Poker in Brazil
Although Brazil is often identified with crime ridden urban areas, as well as traffic and pollution, in metropolis such as Rio or Sao Paulo, there is more to Brazil than these dangerous big cities. The South of the country, for example, it is cheap, idyllic and the urban areas are beautiful. We can think of the top of our heads about Porto Alegre, a vibrant city, very modern and clean.
Brazilian people love football. Sports gambling have risen massively in the world, however in Brazil gambling is illegal and the last governments have fought to avoid gambling being an alibi for corruption, money laundering and the financial escape for organized crime. As a result, traditional gambling is outlawed in the country, although bingo and the National Lottery are not.
However, poker(poker as they call it), it is still a very popular game in Brazil ant there is a big amount of poker players. There are also famous poker players such as Andre Akkari or Alexandre Gomes and the big online poker rooms like PokerStars have created Brazilian friendly sites, with the comfort of offers and tables in Portuguese, as well as a fully localised website.
Brazilian culture is based on good living and joy. The food is excellent and cheap, beaches are beautiful and this hedonistic nature permeates in the day to day living. There are great places to play poker like Recife, Curitiba o Porto Alegre. The country is developing quickly and improvements in internet infrastructure allow playing poker online without problems. Internet is reliable; most of the broadband connections are DSL or cable based.
The online poker community is starting to build there and although there are not too may online pros you can certainly play with good enough contenders. They usually hang around Brazilian poker forums. Playing online poker is allowed in Brazil. The only restriction is determined by credit card operators. A player might not be able to make a deposit in PokerStars for example using a Brazilian credit card but they can certainly use international cards or other payments methods. Casinos on the other hand are illegal, although players can find some poker clubs.
In conclusion, in order to live the great live of the poker player, beautiful women, beaches and lots of fun, Brazil is the place.
