Poker-loving football superstar Neymar Jr scooped the Super High Roller at his own tournament series in the run-up to New Year, celebrating in style with a party at his $3.4million São Paulo mansion…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NJ 🇧🇷 (@neymarjr)

The former Barcelona star, who now plays his football for French side Paris Saint-Germain, toppled Brazilian poker pro Andre Akkari heads-up for the title at the series named after the PokerStars ambassador.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Andre Akkari (@aakkari)

Akkari’s IG post translates as:

“Monday at @neymarjr poker series Super High Roller! HU with the monster, immense pleasure! @jcelsomoraes gave work saw (sic) 🤣🤣🤣 Will be back @neymarjr , get ready!”

Neymar, whose €222 million transfer from Barca to PSG in 2017 made him the most expensive football player in history, is currently recovering from an injury.

That has given the 29-year-old plenty of time to indulge his passion for poker – a game he plans to turn to professionally when he hangs up his soccer boots.

Judging from his social media, it wasn’t just the one trophy he bagged over the festive season, appearing in several different winning poses and outfits…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NJ 🇧🇷 (@neymarjr)

Earlier this year he became PokerStars’ first ever “cultural ambassador”, joining up with the .net operator to work on a range of creative projects. The first of these was to devise special playlists for customers – released by PokerStars as “the ultimate soundtrack for every poker game”.

“Music is a real passion of mine, so that was first on the list,” said Neymar, adding: “but there is much more to come. I am excited for you to see what else we have in store.”

Describing poker as “one of the things I love to do the most,” the footballing hero revealed his future plans.

“I think that after playing football I will be able to do tournaments, travel to play tournaments that I have always wanted to participate in and could not do because of my agenda and my career. So, when I finish my football career, that’s one of the things I’m going to do, travel to play this type of tournament.”

So far, Neymar’s recorded live cashes are limited to one solitary effort at the 2018 Brazilian Series of Poker – a 6th spot finish worth $21,072 in the High Roller.

If his recent efforts are anything to go by, however, he may well be able to add to that tally when he swaps the green pitch for the green felt.