ShareWhat links southern Brazil, southern Finland and the world of poker? Three talented players who just happen to be number one, two and three in the online poker rankings and who between them can boast over $45million in online tournament earnings!
The world-topping trio are Yuri Martins Dzivielezki, Sami Kelopuro and Bruno Volkmann, with the Finnish legend often known by his “LarsLuzak” online moniker currently wedged between the South Americans in the race to be world number one.
While some players have spent their time chasing online casino real money, our featured threesome have been doing exactly the same on the poker tables, racking up 18,000 cashes under their various pseudonyms.
In 3rd spot, Bruno Volkmann – known as “great dant” on PokerStars, has pocketed $11,236,424 on the virtual felt, with his highest score being a $564,947 scoop of the GG SuperMIllion$ last year.
Incredibly, despite being number three in the world, he isn’t even the highest ranked player from his own region, Santa Catarina, with Dzivielezki taking that spot as we will see.
Volkmann’s live poker resume is nowhere near as impressive, but a second place in the $10k Main Event when the partypoker MILLIONS Live tour hit Rio De Janeiro in 2019 boosted his live profile.
In second spot in the current world rankings for online poker players is Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro, one of the finest players to emerge from Finland during the poker boom years.
Kelopuro can boast an online poker footprint that few can rival, with total cashes of $21,547,867 and seven-figure profiles on four different sites.
His biggest single win came a decade ago when he took down the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event for a whopping $735,300.
It’s a testament to his longevity that he is still among the very best online tournament players today, and indeed his winnings for this April weighed in at $4,446,237.
That incredible “monthly paypacket” came courtesy of 120 cashes in a megabusy month and landed him the Player of the Month title on PocketFives.
The Finn is taking a well-earned rest, and now a veteran by many standards, is facing a bit of a quandary – how to enjoy the spoils of victory while still being able to compete at the highest level.
“The problem with the part-time thing is that it’s really hard to keep up with the field if you’re not playing all the time,” he recently told Lance Bradley.
“Then you’re probably not studying all the time. And then you’re not good enough to win. And I don’t know if I want to be like a part-time mid-stakes player. And also I don’t want to be a losing high-stakes player."
Kelopuro has only one man in his sights above him, the number one spot currently occupied by Yuri Martins Dzivielezki, whose recent online form has been unrivalled with his closest rival offline.
Under the names “theNERDguy”, “relentless”, “smashedavocado” and “Y Dzivielezki”, the Brazilian sensation has amassed lifetime winning totalling $13,226,697.
That sum includes a monster $1,253,070 runner-up cash behind Fedor Holz, at the 2014 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event.
Throw in more than $1.2million in live earnings and the young Brazilian pro is making a very nice living indeed at his chosen profession.
Incredibly, besides Dzivielezki and Volkmann, there are 14 other Brazilians in the top 50 of the current online rankings according to Pocket Fives, while Kelopuro is Finland’s sole representative.
