Botteon, Ruivo, Salas lead the final nine into Tuesday’s final table
The international side of the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event plays down to a sole survivor Wednesday. Eight players travel to King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, with the chance to claim the championship in the GGPoker WSOP Main Event.
On the line is the $1,550,969 first-place prize and a chance to compete in Las Vegas for the right to be called the 2020 Main Event champion.
The final table already saw its first elimination, as China’s Peiyuan ‘fish3098’ Sun won’t travel to Rozvadov due to COVID-19 concerns. Sun receives the ninth-place payout of $75,360 under the rules of this year’s tournament.
GGPoker 2020 WSOP Main Event final table chip counts
| Pos. | Player* | Playing From | Chip Count |
| 1 | Brunno Botteon | Brazil | 10,317,743 |
| 2 | Manuel ‘robocup’ Ruivo | Portugal | 6,213,759 |
| 3 | Damian Salas | Argentina | 5,653,528 |
| 4 | ‘fullbabyfull’ | Liechtenstein | 4,232,560 |
| 5 | Hannes ‘BlackFortuna’ Speiser | Austria | 3,515,744 |
| 6 | Dominkyas ‘MickeyMouse’ Mikolaitis | Lithuania | 3,165,440 |
| 7 | Ramon ‘Ritza’ Miquel Munoz | Spain | 3,305,940 |
| 8 | Peiyuan ‘fish3098’ Sun** | China | 2,185,676 |
| 9 | Stoyan ‘UncleToni’ Obreshkov | Bulgaria | 2,119,610 |
*Real names courtesy of PokerNews
**Will not travel to King's Casino due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Brunno Botteon: 10,317,743 chips (52 big blinds)
Brazilian Brunno Botteon enters the live final table as the tournament chip leader, with the event resuming at blinds of 100,000/200,000/20,000. Botteon’s chip stack sits at just over 10.3 million, enough for 52 big blinds.
Botteon already has more than $1 million in tournament earnings at GGPoker this year, thanks to enormous success in the 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Events series. Botteon cashed for six figures in both the $25,000 Heads Up event (2nd - $622,300) and the $25,000 Poker Players Championship ($388,837).
Botteon looks to add the tournament’s top prize of $1,550,960 to his 2020 resume when play resumes in Rozvadov.
Manuel ‘robocup’ Ruivo: 6,213,759 chips (31 big blinds)
Portugal’s Manuel ‘robocup’ Ruivo comes into final table play with a pair of six-figure live cashes to his name.
A finish of sixth-place or better would yield Ruivo’s biggest live cash to date. Ruivo’s presence puts a well-traveled and accomplished player at the King’s Resort final table.
Ruivo’s best career result so far came at the 2018 WSOP, in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event (6th - $230,120).
GGPoker 2020 WSOP Main Event Payout Structure
| Position | Payout |
| 1 | $1,550,969 |
| 2 | $1,062,723 |
| 3 | $728,177 |
| 4 | $498,947 |
| 5 | $341,879 |
| 6 | $234,255 |
| 7 | $160,512 |
| 8 | $109,982 |
| 9* | $75,360 |
*Peiyuan ‘fish3098’ Sun finishes in ninth place due to not traveling to Rozvadov for the final table
Damian Salas: 5,635,528 chips (28 big blinds)
The most well-known player at the final table comes in the form of Argentina’s poker legend, Damian Salas.
Salas looks to add to a career resume that includes just under $2.7 million in live tournament earnings. Salas is no stranger to WSOP Main Event final tables, with his career-best cash coming in a final table run at the 2017 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Championship.
That finish (7th - $1,425,000) earned Salas the only seven-figure payday of his career. He could add another by finishing as one of the final two in Rozvadov.
Featured image source: Flickr/World Poker Tour
