Poker players at the World Cup

Posted by Gerry Poltorak on Jun 14, 2018 Posted in Poker News | No Comments »

With the 2018 Fifa World Cup starting today in Russia, with Russia vs Saudi Arabia, we thought it be a good time to write a quick article on some of the World Cup footballers who are also poker players.

Neymar

Neymar Jr

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is better known as Neymar Jr on the football pitch, or neymar-jr on PokerStars, is currently one of the best Football players on the planet as well as being a Pokerstars ambassador.

Neymar started his football career at Brazilian football club Santos in which he played 102 times scoring 54 times. This was an impressive second when you consider he was only 21 when he moved to one of the biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona. Neymar then scored an impressive 68 goals in 123 appearances before he moved to Paris Saint-German in 2017 for €222 million. This made Neymar Jr the most expensive footballer in the world. Since joining PSG, Neymar has an amazing record of 19 goals in 20 games. Neymar Jr is possibly the most important player for the next generation of football fans.

Neymars online poker tournament record is currently far less impressive than his football tournament record. Currently Neymar has only amassed just over $8k in tournament winnings. However, it has been the cash tables you usually find Neymar at, and it slightly harder to track exactly how much a player is up or down there.

Neymar is expected to be one of the most important players for Brazil in the World Cup and one of the bookies favourites for Top Goalscorer and Best Player.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, but like Neymar, people know him better as Cristiano Ronaldo. Possibly the greatest football player of all-time. Off the pitch you can find Ronaldo learning his other trade at Pokerstars as C.Ronaldo as one of their ambassadors for poker.

C.Ronaldo started his football career at Sporting Lisbon in 2002 before moving to Man Utd in 2003 after making 25 appearances and scoring 3 goals at Sporting. Man Utd is where Ronaldo went from boy to man, and when he left in 2009 for then world transfer record, Ronaldo had scored an impressive 84 goals in 196 appearances in Utd colour. However, it was at Real Madrid where Ronaldo became arguable the best player in the world, and arguably the best player of all time. Currently Cristiano has appeared 292 time in a Real Madrid top, and has scored an unbelievable 311 goals. Only Messi can be compared to Cristiano Ronaldo in the same breath.

Ronaldo’s current poker career seems light years behind his football career currently. We actually found it hard to find a record of any substantial tournament win online or off. He has been known to appear in celebrity tournaments often though.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be the most important player in the Portugal team in this years Fifa World Cup.

 

Gerard Piqué

Gerard Piqué is a Spanish International player and Barcelona first team regular. Probably not on Ronaldo’s or Neymar’s level when it comes to football ability, but Piqué still falls into the category as one of Top 10 Best Defenders in the World and a far more successful poker player than both Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Piqué actually started his professional football career at Man Utd, and would have actually appeared in the first team along side Cristiano Ronaldo. Piqué made total of 12 appearances for Man Utd and 22 appearances for Zaragoza on loan in his 4 years at Utd before he moved to his boyhood club Barcelona. Since joining Barcelona Piqué has grew into one of the best defenders in the World, and one of Barcelona’s most important players, playing 276 times and actually scoring an impressive 23 goals as a defender. Their has been suggestions he will become the captain at Barcelona this year since Inesta left at the end of the season.

Piqué’s Poker career is actually impressive considering his main trade is a professional footballer. Piqué has won over $275k in live tournaments, having a great year last year in which he won $150k. His biggest win to date was finishing 5th in the Pokerstars Championship in Barcelona, where he won $130k. Piqué actually site 75th in the All Time Money List for Spanish poker players.

Expect to see Gerard Piqué feature regularly for Spain in this years Fifa World Cup.

 

 



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