"The Life of a Poker Player Will Always Be Filled with Defining Moments"
It’s deep, Mega Deep. In recent weeks, Brazilian PocketFiver Anao19(pictured) finished fourth in the 888 Poker Mega Deep. The tournament, which, as its name suggests is deep-stacked, attracted 2,785 entrants and members of the PocketFives community raked in 42% of the prize pool. He had already finished fourth in the Sunday Warm-Up, so we wanted to chat about his latest claim to fame.
PocketFives: Congrats on chopping the 888 Mega Deep. Tell us how you’re feeling about it.
Anao19: I’m feeling very satisfied. Although it was not the best result of my career, it had a very special meaning because it was my first big result outside of PokerStars.
PocketFives: Walk us through how the tournament went in general.
Anao19: It is quite a deep tournament addition to being quite long, lasting about 13 hours, and then extreme concentration was necessary for a long period of time. Also, I started playing regularly on 888 a little while ago, so I’m still not fully used to it. It was tiring, but in the end it was worth it.
PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?
Anao19: I’ll probably invest in something, but I still have not thought about it.
PocketFives: Do you have a defining moment of your poker career? Something that happened that propelled you forward?
Anao19: I believe that the life of a poker player will always be filled with defining moments. Often, small details can change our lives, but a turning point of my career for sure was my fourth place finish in the Sunday Warm-Up. At my engineering college, I was often criticized for giving top priority to poker and that was my first big cash. Recently, my second place in a TLB left a lot of people around me proud, which made me very happy.
PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally? Why was it interesting?
Anao19: I learned how to play with my friends Raphael Macedo and Bruno Carassai. As I said, the life of a poker player is full of defining moments. Surely, when they taught me, they did not know they would be changing my life. I ended up attracted to poker because it is a game of extreme logic and yet still unpredictable.
PocketFives: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Anao19: I could not miss this opportunity to thank, once again, my friend Amanda Lima, my parents, and my brother for everything they do for me. I am extremely blessed to have around me people who fill me with inspiration and support.
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