From dealer to streamer: player changes her life and fulfills her dreams in poker.

Isabella Oliveira has undergone a drastic career change recently. While studying civil engineering in Toledo, Paraná, she discovered poker through her college friends. In a short time, she started working as a dealer (the person who deals the cards at the table) in a local club, became a professional player, and began live streaming on Twitch, according to a report by ge Globo.

Originally from Franca, in the interior of São Paulo, she surprised her relatives when she decided to drop out of college after three and a half years, just one and a half years before completing her degree.

"My mother almost killed me. At the time it was frustrating for her, but today she knows that I'm doing well, happy, and stable. She saw that poker isn't a game of chance," said Isabella, 28.

The player started live streaming a year and a half ago, initially on her own. Today, she is part of the Midas Poker Team and is a streamer for GGPoker, the leading poker site today. For 2024, Isabella plans to reduce the number of live streams to focus on the volume of online play.

"I used to watch other players' live streams, but I had no idea what it was like. Watching, it seems very easy. Only those who do it know how difficult it is. You expose yourself, you expose your game, it demands time and attention. Whether you like it or not, it reduces the number of games. I was doing live streams four times a week, and I saw that it was too much for me, I realized it was wearing me down. I'm going to do it three times a week now, and without fixed days, because it's not good to have that obligation to do it when you're not having a good day," he said.

During her poker career, Isabella spent two and a half years as a dealer. She says that the profession helped her "have a better foundation for playing," since she analyzed how the competitors behaved at the tables.

Initially, she combined her role as a dealer with online gaming. She was part of NetTeam, another poker team where she stayed for four years, and had completed a poker course. Over time, she focused 100% solely on the game and abandoned her job as a dealer.

During this time, she met her boyfriend, the Argentinian Richard Dubini, who is also a professional poker player. Isabella moved to Buenos Aires to live with him. Consequently, she ended up improving her poker skills with her partner's advice.

Today, Isabela and Richard live in Balneário Camboriú, in Santa Catarina. She says she has already fulfilled several dreams in poker, such as traveling to Las Vegas (USA), and sets professional goals for 2024.

"Having that financial and geographical freedom is the dream that poker already provides me. What I can say about my goals is to evolve professionally as a player, to climb to higher levels in the game, because I don't play very expensive tournaments, I play at a maximum of $100 (almost R$500). My average tournament buy-in is $25 (R$100), and my goal is to double that average," she projected.