WSOP November Niner Bruno Politano Joins Team 888poker
888poker has announced in creative fashion that it signed 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Niner Bruno Politano as its latest 888poker Ambassador.
Politano joins fellow poker players Sofia Lövgren, Xuan Liu, and JC Tran in representing 888poker on the felts. Famous cricket-player-turned-poker-player Shane Warne is the fifth member of 888poker's Pro Team.
The announcement of Politano joining the 888poker team comes less than two months after 888poker officially dropped Uruguayan football superstar Luis Suarez after his infamous biting incident in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
888poker Teasing PokerNews and Twitter Followers
On Sunday, 888poker decided to have a little fun with its Twitter followers before introducing Politano. 888poker asked for guesses on who would be the new ambassador, and some of the responses were definitely amusing.
Tomorrow, #888poker will reveal the newest member of #Team888. Can you guess who it is?
— 888poker (@888poker)
Although it is no surprise that someone decided to poke fun at the Suarez incident, other followers decided to take things to a new level and suggest the room to bring the Pope in its team.
However, some more serious guesses were made as people suggested that 888poker may have just signed Phil Hellmuth or back to back WSOP November Nine member Mark Newhouse. Yet, at the end of the day it seems no one guessed correctly despite the excellent fit Politano and 888poker have together.
Who is Bruno Politano?
Before the 2014 WSOP Main Event, not too many people outside of Brazil had heard of Bruno Politano. Before becoming the first Brazilian to reach a WSOP Main Event Final Table, Politano was ranked 98th in Brazil on the Global Poker Index. He has now climbed the rankings up to the 20th position and could move up even further before the end of 2014.
Politano was born on Oct. 15, 1982 in Ceará, Brazil, and studied at the Colégio 7 de Setembro in Fortaleza. Despite many of us first learning about Politano during his amazing WSOP Main Event run in July, he is a well-known player in poker circles throughout Brazil.
His poker success should come as little surprise when considering he is friendly with some of his homeland's best poker players, including Andre Akkari, Felipe Ramos, Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck, and Thiago Decano.
Politano’s biggest cash before his Main Event run was $47,493 for a third-place finish in the 2013 Brazilian Series of Poker Main Event (BSOP) in Florianópolis. Other notable finishes include an eighth-place result in the Latin American Poker Tour IV Sao Paulo R$5,000 Main Event for $27,206, and a seventh-place finish in the 2011 BSOP High Roller for $10,594.
The 31-year-old's biggest cash in the BSOP is guaranteed to be eclipsed in November since he has already secured a $730,725 prize, even if he doesn't improve from his ninth-place standing going into the WSOP Main Event Final Table.
Politano is hoping to turn his $730,725 into the first place prize of $10 million, however, he has his work cut out from him as he is currently sitting on the bottom of the chip leaderboard with 12,125,000 chips with blinds at 200K/400K/50K — just slightly more than 30 big blinds.
Politano had a huge rail in the final days of the WSOP Main Event in July, and expects an even bigger rail this coming November. For more on Politano, check out what he had to say to PokerNews in this interview after he reached the November Nine:
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
