It’s well known that legendary Brazilian soccer star Neymar is a big-time poker fan. He’s played poker tournaments all over the world, largely as part of his role as a PokerStars Cultural Ambassador. He’s found success by making the money at EPT Monte Carlo, in the BSOP in his home country of Brazil, and, more recently, he managed a top-50 finish in the $700 Super Bounty event at the 2022 World Series of Poker.
But almost all of those results came during the summer when the Paris Saint-Germain all-world forward was away from the club during the offseason. That was not the case on Wednesday, however, as Neymar took aim at the European Poker Tour’s €10,200 Mystery Bounty event at the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile.
Neymar didn’t have to travel far to spend some extra time at the poker tables. The Hyatt Regency, where PokerStars is holding EPT Paris from Feb. 15 – 26, is less than four miles north of Parc de Princes stadium. Neymar played there for PSG just 24 hours prior, in a 1-0 loss in the first leg of a Champions League Round of 16 against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
It turns out Neymar had a little more luck at the poker tables, finding a bag at the end of Day 1. He looks like he also found himself out on the town, at a local McDonald’s (grabbing a ‘Royale with Cheese’, perhaps?) before retiring for the night.
Tweet translated: “Neymar was spotted in a McDonald’s restaurant after taking part in a poker tournament last night.”
Neymar wasn’t the only superstar spotted in the field. He returned for Day 2 of the Mystery Bounty along with some of the biggest names in the poker world, including Erik Seidel, Adrian Mateos, Timothy Adams, Stephen Chidwick, and Davidi Kitai, among many others.
However, Neymar’s run in the tournament, which drew 107 total entries, fell just short of a cash result. According to on-site live updates by PokerNews, Neymar was eliminated when his pocket fives failed to outflop the pocket aces of another Brazilian player, Felipe Ketzer.