WCOOP 2020: That winning feeling carries Tiago ‘Tayguera’ Guimarães to #13-M title
There were three thousand five hundred and seven players entered in the 2020 World Championship of Online Poker Event #13-M, the $109 buy-in, no-limit hold’em “Midweek Freeze.”
As the name suggests, it was a freezeout, so there was no re-entering. Three thousand five hundred and six players lost their last hands to bust from the tournament. One did not.
After two long days of poker, Brazil’s Tiago “Tayguera” Guimarães collected every last chip — all one hundred and seventy-five million three hundred and fifty thousand of them — to win a WCOOP title and a nifty $50,392.37 first prize.
“When the tournament got down to 100 left, I started feeling I had a chance to be a WCOOP winner,” Guimarães says when we asked him about his win.
“When I talk about this feeling, it was a real feeling,” he says. “So deep.”
Deep runs understandably produce deep feelings, but Guimarães was able to concentrate on the task at hand despite the rising emotion.
“I was fine, focused on doing my best every hand. I was able to maintain my stack at over 40 big blinds and was doing everything right,” he says.
When down to the last couple of tables, a key hand arose — a big all-in confrontation in which Guimarães had pocket jacks and was racing against an opponent’s ace-king.
“We got all in preflop and I hit a set on the flop and a full house on the turn. In this moment, that feeling that I could be a winner came back very strong. And I reached the final table with a top three stack.”
Another big hand at the final table furthered that feeling even more, a three-way all-in in which Guimarães had ace-king suited against pocket queens and queen-jack suited. “I hit a flush, runner-runner,” he says. “Now I had the biggest stack against two other guys, and I was convinced I would be the champion.”
All those feelings proved correct, as Guimarães outlasted his final two foes to claim the title. It was an especially satisfying moment for the longtime player.
“I’ve been playing poker for 10 years, and in a serious and consistent way for the last six,” he says. Two years ago Guimarães and his brother Tauan “Kylix42” Naves collaborated to create the Like a Boss Poker Team to help coach and raise the games of others, too.
“After that I was not only playing for myself, but also to be an example to my players,” says Guimarães. “Since then I have been on this intense journey in search of high performance, and am beginning to reap the fruit of this consistent effort. It is intense but also pleasurable work.”
Guimarães made sure to thank “Internett93o” and “rickyibrah45” as well as others on his team and others he has met and worked with over the last couple of years.
“We learn a lot from each other — technically, mentally, psychologically, emotionally, in every way. Together we become stronger to win at the poker tables. I am very happy and grateful.”
In other words, winning feelings usually don’t arise out of thin air. More often than not they are the product of hard work and study. Having a group with whom to share ideas and mutual support usually helps, too!
Congratulations to Tiago “Tayguera” Guimarães, 2020 WCOOP Event #13-M champ!
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