João Simão is Brazil’s biggest winner abroad. So why isn’t he a star at home?

Before the high rollers, “joaosimaobh” was the world’s no. 1

To understand today’s Simão, you have to go back to the Simão of the online era. Born in Belo Horizonte (hence the “bh” in the screen name he has carried for more than a decade), he built his reputation online long before he became a regular on the high roller circuit.

And it was quite the reputation. In 2016, Simão topped the PocketFives worldwide rankings on three separate occasions. On PokerStars, as “INeedMassari”, he collected WCOOP, SCOOP and TCOOP titles. On partypoker, where he was a sponsored ambassador from 2016 until early 2022, he racked up more than a dozen Powerfest wins. By 2018, his online cashes had already passed $7.5 million.

Live, however, it was a different story. That same year, Simão ranked only fifth on Brazil’s all-time live money list, with roughly $2.1 million in cashes. Respectable, but nowhere near what was coming. Around the same time, he and his wife Luiza ran the Massari Poker School, a coaching project that has since gone quiet on social media.

There’s also a part of his journey Simão rarely talks about. In an interview with PokerNews, he explained that his tough upbringing and the challenges he faced as a child make sitting at a poker table, even against the best players in the world, feel almost comfortable.

What he still lacked was the one piece of jewelry every Brazilian pro chases. And it took a while to arrive.

Four bracelets, four different ways to win

Simão’s first bracelet only came in 2021, and fittingly, it came online. Since then, every WSOP title he has won has come in a different format, which says a lot about the player he has become:

1. 2021 – WSOP Online, $1,111 Caesars Cares: topped a field of 1,584 entries for $206,075, beating Norway’s Espen Sandvik heads-up.
2. 2022 – Event #53, $5,000 Mixed NLH/PLO: his first live bracelet, won against a record 788-entry field for $686,242. The final table included 2013 Main Event champion Ryan Riess.
3. 2025 – WSOP Paradise, $150,000 Triton 8-Handed: $3,067,000 at an all-Brazilian podium, with Felipe Boianovsky finishing second and Yuri Dzivielevski third.
4. 2026 – Event #55, $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha: $1,368,700 after starting heads-up against India’s Santhosh Suvarna trailing 12.2 million to 20.8 million. Yuri was at the final table again and finished sixth.

The fourth came on Father’s Day at the 2026 WSOP, and Simão celebrated it the Brazilian way, with his rail chanting “tetra”, the word Brazilians have used for any fourth title since the national team won its fourth World Cup in 1994. Online no-limit, a mixed game, live high roller hold’em and Omaha: this is not a one-format specialist.

But if the bracelets tell part of the story, the last few months tell a much bigger one.

From $11.8 million to $31 million in 11 months

In November 2025, Card Player listed Simão with just over $11.8 million in career earnings. At that point, his biggest score was still the 2022 bracelet. Here’s what has happened since:

1. BSOP Super High Roller Series (Nov 2025): won the $10K Invitational, 113 entries, $256,000.
2. WSOP Paradise (Dec 2025): bracelet No. 3, $3,067,000.
3. Super High Roller Bowl X (Dec 2025): won a 23-entry field for $1,110,000, after being one card away from elimination early in his heads-up battle with Jason Koon.
4. U.S. Poker Open Event #8 (Apr 2026): $15K title, $292,800.
5. WSOP (Jun 2026): bracelet No. 4, $1,368,700.
6. Triton Jeju II (Sep 2026): won the $200K Invitational, $7,250,000.
7. Triton Jeju II (Sep 2026): runner-up in the $150K 10th Anniversary Special after a heads-up deal with Nick Petrangelo, $2,517,090.
8. Super High Roller Bowl PLO IV (Oct 2026): runner-up, $775,000.

His 2025 alone produced four titles across 13 final tables and a 17th-place finish in Card Player’s Player of the Year race. The last three entries on that list add up to more than $10.5 million in under a month.

