He’s Won More Than $12 Million Playing Poker

João Vieira is a professional poker player.

He participates in poker tournaments – both online and offline – and wins prize money if he performs well enough.

Online he plays poker using the nickname Naza114.

This video shows João in action during a live poker tournament:

As of this writing, the Hendon Mob poker database list’s João’s “total live earnings” as $12.2 million.

However, for the purposes of this profile I’m focusing on João’s earnings from playing poker online.

The same database shows that João has won $100,000’s via online poker tournaments over the years.

And in September 2024 he took home $54,358 in prize money from the World Championship of Online Poker.

Also, since 2018, Vieira has been sponsored by the online poker room Winamax (source).

The terms of that sponsorship are unclear. But from what I’ve read online, it seems many pro poker sponsorship deals involve an annual cash payment to the player, a budget for tournament buy-ins, and perhaps even performance bonuses.

Winamax has a short bio of João on their website.

Highlights…

• João is a former professional basketball player, having played 7 years for his hometown team in Madeira, Portugal.
• João started playing poker with his basketball teammates, presumably in his mid- to late-teens.
• João then began participating in online tournaments. He had some success with those, and began entering offline tournaments as well.
• In December of 2011, at only 22 years of age, João dropped out of university to work full-time playing poker.
• In August 2012, he won more than $60,000 playing in live poker tournaments in Barcelona (source).