It feels like there is a never-ending stream of Brazilian players to dominate the PocketFives Rankings. While Yuri Dzivielevski continues to hold a firm grasp on the #1-ranked player in the world, other Brazilians continue to shine and in June it was Geraldo Cesar who shined brightest.
In June, Cesar picked up 2,508 leaderboard points to edge out the #4-ranked player in the United Kingdom, Patrick ‘JaegsPL’ Lauber, by 17 points, and another Brazilian, Belarmino ‘Pagaovelhinho’ De Souza, by 21 points in the Player of the Month race. His win comes a month after Brazilian Dalton ‘daltonhb’ Hobold grabbed the May POM honors. This also marks the second time in his career that Cesar has won the monthly award. He previously won the title in March 2019.
Cesar’s biggest score on his way to the title came in an event where he could have had more. On June 20, Cesar finished runner-up to Matas Cimbolas in the GGPoker Sunday Marathon for 240.93 points and $18,285.21. On June 6, he finished in sixth place in the PokerStars Trio Series €250 Main Event. Making his way through all but five of the 2,152 runners in that event came with 188.16 and $6,621.45. His third biggest score came on the same day as his biggest. While he was running deep in the Marathon, Cesar also finished 10th in the PokerStars Bounty Hunter $525 HR Main Event for 187.13 and $4,257.73.
Six of Cesar’s 20 qualifying cashes were victories, three were runner-up finishes, and two were third place results. All but six of those 20 cashes were final table appearances.
Lauber worked his way into contention after coming second to Adrian Mateos in the PokerStars High Roller Club $1,050 Sunday High Roller on June 20. He picked up 288.34 points – 11% of his total – and $29,274.66. Four days later he picked up his second biggest points total of the month, beating out 705 other entries in the PokerStars $109 Daily Cooldown 187.88 points and $5,214.42. Three days after that, the heater continued when he finished fourth in the PokerStars High Roller Club $530 Bounty Builder and added 184.16 to his points total and $11,967.51 to his bankroll.
Lauber’s month included two wins, four second-place finishes, and three third-place finishes.
De Souza meanwhile started June with a hot start, beating Ami Barer heads up to win the GGPoker Omaholic Bounty Event #4 ($2,100 PLO) for a massive 414.73 points and $24,655.63 in earnings. While Cesar and Lauber each only had one score over 200 points, De Souza amassed five of them. ALong with the Omaholic event win, De Souza earned 287.17, 275.76, 235.32, and 204.02 points on his way to securing the final podium position in the June POM race.
June Player of the Month Standings
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