Joao Sousa Monteiro Wins 888's WSOP Main Event 8-Team Contest

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Jul 14, 2017 4 min read

Deep into Day 4 of the World Series of Poker Main Event, Brazil’s Joao Sousa Monteiro lasted the longest among five qualifiers in the 888Poker “8-Team” competition, winning a free buy-in in the 2018 Main Event. He was assured the win when the only other Day 4 returnee in the contest, Canadian Timothy Cavallin, was eliminated 695th for $18,693 in the afternoon.

Getting It Done

After 11 trips to Las Vegas, this is Monteiro’s first attempt at the Main Event and he ultimately finished 583rd for $22,449. On a trip to Sin City in 2010, he became fascinated with the game while. After returning to Brazil, he sought out a poker coach and began playing in earnest and now has almost $100,000 in tournament winnings after his WSOP score.

“I discovered that it was a skill game and started playing tournaments,” he said. “I’ve loved poker ever since.”

Monteiro loves traveling around the world playing poker and brings his wife and kids along to combine the trip into a vacation. The cash he wins he sees as more of a reward – he’s not a pro and really doesn’t have any plans for the money he’s won. In Brazil, Monteiro works as a physiologist consultant to gyms and fitness centers with a team of physical therapists he oversees.

Other than playing poker, Monteiro loves spending time with his wife and two children, traveling, and trains as an amateur in boxing and jiu-jitsu. Outside of poker, he also a bit of a different goal next year when he returns with his winning 888 Main Event package. His wife and children are fluent in English and he is working to improve as well. With a wide smile after retrieving his cash from the payout booth, he says: “Next year, we do the all interviews in English.”

A regular player on 888, Monteiro parlayed a $30 satellite win into two more wins to earn his $12,500 Main Event package. One of the highlights of the trip was the 888 celebration with all the qualifiers.

“The trip was sensational, fantastic,” he says. “I’m thankful for all the good vibes from everyone who supported me.”

Team Approach

The 8-Team promotion features qualifiers from around the world to compete as part of five different groups: Team Brazil, Team Canada, Team Germany, Team United Kingdom, and Team Sweden.

Each team has a pro as captain and wingman for the 888 roster of ambassadors with one qualifier filling out the roster. The captain and wingman offered coaching and tips for each qualifier on their team. In addition to Monteiro and Cavallin, team captains Dominik Nitsche (Germany) and Sofia Lovgren (Team Sweden), and Team Germany wingman Mario Basler were all still alive in the field. Here’s a look at where each player player stood entering Day 4:

• Sofia Lovgren (Team Sweden) – 996,000 chips
• Dominik Nitsche (Team Germany captain) – 829,000 chips
• Joao Monteiro (Team Brazil qualifier) – 268,000 chips
• Timothy Cavallin – (Team Canada qualifier) – 251,000 chips
• Mario Basler (Team Germany wingman) – 72,000 chips

With bustouts from Team United Kingdom’s Chris Moorman, William Kassouf, and Ky Maciejewski by Day 3, their group was eliminated completely as was Team Canada with Cavallin’s elimination. With Monteiro’s bustout, Brazil is also eliminated and only Germany and Sweden were still in the running for team champion by the midway point. Lovgren and Nitsche remained the only players alive in the promotion. Basler was eliminated in 789th for $17,243.

Which team will win the most money and lock up first place in this team competition? Certainly Team Germany is looking strong with team captain Nitsche still alive with a nice stack and a cash from the wingman. The German pro with more than $6.7 million in tournament winnings said the team concept has been fun and is hoping his group wins the competition.

“It’s been going alright,” he said of his day during an afternoon break in the action. “I started with about 800,000 and now I’m up to about 1.3 million. Things are good. I’ve won just a bunch of small pots. I made the best hands a couple of times, bet the river and got called.”

Team Sweden is also looking nice with Lovgren running deep with a nice stack as well.

“It’s been going okay,” she said during a break in the action. “I’ve had a lot hands, but I’ve had some coolers I actually got away from. I made a big fold with ace-king where I’m happy with the fold because he had a big flush draw. I lost a couple of coin flips and still hovering around what I started with..”

PokerNews will continue to track their progress throughout the tournament to see which team amasses the most cash and comes out on top as Team 8 champ.

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