Damian Salas Wins $1.5m At International Leg Of The 2020 WSOP Main Event

The international leg of the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on GGPoker has finally concluded, with Argentina’s Damian Salas emerging as the winner.

The finalists battled it out at the King’s Resort in Rozvadov, with nearly $6.5 million in total prize pool on the line. In the end, Salas outclassed Brazilian poker pro Brunno Botteon heads-up to claim $1,550,969 in first-place prize. Botteon walked away with $1,062,723 for finishing second.

The international portion of the 2020 WSOP Main Event which ran on GGPoker attracted a total of 674 entries which whittled down to nine finalists. Eight of them traveled to Czech Republic for the live final battle, while one player, China’s Peiyuan Sun, decided not to compete in the live finale. In accordance with the rules, Sun automatically claimed the ninth spot for $75,360.

The final table was comprised of players from nine different countries, including Portugal’s Manuel Ruivo (3rd place for $728,177), Spain’s Ramon Miguel Munoz (4th place for $498,947), Switzerland’s Marco Streda (5th place for $341,879), Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis (6th place for $234,255), Bulgaria’s Stoyan Obreshkov (7th place for $160,512), and Austria’s Hannes Speiser (8th place for $109,982).

Salas Could Book Historic Win for Argentina

This is not the first time that Salas has achieved huge success in the WSOP. The Argentinian also managed to reach the final table of the 2017 WSOP Main Event, where he ultimately finished seventh for over $1.4 million. He was just a few places away from the title during that time, and now he’s got another shot at officially becoming the first-ever WSOP champion from his home country.

In his post-game interview, Salas humbly admitted that he is not the best poker player and described his heads-up opponent as a tough player with a winning mentality. Both Salas and Botteon had played against each other on numerous occasions online.

Botteon entered the final table as chip leader, while Salas came in third. The Argentinian navigated his way to the top early in the game after scoring multiple knockouts.

Salas began heads-up play with a 5:3 chip advantage, and while Botteon managed to grab the lead during the initial stages of the match, Salas won a massive pot after calling a check-raise from Botteon. He didn’t look back from there and made his victory official after calling another all-in bluff from the Brazilian.

Salas will face the US winner of the $10,000 buy-in event live at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on December 30. The special finale will award a highly-coveted WSOP gold bracelet and an additional $1 million in cash prize to the winner, who will also become the official 2020 WSOP Main Event champion.