Jeju: from 2 big blinds to $7.25 million

The tournament that changed everything deserves a closer look. The Triton Invitational brings together pros and invited guests, mostly businessmen and high-stakes recreational players, who are kept apart from the pros on Day 1. In Jeju, the event shattered records with 173 entries and a $34.6 million prize pool.

Simão survived his two big blinds, came into the final day with 25 and burst the final table bubble himself by eliminating Austria’s Matthias Eibinger. He started the final table as chip leader and at one point held around half the chips in play.

The heads-up against China’s Biao Ding, the all-time leader on the Hendon Mob money list, was a rollercoaster:

• Simão built a 4-to-1 lead, then watched it disappear.
• He was at risk with A4 against AJ, and the board chopped the pot.
• He took the lead back with a queen-high hero call.

The final hand: Simão’s pocket kings against Ding’s T9 on a 9-5-5 flop. A blank turn, a blank river, and the biggest prize in the history of Brazilian poker.

Brazil’s biggest name abroad, second fiddle at home

With a résumé like that, you’d expect Simão to be the face of Brazilian poker. But look at social media, the rankings and the national coverage, and the picture is different.

How the international circuit sees him

Internationally, there’s little debate about his stature. Card Player lists Simão as the biggest tournament winner Brazil has ever produced. After his fourth bracelet, PokerNews wrote that he was establishing himself not just as one of Brazil’s best but as one of the best in the world, and in October described his recent form as a heater for the ages. Triton itself didn’t hold back in its official post after Jeju: “Not just a champion. The champion of champions.”

Why Yuri is still the face of brazilian poker

At home, the yardstick is different. And by that yardstick, Yuri Dzivielevski comes out ahead on almost everything except money:

• Bracelets: six to four, in a country that tells its poker story through WSOP gold. Yuri’s sixth bracelet came in the $100K High Roller just days before Simão’s fourth.
• Social media: Yuri has more than 112,000 followers on Instagram. Simão has around 55,700.
• Community: Yuri runs Reg Life, a poker school and team, and has appeared on the Brazilian TV show High Limit Poker Brasil.
• Rankings: Simão has hidden his results on The Hendon Mob, the database Brazilian media rely on most. That’s why Brazil’s live money lists usually show Yuri at the top.

Humble or realistic?

Then there’s Simão himself. Beyond the Hendon Mob, his old Instagram account, “joaosimaobh”, is no longer available. His current profile has an empty bio, and much of its content comes from tags by tournament organizers. On X, he hasn’t posted since April 2025. That doesn’t look like neglect. It looks like a choice.

Asked in June whether he could ever catch Yuri’s bracelet count, he didn’t hesitate: “He plays all the games. He’s really good, so it would be almost impossible.” He added that he just wants to focus on his own journey.

Humility from a man who had just won his fourth bracelet? Or the realism of someone who understands the game better than most? Probably a bit of both. Either way, those aren’t the words of someone chasing the spotlight.

Is he missing results, or just the desire to be seen?

Results are definitely not the problem. In less than a year, Simão has nearly tripled his career earnings, won two bracelets and banked the biggest score in Brazilian history. In other words, if the question is why he still isn’t the face of Brazilian poker, the answer probably isn’t at the tables.

Maybe it lies in the yardstick itself. In Brazil, fans value bracelets, familiar faces and players who engage with the community, and Yuri deservedly checks every one of those boxes. Simão chose a different path: he wins, says thank you, goes home to his family and disappears until the next tournament.

The next one isn’t far away. Poker Masters runs in Las Vegas until October 23, and Triton heads to Cyprus in November. By the end of 2026, his numbers may well grow even further, and the gap between how big Simão is abroad and how he’s seen at home may finally start to close.

Or maybe Brazil’s biggest winner simply doesn’t want to be its most famous one. And let’s be honest: that might be exactly what keeps him playing this well.