Vinícius Thomaziello topped a 92-entry field to win the BSOP Winter Deepstack PKO, walking away with R$134,000 in combined prize money and knockout bounties after a marathon Thursday session at the BSOP Winter festival in Sao Paulo.
A Crowded Thursday Session at BSOP Winter
The Sao Paulo stop of the Brazilian Series of Poker Winter schedule set aside July 23, 2026 for four separate tournament finishes, according to SuperPoker. While the room’s headline attraction that day was the kickoff of the R$100,000 Super High Roller alongside a pricey PLO5 1-Day High Roller PKO, four other events crowned champions before the night was through. None generated more buzz than the R$6,000 1-Day Deepstack PKO, which drew 92 entries willing to put up the mid-range buy-in for a chance at a title and a stack of bounty cash.
Inside the BSOP Winter Deepstack PKO Final Table
Thomaziello, a player from Piracicaba in the interior of Sao Paulo state, worked through the 92-player field to reach heads-up play against Victor Nicolato of Brasilia. When the two shook hands on the final hand, Thomaziello had done enough to lock up the trophy and the lion’s share of the prize pool. His total return of R$134,000 blends the standard payout for finishing first with the accumulated bounties he collected by eliminating opponents throughout the day, a hallmark of the Progressive Knockout format that shaped the entire tournament.
Nicolato’s own run ended in the runner-up chair, good for R$60,000, while Diego Sorgatto claimed third place for R$42,600. Behind them, Matheus Nehme (fourth, R$35,000) and Chilean player Juan Carrasco (fifth, R$36,500) rounded out the top five, with Carrasco’s payout edging out Nehme’s despite the later elimination, a reminder of how bounty collection can reshuffle final table earnings in PKO events.
How the Payouts Broke Down
- 1st: Vinícius Thomaziello, R$134,000
- 2nd: Victor Nicolato, R$60,000
- 3rd: Diego Sorgatto, R$42,600
- 4th: Matheus Nehme, R$35,000
- 5th: Juan Carrasco, R$36,500
Further down the count, Jeferson Zaminhan and Leo Cutait each banked payouts in the high teens and low twenties of thousands of reais in seventh and sixth place, while Ramon Sorgatto and Schalom Grimberg closed out the money in ninth and eighth place respectively. The spread of results across the field is typical of PKO structures, where a well timed knockout can be worth more than climbing a pay jump on the standard ladder.
Other Champions Crowned the Same Day
Thomaziello’s title was far from the only story to come out of BSOP Winter that Thursday. The R$1,500 Big Stack PKO pulled in a massive 417 entries, and after a three way deal at the top, Gabriel Marques was declared champion for R$71,000, with Dennis Magaldi and Nicky Tsao splitting the remaining prize money as part of the agreement. Two more accessible buy-in events also wrapped up that day. The Super 1000 attracted 271 entries and ended with Argentina’s Hugo Gatti taking the title for R$45,000, while the 1500 1-Day event drew 125 entries and crowned Britain’s Daniel Thomas as champion for R$35,000.
Together, the four results underline how much traffic the lower and mid-range buy-ins are generating at this year’s BSOP Winter, with international players making deep runs alongside the usual contingent of Brazilian regulars.
What Comes Next for Thomaziello
For Thomaziello, the win adds another notable result to a growing tournament resume and reinforces Piracicaba’s presence on the Brazilian live poker map. Players chasing similar results at multi-day festivals like BSOP Winter typically spend as much time studying starting hand selection and tournament strategy as they do at the tables. Newcomers looking to build that foundation can start with our how to play poker guide before stepping into a PKO event of their own.
As always, tournament poker carries real financial risk alongside the potential reward, and results like Thomaziello’s represent a single strong outcome rather than a guaranteed path to profit. Players should treat buy-ins as entertainment spending they can afford to lose and play within their means. Poker remains an 18+ activity, and anyone who feels their play is becoming a problem should seek out responsible gambling resources in their region.
