PocketFives Rankings Update: When Will We See the First #1 Player from Brazil?

Dan · April 3, 2013

It seems like just a matter of time before a Brazilian sits on top of the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings. The country now sports fourth ranked PocketFiver, pessagno (pictured), who was up three spots on the week to his highest position ever. He calls Sao Paulo home and could become the first Brazilian ever to claim the top spot at PocketFives.

pessagno is on the cusp of claiming his $3 million cash badge and has been on a tear in 2013. In January, the Brazil pokercommunity member won the MiniFTOPS Main Event, officially cashing for $120,000 and over 1,100 PLB Points, and he went on to win the January Monthly PLB title. Last month, he won the Full Tilt Poker Super Sized Sunday for $55,000 and the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance for another $54,000. The two scores were worth over 1,000 PLB Points combined.

Jumping 15 spots from #21 worldwide to #6 this week is Russia’s Max decay Lykov (pictured). He made the online poker world his personal playground in the final seven days of March, winning a $256 Full Tilt Online Poker Series Six-Max Knockout for $126,000 and taking down the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up for another $110,000. The two scores were worth over 1,700 PLB Points total and he can now be found in his highest slotting ever in the Rankings.

Cracking the top 10 for the first time is NeverScaredB, who rose from #15 to #10. Previously, his highest spot in the Rankings was #13 in late 2009. NeverScaredB is up to over $3.5 million in tracked cashes, including a win in the Full Tilt $1K Monday in mid-February for $33,000 and a victory in the PartyPoker High Roller in January for $28,000.

Jumping five spots from #13 to #8 worldwide is Mexico’s jdpc27, who was once ranked as high as #5. He won the Super Tuesday one month ago for $109,000 along with 761 PLB Points. He is up to $4.2 million in tracked cashes and seems poised for a deep run at the #1 spot.

Eight different countries are represented in the top 10 this week. Leading the way for the second straight week is Belarus’ Legenden, who finished as the runner-up in the PartyPoker $250,000 Guaranteed Sunday on March 24 for $38,000. Two days later, he took down an FTOPS $216 Five-Card Stud Six-Max tournament for $6,800, outlasting a field of 146 players. Legenden is the first #1 player we’ve ever had from Belarus.

Finally, one of the biggest movers of the week was Scotland’s RLOG (pictured), who shot up 68 spots to land at #30. RLOG finished third in the recent FTOPS Main Event and took home $194,000 along with 765 PLB Points, fueling his recent spike in the Rankings. In February, RLOG won the PokerStars $215 Rebuy for $19,000.

Here are the top 10 players in the PocketFives Rankings this week along with the number of PLB Points for each:

1. Legenden– 8,132.40
2 1bigacehole – 7,920.07
3 cal42688 – 7,814.69
4 pessagno– 7,461.08
5 ch0ppy – 7,430.60
6 decay– 7,370.50
7 Illini213 – 7,297.10
8 jdpc27– 6,949.75
9 Fresh_Oo_D – 6,861.48
10 NeverScaredB– 6,741.93