{"id":93205,"date":"2020-09-16T09:01:43","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T09:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog?p=93205"},"modified":"2021-09-02T08:17:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T08:17:37","slug":"damian-salas-on-course-for-wptwoc-main-event-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/damian-salas-on-course-for-wptwoc-main-event-title.html","title":{"rendered":"Damian Salas On Course For WPTWOC Main Event Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final table fo the 2020 WPTWOC Main Event Championship<\/strong> has been reached after the 1,011 starters were whittled down to a more manageable nine and it is Argentina\u2019s Damian Salas<\/strong> who leads the finalists back into battle on September 15.<\/p>\n

WPT Main Event Championship Final Table Chip Counts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nPlayer<\/th>\nCountry<\/th>\nChips<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nDamian Salas<\/td>\nArgentina<\/td>\n37,041,854<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nPhil Mighall<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n34,700,063<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nAkseli Paalanen<\/td>\nFinland<\/td>\n26,271,276<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nBlaz Zerjav<\/td>\nSlovenia<\/td>\n24,168,634<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nVictor Simionato<\/td>\nBrazil<\/td>\n20,057,907<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nTeun Mulder<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n19,652,002<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nDzmitry Urbanovich<\/td>\nPoland<\/td>\n18,333,036<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nLaszlo Molnar<\/td>\nHungary<\/td>\n11,542,750<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nBert Stevens<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n10,432,478<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Day 3 started with 24 players in the hunt for the $1,715,667 top prize and Artur Martirosian<\/strong><\/a> was the man to catch. The talented Russian began the day with a massive chip lead but he ultimately fell in 10th place and banked $103,122.<\/p>\n

Neutrals had high hopes for Ole Schemion<\/strong> who returned with enough chips for eighth-place at the restart. Nothing went right for Schemion and he was the first player out of the door, his 24th place finish yielding a $58,638 score.<\/p>\n

More stellar names joined Schemion in the role of a spectator, including Benjamin Rolle<\/strong> (18th – $58,638), Upeshka De Silva<\/strong> (17th – $58,638), Davidi Kitai<\/strong> (14th – $78,858), Claas Segebrecht<\/strong> (11th – $103,122) and the aforementioned Martirosian.<\/p>\n

Salas Is The Man To Catch At The Final Table<\/h2>\n

Damian Salas<\/strong> sits back down at 20:00 CEST on September 16 knowing he is only eight eliminations from becoming a WPT champion. Salas is a prolific poker tournament player who is a regular feature in online and live poker\u2019s biggest events. The Argentina-based pro has racked up almost $5.5 million in online poker winnings, mostly under the alias \u201cpapma27<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Salas also has almost $2.7 million in live winnings, thanks in part to a seventh-place finish in the 2017 WSOP Main Event<\/strong> that netted him $1,425,000.<\/p>\n

Mighall Has His Eyes Set On a Career-Best prize<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Second-place at the restart belongs to British pro Phil Mighall<\/strong>. The man from Brighton has previously been ranked in the top 10 in the world for online poker tournaments<\/a> and has more than $3.1 million in earnings at the virtual felt where he\u2019s better known as \u201cPhilRoyal888\u201d<\/strong>. Mighall has more than $500,000 in live winnings, including a \u00a348,000 score for finishing fifth in the 2014 WPT Nottingham Main Event<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flying Finn Paalanen<\/h2>\n

Akseli Paalanen<\/strong> is flying the Finnish flag at the final table, doing so from third-place when the cards go back in the air. Paalanen has $121,580 in live tournament cashes, but plenty more from his online exploits. His real name may not be overly well known but you\u2019ve probably heard of his famous online moniker of \u201cTimonpoika\u201d<\/strong> which has won the Finn several six-figure prizes.<\/p>\n

Zerjav Hoping For a Repeat of His MILLIONS Online Success<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blaz Zerjav<\/strong> got off to a flying start in the WPTWOC Main Event and bagged a Day 1 chip lead. He\u2019s been among the chip leaders ever since and finds himself in fourth-place when play resumes. Don\u2019t let the fact Zerjav only has $56,721 in live winnings lull you into a false sense of security because he\u2019s a phenomenal player. He finished third in the 2019 MILLIONS Online<\/strong><\/a> and walked away with $1,370,850, doing so from a $22 satellite entry! Victory in this tournament will see him surpass his previous best haul.<\/p>\n

