Former Footballer Paulo Rink Attacks the WSOP Main Event
One of the notable faces in the Brasilia Room in former professional footballer Paulo Rink. Rink may not be as well known for his prowess on the felt compared to the pitch just yet, but he's working on building up his poker record. On the Latin American Poker Tour in 2010, Rink ran deep in the R$2,500 LAPT Brazil Main Event with a 29th-place finish for R$9,750 (USD $5,547). He also made an amazing run in the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,000 Main Event. Out of the field of 1,560, Rink placed 27th for $66,000. He also placed in the money in the 2011 R$2,000 LAPT Florianopolis Main Event.
Rink is a retired Brazilian-born German football (or soccer for us Americans) forward who gave up professional play in 2007.
Atletico Paranaense of the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A league was the club where Rink got his start before moving to the German team Bayer Leverkusen. He was transferred to the team for the hefty sum of $6 million USD, which up until that point, no one had been transferred from Atletico Paranaense for that sum of money.
Although he spent four years from 1997-2001, scoring 29 goals with Bayer Leverkusen in 88 appearances, Rink played for numerous other clubs. Nuremberg, Energie Cottbus, Olympiakos Nicosia, Vitesse, Jeonbuk, Olympiakos Nicosia, Omonia Nicosia and Atletico-PR were all stints for him following Bayer Leverkusen. Out of that latter group, Rink made the most appearances with Olympiakos Nicosia (21) and scored the most goals with Omonia Nicosia (23).
Outside of club play, Rink earned 13 international caps between 1998 and 2000 with the German national team. Rink was a naturalized German citizen due to his great-grandfather emigrating from Germany to Brazil in 1904, and became the first Brazilian to play for Germany. Although he didn't score any goals with that team, Rink has 98 career goals on his resumé.
It is said that Rink can't even walk the streets of Germany without being mauled by fans. That's not the case quite yet here within the poker world, but all of that could change with a standout performance in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Below is a video PokerNews' very own Kristy Arnett did with Rink during his deep run at the 2011 PCA Main Event.