Brazil's Renan Carlos Bruschi is the fifth Brazilian to win Online Player of the Month honors in 2021. (photo courtesy: PokerStars)

Brazilian domination over PocketFives Online Player of the Month honors continued in July as current worldwide #6-ranked Renan Carlos Bruschi became the latest player from the poker powerhouse country to take home the title.

Bruschi joins the likes of Brunno Botteon, Yuri Dzivielevski, Dalton Hobold, and Geraldo Cesar in the parade of Brazilians who have claimed the top spot in the monthly race. In July, Bruschi earned 3,251 leaderboard points, more than enough to keep second place Christopher ‘basile28’ Basile at bay by 116 points and eclipsing Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira by 396 points.

Bruschi’s results were bolstered by a pair of high roller victories including his win in the July 11 edition of the PokerStars $1,050 Sunday HR for $32,055 and 398.75 points. Then, on July 21, he bested the 172-entry field of the GGPoker $1,050 High Rollers Super Tuesday for $39,526.48 and another 414.73 points. The pair of scores both made it into Bruschi’s top-20 career scores, but they weren’t the only five-figure cashes of his month.

At the same time he was taking down the PokerStars High Roller Club, Bruschi finished as the runner-up in the PokerStars $109 Bounty Builder for a score of more than $11,700. The very next day he continued his string of deep runs with another second-place finish in the GGPoker $1,050 Sunday High Rollers Heater for $12,382 and 194.04 points.

By the end of the month, Bruschi recorded a total of 125 cashes for more than $242,000. This marks his second career monthly title, his first since 2015 and now he sits just $111,000 away from surpassing $7 million in total career earnings.

it was also a mammoth month for current #1-ranked American grinder Christopher ‘basile28’ Basile who finished second in the Online Player of the Month race by grinding the World Series of Poker events on WSOP.com. In total, Basile had 59 results which earned him more than $266,000. While he wasn’t able to lock down a gold bracelet, he did pick up six five-figure scores including a career-high cash.

On July 2, Basile fell just one place short of a bracelet when he finished as the runner-up in WSOP Bracelet Event #1 ($500 NLHE The BIG 500 Kickoff) for $64,935 and 500.13 points, which, at the time, was far and away the largest score of his online career. Days later, on July 7 he took down the WSOP.com Tuesday Showdown for $17,835 and 247.39 points. Basile continued to accumulate scores but his largest of his month, and career-to-date, came on July 21 when he finished in fourth place in WSOP Bracelet Event #20 ($3,200 NLHE High Roller) for $71,990 and 423.91 points.

When all was said and done, Basile racked up 3,135 leaderboard points, soared past $1 million in total lifetime earnings, and climbed to a career-high worldwide ranking of #52 in the world.

While Basile is just getting started when it comes to racking up big-time scores, Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira – this month’s third-place finisher with 2,855 points – is a veteran in the game. With over $25 million in recorded lifetime earning, Vieira is currently sitting atop the Online All-Time Money List and spent the better part of July doing what he does best – grinding.

Vieira posted 76 in-the-money finishes for a total of $244,784, the bulk of which came on July 5 when he finished as the runner-up to Damian Salas in the 589-entry field of the GGPoker $1,050 Sunday High Rollers Main Event for $86,179 and 506.34 points. He followed that up with another pair of five-figure scores including a fourth-place finish in the July 6 edition of the GGPoker $100K High Rollers Main Event for $17,950 and on July 19 he made the final table of the $1,050 Battle of Malta Sunday High Rollers for another $27,160.

July Player of the Month Results

RANKPLAYERPOINTS
1Renan Carlos Bruschi3251
2Christopher 'basile28' Basile3135
3Joao 'Naza114' Vieira2855
4Rui 'RuiBouquet' Bouquet2596
5Bruno 'brunovolks' Volkmann2452
6'Llima92'2425
7'Grozzorg'2401
8'DramaLama'2348
9Justin 'Lappy' Lapka2345
10Daniel 'wildman75' Buzgon2341