Here’s the story of a young grinder who's studied poker almost every day since he was 16.

He's 'theNERDguy'.

But there's nothing nerdy about being one of the best all-round players in the world with $9.8M in career cashes, 2 WSOP bracelets, and 4 WCOOP titles.

A thread

1) Yuri Martins was born in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina in 1991.

He first discovered poker when he was just 16 after his friends invited him to play in a home game.

His brother, Vitor “vitinho dzi” Hugo, owned a poker book and Martins devoured it from cover to cover.

2) Yuri Martins truly fell in love with poker.

When he finished school at 18, there was nothing he wanted to do more than play.

"After that, I never stopped studying and playing," he says.

And he means it. He studied poker almost every single day and still does to this day.

3) Every morning @YuriNerdguy woke up excited to play poker, regardless of how the session before had gone.

If he won, he was pumped to keep the rungood going.

If he lost, he was driven to get things back on track.

He loved tournaments and grinded low-stakes MTTs online.

4) "There's an infinite amount of new knowledge we can learn every day," says Yuri Martins.

"We face difficult situations all the time and I am super curious to solve all of it. Tournament poker is super complex. We have to study a lot of different aspects. It’s fascinating!"

5) By 2010 Yuri Martins had worked his way up to the mid-stakes.

He continued to win, banking his first five-figure score in a $55 event on PokerStars for $20,190.

By August 2011 he had started playing live poker too & he hit the ground running with a big score at the BSOP.

6) Yuri Martins finished 2nd in the BSOP Main Event for $109,449.

He was enjoying great success in No Limit Hold’em, but he wanted to be great at every form of poker.

"If you have a good understanding of the fundamentals of poker you can apply them in other games," he says.

7) Yuri Martins certainly had NLHE down in 2014.

He finished second to Fedor Holz in the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $5K NLHE Main Event on PokerStars for $708,251.

"That result changed my life," he says. "It gave me a good bankroll to move up in stakes."

8) By 2015 Yuri Martins was ranked the no.1 online tournament player in the world, according to @pocketfives.

He also recorded his largest live cash to date, winning the LAPT Grind Final in Sao Paulo for $175,155.

But Martins still wanted to become more a well-rounded player.

9) To improve in mixed games Yuri Martins hired the best coach available in each variant.

"Honestly, all the money I have invested in poker has now been returned to me many times over," he says.

But what does he love about mixed games?

For Martins, they're almost nostalgic.

10) "People play very differently from each other in mixed games as almost nobody is studying these games with programs," says Yuri Martins.

"Playing them takes me back in time to when everybody just played with their minds, using creativity, rather than solvers."

11) Through coaching and hard work, Yuri Martins transformed himself into one of the best all-round poker players in the world.

He’s a monster in every poker variant.

But while most of his success came online under the name "theNERDguy", Martins achieved a real dream in 2019.

12) Yuri Martins won a $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo tournament at the 2019 WSOP for $213,750 & his first bracelet.

He also finished 28th in the $10K Main Event for $261,430.

Mixed and NLHE.

“This is the most special moment, for sure,” he told @PokerNews.

13) In the same @PokerNews interview, Yuri Martins let his intentions be known.

“I want to feel this feeling again and again."

He didn't have to wait long.

In the 2020 online version of the WSOP, Martins won his second bracelet.

This time in another poker variant.

14) Yuri Martins' plan to master every poker variant was proving very successful.

In July 2020, he defeated 4,355 entrants online to the win the $400 PLO PLOSSUS event for $221,557 and his second WSOP bracelet.

But even Martins couldn't have planned what happened next.

15) The 2020 WCOOP on PokerStars had tournaments in a variety of poker games.

It was a dream series for Yuri Martins.

"I don’t prepare for a single series, I just keep doing what I do every day anyway,” he says. "I've prepared throughout my entire career.”

It all paid off.

16) Forget about making headlines once a year. 28-year-old Yuri Martins made headlines daily throughout WCOOP 2020.

And I mean every single day, in every single game.

He won an incredible three WCOOP titles in the first two weeks of online poker’s most prestigious series.

17) In the first 2 weeks of WCOOP 2020, Yuri Martins won:

• $5K NLHE PKO Sunday Slam - $245,535
• $1K HORSE - $31,115
• $1K 2-7 Single Draw - $21,938

Again, crushing both mixed games and NLHE.

But one glance at his WCOOP résumé shows he could have a dozen titles by now.

18) Yuri Martins has a lot of second and third place WCOOP finishes across his career.

"I almost always finished in second place," he says.

That's fine. He plays for money, and he's won a lot.

"But I can’t deny that winning tournaments is a very good and unique feeling."

19) Today, Yuri Martins is ranked 8th in the world in online poker tournaments, according to @PocketFives.

He has $8.6M in online cashes, plus $1.2M live on his @TheHendonMob.

"[I'm joyous] for where I am, but I do want to play higher stakes and be a consistent winner."

20) According to Yuri Martins, there is no special secret to success.

"You have to study the game more than your opponents. If you do it every day then success is inevitable.

"Each poker player has a unique path because of the variance.

"Every day I learn something new."

Thanks for reading!

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I interviewed @YuriNerdguy for @PokerStarsBlog in Sep 2020.

Check out the full interview here: http://psta.rs/3mucwXV