The 2020 WSOP is almost coming to an end after recording over 1,300 entrants. The event started as an online competition because of the covid-19 restrictions but has produced 18 finalists – nine in the GGPoker sponsored international leg and nine in the US leg – for the final tables. The nine finalists for the international leg competed on December 15 for a chance to be crowned a champion and face off in a heads up match with the US champion. Damian Salas bested seven others to clinch the international title.
International Competition
GGPoker played host for the international competition, which started on November 29 with 674 players that accumulated a prize pool of $6.8 million. Nine finalists made it to the final table, but only eight could make it to the live event. The event, which was held at the King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, saw an all South-American heads up for the title. The Argentine Damian Salas was able to secure the victory over Brazil’s Brunno Botteon after calling his bluff.
Brunno went into the final table with the biggest stack – 10,317,743, almost double of Salas’ chip size, but was not able to beat the Argentine. However, he got a huge reward for his effort throughout the competition. Brunno will make his long journey home $1,062,723 richer. Also, his performance showed that he is one of the great players Brazil has ever produced.
Damian’s win earned him a cash reward of $1,550,969 and a chance to contest for the WSOP 2020 bracelet. The nine finalists of the US leg have been decided on but is yet to produce a winner. Salas, who finished seventh-place in the 2017 WSOP Main Event, now has a shot at redeeming himself and taking home the title.
It was an exceptional showing from Salas at the final table as he was able to go into the heads up play with 24,175,000 chips. He was in a comfortable position against the Bazlian, who only had 14,100,000 chips. Salas, in his post-game interview, stated that he did not go into the heads up play with any special plan and that all he was going to do was adapt. He also stated that he has matched up against Brunno on several virtual events, describing him as a very tough opponent with a winning mentality.
The Main Event
The nine finalists from the US will compete at the Rio in Las Vegas on December 28 to crown the US champion. Both champions will meet for a heads-up match on December 30 for a chance to win the coveted WSOP bracelet, an additional $1 million in prize money, and to be crowned the world poker champion.
The final table results are;
- 1st – Damian Salas ($1,550,969) Argentina
- 2nd Brunno Botteon ($1,062,723) Brazil
- 3rd Manuel Ruivo ($728,177) Portugal
- 4th Ramon Miquel Munoz ($498,947) Spain
- 5th Marco Streda ($341,879) Switzerland
- 6th Dominykas Mikolaitis ($234,255) Lithuania
- 7th Stoyan Obreshkov ($160,512) Bulgaria
- 8th Hannes Speiser ($109,982) Austria
- 9th Peiyuan Sun ($75,360) China
Peiyuan was not able to make it down to the live event as a result of covid-19 restrictions and so was automatically placed ninth as per the rules of the competition.
