’s pretty hard and so I had to start playing a lot more. Having a routine with a newborn is also very challenging and my wife demands a lot more from me now. I’m glad I made a big cash because it will allow me to fulfill her needs better.”

Interestingly, he was backed until three days before he chopped the PokerStars Sunday Storm in August. In that tournament, he officially came away with over $20,000. Otranto admitted, “I only played on December 5th because I was at my friend’s house celebrating the fact that he won the Sunday Million the week before. I only played the Sunday 500 because I had a percentage of his action and so was more comfortable financially.”

His two blockbuster scores have pushed him up to #36 in Brazil according to our Sortable Poker Rankings, and #4 in the city of Sao Paulo. “Poker in Brazil is on a boom now,” Otranto told us. “It’s still something very new and we fight a lot to let people know that poker is a skill game, not a casino game (casinos are illegal in Brazil).”

He is friends with and admires the games of several Brazilian counterparts, including William hellzitoArruda, Caio caiobritesBrites, scketch1967, WSOP bracelet winner Andre aakkariAkkari, Caio Cesar caio_pimentaPimenta, royal salute, and verve.oasis.

Visit PokerStars to sign up for this week’s Sunday Million and Sunday 500.