Rodrigo Santana (Rodrigão) was one of the premier middle blockers of his generation. At 6’9″ height, he helped Brazil’s most successful national team to an Olympic gold medal (2004), three World Championships (2002, 2006, 2010), two World Cups (2003 and 2007), two Grand Champions Cup (2005 and 2009), and eight World Leagues, in addition to two Olympic silver medals (2008 and 2012). In all, he served the team for 13 years (1999-2012).
In club play, he spent most of his time switching back and forth between Brazil’s and Italy’s premir teams, most notably Lube Macerata and Rio de Janeiro RJX.
Not one to simply relax after retiring, Rodrigão found himself a nice challenging hobby: professional poker. According to him, he started playing the card game for fun in 2003, and since his retirement, started to compete in professional leagues. He says that his experience with volleyball definitely helps him in his new activity:
“Without a doubt, there are similarities between volleyball and poker. The strategic component of both activities are very similar, due to the fact that you have to constantly study your opponents in order to beat them.”
If Rodrigão’s poker career is to reach 10% of his volleyball career excellence, fans better prepare to see his face on The World Series Of Poker soon.
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