For weeks now, the worldwide Online Poker Rankings have been a tight-knit crew. Brunno
‘bbotteon’ Botteon has held down the💹 top spot for the past eight weeks and well-known
names like Ivan ‘zufo16’ Zufic, Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson, and Bert ‘girafganger7’💹 Stevens
have occupied their own positions inside the Top 5.
But this week, a new player broke
through into the upper💹 echelons of the rankings for the first time in his career.
Portugal’s #1-ranked pro Rui ‘RuiNF’ Ferreira soared past Brazil’s💹 Bruno ‘brunovolks’
Volkmann and Yuri ‘Yuri Martins’ Dzivieleski to capture the #5 spot, building on what
has been, for him,💹 an incredible start to 2024.
Ferreira has long been considered a
top-tier tournament player but his recent rise in the rankings💹 can be traced back to
the beginning of this year when he collected large amounts of PLB points on a💹 daily
basis.
Many of Ferreira’s spotlight scores have come on GGPoker, where he dedicates
most of his volume. His first notable💹 score of the year came back on January 4 when he
made a deep run in the WSOP Circuit Event💹 #15 ($800 FIFTY STACK), finishing in fifth
place forR$56,646 and 451.33 PLB points. That was just the start of an💹 onslaught of
impressive results that week. In a three-day span, he collected five PLB-qualifying
scores including a fifth-place finish in💹 the prestigiousR$10K Super MILLION$ tournament
where he collectedR$158,690 and 567.28 PLB points. In total, he brought in 1,396.28
points during💹 that span which set him up for a run to the worldwide Top 10.
Less than a
week later, Ferreira finished💹 as the runner-up in the Winamax W Series High Roller KO
forR$131,199, his second six-figure score of the week. The💹 921.92 PLB points that came
with it remains his largest PLB score of the year so far. He wasn’t finished💹 with the W
Series as a victory in Event 185 added anotherR$11,194 to his bankroll and helped pad
the bed💹 of PLB points he’d need to push into the upper echelons of the rankings.
On
January 26, he made another deep💹 run in the GGPoker Super MILLION$, finishing in 11th
place forR$33,604. Ferriera has proved to be one of the most💹 consistent players in the
weekly Super MILLION$ having cashed in 15 of his 31 appearances and earningR$1,000,053
along the way.💹 After that result, Ferriera had climbed into the #8 spot in the rankings
and needed an extra jolt to hit💹 a new career-high rank this week.
He got that lift this
week after outlasting the 111 runners, and besting Chris Koldnicki💹 heads-up, in
theR$525 buy-in GGPoker Sunday High Rollers forR$12,886 and 235.58 PLB points. On the
same day, at a final💹 table that included Ryan Riess, Bryan Paris, and Jack Salter,
Ferreira took fifth place in the High Roller MILLION$ forR$66,038💹 and the 473.78 PLB
points he needed to break into the Top 5.
While he still has a way to go💹 to make a run
at #1, as he’s over 3,400 points behind Botteon as of this week, another solid
performance💹 over the next week could put him in striking distance of Stevens who sits
at #4, just 194 points away.
Online💹 Poker Rankings Notes This Week
• Russia’s Andrey
‘kot_spartac’ Kotelnikov reached a career-high ranking of #13 in the world, up 12💹 spots
from #25 last week, thanks in part to finishing in fourth place out of a massive
28,404-entry field in💹 the PokerStars 50/50 SeriesR$50 Main Event. He earnedR$47,045 and
494.56 PLB points to push him past former #1-ranked Conor ‘1_conor_b_1’💹 Beresford who
fell back to #14.
• Popular Twitch poker streamer Patrick ‘Egption’ Tardif hit #34 in
the world, a new💹 career-high for him, after finishing as the runner-up in the
Natural8R$1,050 High Rollers Main Event forR$75,480 and 466.52 PLB points.💹 The score
helped propel Tardif to up overR$3 million in career online earnings.
• Brazil’s
Gabriel ‘gtavares10’ Tavares made one of💹 the biggest moves of the week, jumping up 27
spots to #58 after his victory in the February 7 PokerStarsR$530💹 High Roller Club
Bounty Builder forR$40,301 and 541.76 PLB points. Brazil has taken over the worldwide
top 100, currently holding💹 down 29 of the top 100 spots.
Worldwide Online Poker
Rankings
