Poker in Brazil: the law, the BSOP calendar and the players

No country has changed the shape of poker in the last decade as much as Brazil. A generation that came up online now fills the top of the leaderboards, and at home the BSOP — the Brazilian Series of Poker — is the largest live tour in Latin America.

Brazil settled long ago that poker is a game of skill, which is why live tournaments and clubs operate openly. Online, Law 14.790 of December 2023 created a federal licensing regime for fixed-odds betting and online games that took effect in 2025. Poker here is a game of skill played for entertainment; nothing on this page is legal advice, and nothing on it suggests the game is a source of income.

The immediate thing worth knowing is the calendar. The BSOP Millions runs from 13 to 28 November 2026 at the WTC Sheraton in São Paulo, with a published grid of more than a hundred numbered events — and the tour re-prices and re-numbers that grid as the festival approaches, so check a buy-in against the tour's own schedule before you travel.

The legal position

The skill-game question was answered more than a decade ago, which is why the BSOP can run eight-figure guarantees in São Paulo hotels and why club poker is a normal part of city life. The online side is newer. Law 14.790 of December 2023 built a federal licensing regime for fixed-odds betting and online games, in force from 2025, and operators serving Brazilian players are expected to hold an authorisation from the Ministry of Finance's betting secretariat.

That creates a distinction worth carrying into any sign-up. A room inside the Brazilian regime is subject to the consumer protections the regime was built to provide; a room outside it is not, whatever licence it holds elsewhere. Our operator pages set out, clause by clause, what each room's own terms claim about where it is incorporated, what it is licensed by and which courts would hear a dispute — and where we have not checked a room against the Brazilian register, we say so rather than imply a verification we have not done.

What is on the calendar

The BSOP Millions is the season finale and the biggest tournament festival in the southern hemisphere. The 2026 edition runs 13–28 November at the WTC Sheraton in São Paulo. Its spine is four Torneio Gold events: the BSOP Main Event at R$ 5,000 with R$ 10,000,000 guaranteed, the BSOP Championship at R$ 25,000 with R$ 15,000,000 guaranteed, the Millionaire Maker at R$ 1,200 with R$ 5,000,000 guaranteed, and the Super Million at R$ 2,500 with R$ 1,000,000 guaranteed. A guarantee is a minimum prize pool, not an expected return for anyone entering.

Around them sits a high roller programme that is unusual for Latin America — R$ 250,000, R$ 100,000, R$ 75,000 and several R$ 50,000 events, most with rake-free satellites on the same grid — and a mixed-game schedule deeper than most European festivals offer, including 8-Game, HORSE, Triple Stud, Teros, dealer's-choice events and a nine-game cup. There are also field events at R$ 500 to R$ 2,500: the Meia Milha, the Uma Milha, the Mini Main Event, a Monster Stack, a Seniors event and a Ladies event.

Our Brazil tournament pages carry each event with its dates, start times and buy-in as the tour prints them, and the season's earlier stops are kept as records once they conclude.

Where the action is

São Paulo is the centre of Brazilian poker, and the WTC Sheraton complex is where the biggest festivals are staged. Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Florianópolis all have club scenes, and the BSOP tours resorts as well as cities — Costa do Sauípe in Bahia hosts BSOP Summer in January 2027.

Brazilian players

The names to know are Yuri Dzivielevski, Brunno Botteon, João Simão, Vivian Saliba, André Akkari, Felipe Ramos and Pedro Padilha, the fourth Brazilian to win a Triton title, in September 2026. Their results are on our player pages as sporting records. They are a record of what those players achieved, not a forecast of what anyone else should expect.