It has been one heck of a poker ride for Joao Paulo Simao (pictured), who is known on PocketFives as joaosimaobh. The Brazilian, over the last three years, has taken down a litany of online poker tournaments, including the PokerStars Sunday $100 Rebuy, which he won in late December for $53,000. There wasn’t even a chop in the Sunday $100 Rebuy, which attracted a field of 940 players and paid out to the top 108.

“I felt very happy,” Simao said of the win on PokerStars. “I’m getting married in February and made many plans. Then, I went on a huge downswing. I decided to stop playing online for one month and instead play live. I got a deep run in the EPT Prague Main Event and took third in a side event.”

Overall, he called the time off a “good break” and said he came back to poker “running and playing better. I got my third final table in a $1,050 PLO Rebuy and then won the $100 Rebuy the following Sunday. It was amazing.” His wife-to-be and her father were railing him throughout the $100 Rebuy final table, so he had a pretty lively cheering section. He explained, “It was a very good chance to show her family about my job, so I didn’t accept a chop in that tournament.”

After his wedding, Simao plans to spend three months in Canada. “If we love it there, we will buy our dream house there,” he commented. “This money can help make our dreams come true.” Maybe PokerStars is the place where dreams come true? Or is it Canada? Or is it really just Brazil, the site of the next Olympic Games?

In case you’re wondering why a Brazilian would venture thousands of miles north to Canada, it’s due to an opportunity to improve his English and play online poker at the same time. He added, “I have good friends in Vancouver and am talking with 1bigacehole (pictured) about going to Montreal, so we are going for one month to Vancouver and one month to Montreal. Let’s see where is better for our lives and where I can meet good players.”

In 2010, Simao won a WCOOP $215 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up event for $78,000, his largest tracked cash to date. He also has wins in the Big $109, Bigger $109, and Sunday Second Chance, just to name a few. He just passed $2 million in winnings from over 2,300 in the money finishes, an average of $876 each.

Simao is another top-tier talent from Brazil, a country whose members’ successes we write about virtually every week here on PocketFives. He said of his homeland, “Poker in Brazil is in a great place right now. Poker here is growing very fast. We have Igor Federal in front of everything. He is a great businessmen doing a great job for the Brazil poker community. Andre aakkari Akkari (pictured) is doing a great job too. He is an idol here and works hard for poker.”

He assessed, “With these kinds of people directing the growth of poker in Brazil, we are getting amazing numbers live and online. It’s amazing. People didn’t respect our profession three years ago. Now, they want to know everything about our job and even spend money to learn the game.”

He was formerly studying to be a civil engineer and didn’t know anyone at his university. He said, “I went to the place where students would play cards and have fun. Everybody was playing poker.” And so his dream began.

He closed by sending a special shout out to his fiance, saying, “Thanks to my fiance for her support on Sundays and thanks to Brazilian players in general. Our community is very united and we will work hard to get our place.”

The Sunday $100 Rebuy runs weekly on PokerStars. If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, sign up through the links on PocketFives to get a 100% up to $600 deposit bonus and one free month of PocketFives Training. Get started here.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.