Damian Salas wins WSOP Main Event’s international portion

Damian Salas of Argentina won the international portion of the World Series of Poker Main Event on Tuesday at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.

Salas earned $1.55 million and will now come to Las Vegas to face the winner of the U.S. portion of the Main Event heads-up for the bracelet and an additional $1 million Dec. 30 at the Rio.

The U.S. final table will be held Dec. 28 at the Rio.

Salas defeated Brunno Botteon of Brazil heads-up for the international title. In the final hand, Salas made two pair on the river and called Botteon’s bluff with a missed flush draw. Botteon received just over $1 million.

Manuel Ruivo of Portugal took third for $728,177.

Salas started the day third in chips. He took a massive chip lead with five players left when he called another Botteon bluff with top pair against a missed straight draw.

Salas held a chip lead of about 24 million to 14 million over Botteon at the start of heads-up play.

Salas finished seventh in the Main Event in 2017 for $1.425 million, but he has never won a WSOP bracelet. He has more than $2.6 million in career tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

For all his success, Salas said he plans to continue working as a lawyer.

“I don’t want to spend all my energy playing poker,” he told PokerNews. “I like to take my time to also do other things and not just poker.”

The Main Event, the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em Championship, is being held in a hybrid online/live format this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Because of U.S. online poker laws, the world cannot play online together. That forced the WSOP to divide the Main Event into two separate tournaments, one for U.S. players on WSOP.com and one for international players on GGPoker.

Play shifted to live casinos once each tournament was down to nine players.

A total of 705 players entered the U.S. portion, and the international portion attracted 674 players for a total field of 1,379.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.