From Star Gamer to Almost Homeless: The Story of Teruliro, a WPT champion

Luiz Guilherme Donnabella Orrico, the name, put like that, sounds strange to part of the poker community. Everything gets more familiar, however, when we talk about Guilherme Beavis, or, simply, ‘Teruliro’, as the player is also known, one of the best players of the 2021 WPT World Online Championships.

Guilherme is 35-years-old and one of the best professionals in online poker. He won the $215 Opener, the tournament that kicked off the WPT World Online Championships. The grinder played the tournament under his first and last name, Luiz Orrico, and beat a field of 4,777 entrants, for $93,752.

A score like that can change a player’ life. However, for Guilherme it was both a relief and the confirmation he is on the right path. It was another big hit to add to his collection of several titles in the major online poker series, including two on the World Poker Tour.

A year ago, the Brazilian won WPT Online Event #39 – $530 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Knockout – and took home $14,335. This season’s victory was a much more lucrative one, and is the biggest result of his career, surpassing the $92,287 won during the 2019 WPTWOC.

Colônia, Alemanha – 2008

At the age of 22, Luiz Guilherme was full of youth and energy when he arrived in Cologne, Germany. Dividing time between the Mechanical Engineering course, at the Federal University of Uberlândia, and a promising career in esports, the young man fulfilled a dream: to represent Brazil and compete in the most important event in the gaming universe at the time.

It was November 2008 and Luiz was part of the Brazilian national team that was in Germany to compete in the World Cyber Games 2008 (WCG), the biggest games championship in the world. Guilherme is one of the best FIFA players in the country, he was runner-up in the Brazilian stage of the WCG, played in July of the same year.

He had an idea that this was going to be a special moment. He imagined it could be a milestone in his career as an esports professional, but he didn’t know that this trip would transform his life and professional story.

A friend for life

Guilherme Teruliro Beavis and Cássio Kiles, of Team Brazil at the World Cyber Games 2008 (WCG)

Newly retired from poker Cássio Kiles, was one of the greatest Brazilian players of the last decade. Cássio is the founder of NineTales, a group that brings together the largest high-stakes players in Brazil, and currently a partner of esports giant Furia. Cássio was also a member of the Brazilian delegation at WCG. It was here that they met, became friends, and it was from this friendship that Guilherme started his professional poker career.

A great FIFA and Counter-Strike player, Guilherme didn’t know, however, if he would make a living as a gamer or if he would make a living as an engineer. At the time, Guilherme did not know what his future would be, but it was precisely at this crossroads moment that things started to make sense.

Two years after meeting Cássio, Guilherme graduated in engineering. He was 24 years old, looking for money to start an independent life when he saw his friend making great strides in poker and turning into a great player.

“I went back to my mother’s house and saw that Cassio had joined 4bet, so I asked him to get me into the team, because I needed money and couldn’t get a job”, said Guilherme.

4Bet is the biggest poker team in the world today. It was founded in January 2010 and was led at the time by Will Arruda, Caio Brites and Marcos Sketch. The group quickly started to revolutionize Brazilian poker, by investing in training players to compete in multi-table tournaments.

Guilherme believed Joining 4Bet would be the perfect move for him, even though he still wasn’t sure he would become a professional until many years later. Cássio introduced Guilherme to Will Arruda, the founder and head coach of the team.

However, the process was not that simple as meeting Will and becoming part of the team.

“I spent six months asking Will Arruda for a shot,” recalls Guilherme, who during his wait was staked by Caio Pessagno and Francisco “Chiconogue” Nogueira. “And only then did he decide to get me in.”

Getting accepted should be the happy part of the story, and it ultimately was, but becoming a poker player had a negative effect on his home life. His family were not impressed he left his engineering career to concentrate on poker. What happened next turned his life upside down.

“I was kicked out of my house at the time for venturing into poker.”

Guilherme moved in with his girlfriend for a while.

Becoming a poker pro

With a history of good results in the competitive environment of esports, Guilherme quickly adapted to poker and the 4Bet culture. Little by little, he established himself as a profitable player.

The urgency for success put the player under pressure, in a situation where failure was not an option.

“When I joined the team, I had six months to start making money, because I did not have a place to live”, remembers the player. “I studied and grinded like crazy. I had no idea that poker is a long-term game.”

As he himself admits, Guilherme ignored, at first, the variance factor in the equation. The possibility of initial failure, therefore, was real, but it did not materialize.

Not only was the player profitable from the start, he quickly increased his buy-in level and achieved the expected hits in less than a year. One of the first five-figure results came in January 2012, about a year after becoming a 4Bet member: $22,000 from a $109 event.

From Player to Coach

Guilherme’s career took off in such a way that he earned not only money, but respect and prestige within the Brazilian community. One of the symbols of this recognition came when he was promoted to instructor within 4Bet in 2015.

“I became the team’s instructor about 5/6 years ago now, when 4bet decided to create some tiers within the team”

The champion now then divides his time between playing and teaching.

Teruliro currently coaches low-to-mid stakes players, while facing high-level rivals in tournaments with an average buy-in of $250.

“Today I’m very focused on high stakes tournaments due to a project 4bet presented to me, so I’ve been playing less mid-stakes tournaments than I used to.”

Hard Work and a Lot of Faith

The magic formula for poker success does not exist. Or rather it exists in a different way for each person. For Guilherme “Teruliro” Beavis, the equation involves: working hard, having good teachers and faith.

“My instructors and friends William Arruda, Rafael Moraes and Thiago Crema are mainly responsible for making me the player I am today, both technically and psychologically. I am and will be eternally grateful to each one of them.”

On the other hand, Guilherme emphasizes the role of faith and religion in his achievements. “As I always say: whatever it is will be, I believe a lot in God’s plans, and I was blessed with a lot of achievements in the first few months, and managed to keep myself as a poker player.”

Religion occupies an important space in the player’s life and gains importance especially in times of downswing, as the year of 2021 had been until this $215 Opener win.

The WPT Opener title, the biggest hit of Teruliro’s career, interrupts a downswing that had been dragging on since the end of last year and puts the player’s balance back on track: “I’m not used to going to church, but I pray every night and I am thankful every day for everything that happens to me”.

Guilherme is used to extracting the best from the bad beats of life, as he makes the odds work for him. He found poker when he was looking to be an elite figure in esports and saw success even when he was kicked out of the family home.

“I always have faith that something good is coming for me again. This year took a while but it came”, says the player. “Everything has its time, we can’t trample over the plans that God has for us, sometimes it hurts to understand, but whenever I needed it, he was with me”.