Argentinian Captures 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event

Argentina’s Damian Salas won the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event, beating American Joseph Hebert in heads-up play at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Salas won the coveted Main Event gold bracelet and $1 million in a 173-hand duel Sunday night when his pocket King-Jack became a full house, Kings full of 5s, to beat Hebert, who just held an Ace to go along with the pair of 5s on the board.

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Two hands previously, Salas had taken nearly a 4-to-1 chip lead when his Ace-10 outkicked Hebert’s Ace-8 on a board that showed trip 5s.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 WSOP $10,000 No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship was a hybrid event of both online play and live competition that played out in the U.S. and internationally with a total of 1,379 runners (705 in America and 674 from the rest of the world).

The early U.S. rounds were played on WSOP’s poker website and the early international rounds were played on GGPoker. The two fields played down to separate final tables of eight (one in Vegas and the other in the Czech Republic) which were played in December. The survivors of those final tables — Salas and Hebert — advanced to Sunday’s showdown.

For winning the international side of the Main Event, Salas earned $1,550,969, and Hebert won $1,553,256 for winning the U.S. final table. Hebert, from Metairie, Louisiana, won his Main Event seat in a $300 satellite.

This was Salas’ second WSOP Main event final table in four years. He finished seventh in the WSOP Main Event in 2017, winning more than $1.4 million under more normal circumstances. He has nearly $2.7 million in live tournament cashes.

Strong Run for Hebert

Hebert, nicknamed "kolebear," had dedicated his tournament efforts to his mother Linda, who died following a pulmonary embolism during the summer, according to published reports. In Louisiana, Hebert has worked at a seafood restaurant in Metairie.

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Still, he does have respectable poker credentials. His tournament resume on the Hendon Mob database goes back to 2008 with many of his career cashes coming at tables on the Gulf Coast, mostly in Mississippi.

Previous to his $1.55 million payday, he had about $667,000 in career live tournament winnings. His previous biggest cash was in 2013 when he finished second in a WSOP Circuit Main Event in New Orleans and pocketed $141,000.