Simionato Won His Way Into This Event For Only $22<\/h2>\n

Little is known bout the man starting the final table in fifth place. Brazilian Victor Simionato<\/strong> has 20,057,907 chips at his disposal and the $127,386 he\u2019s guaranteed here looks set to be a career-high. Simionato won his seat in this massive event from a $22 buy-in. He went from the $22 to $109 level, then to the $1,050 buy-in before navigating his way to the final tale of this $10,300 buy-in affair. Despite being guaranteed a six-figure prize here, we saw Simionato grinding a centroll tournament<\/strong> after reaching the final table last night. Now that\u2019s dedication to the cause!<\/p>\n

Dutch Star Mulder Has What It Takes To Become a WPT Champion<\/h2>\n

Teun Mulder<\/strong> is one of the Netherlands\u2019 elite players and is definitely in with a chance of glory in the WPTWOC Main Event. Mulder may \u201conly\u201d have $550,000 in live event winnings, but he has more than $3.6 million from online poker MTTs. Mulder has been ranked as high as fourth in the world this year, high praise indeed, which was helped by him winning two High Roller Club events in the space of a week<\/strong><\/a> here at partypoker.<\/p>\n

Urbanovich Is Representing Team partypoker at the Final Table<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Seventh-place and with a little work to do is the last remaining orange diamond, Team partypoker\u2019s Dzmitry Urbanovich<\/strong>. The Polish sensation has over $6.1 million in live winnings and is guaranteed to break through the $3 million barrier in online poker earnings when this Main Event cash hits his account. Urbanovich already has one seven-figure prize on his poker CV, finishing second or better here will add another.<\/p>\n

Molnar Wants To Make Amends For His WPT Main Event Runner-Up Finish<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Laszlo Molnar<\/strong> may be returning second-last in chips but he still has around 20 big blinds and will have a major influence over where the title finishes up. Molnar is a beast online where he regularly plays using the alias “Lackoo87gcb”<\/strong>. He came close to becoming a WPT champion in 2019 but finished second in the $5,000 WPT Gardens Festival Main Event<\/strong> for $235,615. Will Molnar exact revenge today?<\/p>\n

Stevens Is Our $10 Million Dollar Man<\/h2>\n

Bert Stevens<\/strong> is the player returning with the shortest stack but if anyone can turn this situation around it is Stevens. He\u2019s primarily an online poker tournament grinder and a ridiculously good one at that. Stevens has racked up just shy of $10 million in online poker tournament winnings, the majority under his famous \u201cgirafganger7\u201d<\/strong> alias.<\/p>\n

Watch The Action Unfold On Twitch<\/h2>\n

Play resumes at 20:00 CEST on September 16 under the watchful eye of our expert commentators on our Twitch channel<\/strong><\/a>. Our cards-up coverage starts at 21:00 CEST, the hour delay being there to protect the players as their hole cards are there for all to see. Join us then and rail on your favourite player to glory. Who will become the 2020 WPTWOC Main Event champion? We don\u2019t have long to wait to find out.<\/p>\n

Ready to join the party?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re ready to jump into the action, then click here to download partypoker and get started<\/strong>!<\/a><\/p>\n

If you already have an account with us, click here to open partypoker and hit the tables!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final table fo the 2020 WPTWOC Main Event Championship has been reached after the 1,011 starters were whittled down to a more manageable nine and it is Argentina\u2019s Damian Salas who leads the finalists back into battle on September 15. WPT Main Event Championship Final Table Chip Counts Place Player Country Chips 1 Damian<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":93207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[300],"tags":[184,1424,1425,419,330,74,15576],"yst_prominent_words":[22125,22124,22131,22128,22130,22126,22129,2826,4138,22127,2371,20267,21372,2357,2616,11123,4142,16711,4339,21901],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93205"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148433,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93205\/revisions\/148433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93205"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=93205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}