Brazilian Turns $22 into $25,911 in the PokerStars MicroMillions Main Event
While Thomas Eychenne was on his way to becoming the 2025 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona champion, and Guilherme Kleist was taking down the Spin & Go Championship Live, another PokerStars player was busy turning an affordable $22 buy-in into a bankroll-boosting $25,911 score online.
This weekend saw the MicroMillions come to a thrilling conclusion, with the crowning of the $400,000 guaranteed Main Event champion. While the low buy-ins that the MicroMillions offers don't offer the same glitz and glam as, say, the World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP), those who play such events take them deadly seriously because they make it possible to turn a small investment into a much larger prize.
The $22 buy-in MicroMillions boasted an ambitious $400,000 guarantee on its prize pool. Some 20,600 players bought in before late registration ended, resulting in a $412,000 pot. Half that sum was shared by the top 3,439 finishers, with the remaining 50% split and placed on the heads of each entrant in the form of a progressive bounty.
In addition to the cash prizes, the top 1,500 finishers received a share of $30,000 worth of WCOOP tickets, thanks to PokerStars' generosity. Those tickets included a $1,050 WCOOP Main Event ticket for the top two finishers, and a $109 WCOOP Main Event ticket for those finishing in the other final table positions.
MicroMillions Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pretinhouva | Brazil | $7,679 | $18,232 | $25,911 |
| 2 | Juustovakooja | Finland | $2,138 | $18,212 | $20,350 |
| 3 | Shyheim | Switzerland | $1,098 | $10,805 | $11,903 |
| 4 | johnnysouza11 | Brazil | $1,906 | $7,702 | $9,608 |
| 5 | Rice&Beaans | Brazil | $2,403 | $5,490 | $7,893 |
| 6 | GustavoWSOP | Brazil | $1,362 | $3,914 | $5,276 |
| 7 | cacimbs | Brazil | $404 | $2,790 | $3,194 |
| 8 | bg.TheProfie | Bulgaria | $1,969 | $1,988 | $3,957 |
| 9 | ARandomFish | Germany | $440 | $1,417 | $1,857 |
Germany's "ArandomFish" was the first of the finalists to bust; their ninth-place exit came with $1,857 plus the aforementioned $109 WCOOP Main Event ticket.
Eight place and $3,957 went to "bg.TheProfie" before "cacimbs" of Brazil ran out of steam and had to make do with a $3,194 haul. The final six became five after "GustavoWSOP" was sent packing, a result good for $5,276.
Then came the untimely demise of "Rice&Beaans in fifth and the exit of "johnnysouza11" in fourth. That Brazilian duo saw their PokerStars account balances swell by $7,893 and $9,608, respectively.
The final three players found themselves on another bubble of sorts because the top two finishers would bank a $1,050 WCOOP Main Event ticket instead of a $109 version. "Shyheim" of Switzerland popped that particular bubble, which would have been painful had it not been for the fact that they scooped an $11,903 prize for their $22 entry.
Heads-up pitted "pretinhouva" against Finland's "Juustovakooja" for the title and the final four-figure bounties. The former came out on top from the one-on-one battle, turning their $22 buy-in into a cool $25,911 and the title of 2025 PokerStars MicroMillions Main Event champion. The runner-up got their hands on a $20,350 consolation prize, not a bad return for 11 hours' work.
The 2025 WCOOP Starts September 7
With the MicroMillions out of the way, everyone's attention turns to the massive $65 million guaranteed WCOOP festival. The 2025 WCOOP runs from September 7, wrapping up on October 1, and PokerNews is the place where you'll find all the latest WCOOP news, promotions, and those all-important results.
