Damian "pampa27" Salas Scoops $117,475 in the PokerStars EPT Online 20: $1,050 NLHE [Last Chance]
After more than eight hours, Damian "pampa27" Salas can be crowned as the champion of the PokerStars EPT Online 20: $1,050 NLHE [Last Chance] for a nice little payday of $117,475 as he defeated Phillipe "takechip" D’Auteuil heads-up.
The tournament attracted 475 individual players who reentered 203 times to get to a total of 678 entries. A pretty prize purse of $678,000 was built up with 80 players getting paid at least $2,382 at the end of their tournament run.
Salas has over $2.5 million in live tournament cashes and has notched several online tournament wins on PokerStars before. This score here today comes in second place when looking at his results on the PokerStars tables as he won a tournament back in 2018 for $139,183.
PokerStars EPT Online 20: $1,050 NLHE [Last Chance] Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damian "pampa27" Salas | Argentina | $117,475 |
| 2 | Phillipe "takechip" D’Auteuil | Canada | $86,821 |
| 3 | Dmitriy "corvet75" Mitrofanov | Russia | $64,166 |
| 4 | "Eset93" | Kazakhstan | $47,422 |
| 5 | "S.N.I.N.1" | Moldova | $35,048 |
| 6 | Ricardo "2Much$4U_08" Lima | Brazil | $25,903 |
| 7 | Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian | Russia | $19,144 |
| 8 | "m.a-0000" | Canada | $14,148 |
| 9 | "taylorlang" | United Kingdom | $10,456 |
From Start to Final Table
Just over 100 players entered the tournament before the first card was dealt but the number of entries jumped up quickly during the first three hours and five minutes of late registration. By the time the registration closed, only 240 players were left to battle it out for a spot in the top 80.
Many players fell at the wayside before things even got close to the bubble. Familiar names like Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson, Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche, Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski, Claas "ssicK_OnE" Segebrecht, Daniel "SmilleThHero" Smiljkovic, Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer, Joao "Naza114" Vieira, Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos, David "dpeters17" Peters, and Pedro "PaDiLhA SP" Padilha all failed to win their final all-ins.
It would be "taylorlang" who would burst the bubble when they took out Guillaume "Nolet20" Nolet with pocket kings. Bert "girafganger7" Stevens was the first double EPT Online winner ever but couldn't make it three when he ran his ace-king into the queens of Sam "aaajack" Chartier.
Chartier also took out Laszlo "omaha4rollz" Bujtas, Lonnie "thx4urm0n3y" Hallett but bubbled the final table when he got his chips in with king-queen. The aces of Ricardo "2Much$4U_08" Lima held throughout the board to get the tournament down to nine players.
Salas' Rise on the Final Table
Salas started the final table in seventh place and was the shortest stack left when "taylorlang" and "m.a-0000" were eliminated by D’Auteuil in the same hand. But it was Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian who would bust first after having been left short by doubling up "Eset93".
Salas then doubled up himself to get himself to the middle of the pack. Lima then left the final table with "S.N.I.N.1" following him immediately after. Salas had a bit of a rollercoaster ride after that. He doubled up, then paid a double himself to "Eset93" before taking them out in fourth place.
Three-handed play lasted around 20 minutes with Dmitriy "corvet75" Mitrofanov bowing out after having sported the shorter stack for a while. D’Auteuil doubled up once before four-bet shoving for 27 big blinds with pocket sixes. Salas called with pocket jacks and the slightly bigger stack. He even improved to a set on the river to seal the deal and score the win.
This concludes the coverage for this event but PokerNews will be back on Wednesday, November 18 to take you through the conclusion of the Main Event so stick around to see who will take it down.
for Salas to stay ahead throughout and even improve to a set on the river to win the tournament for $117,475 while D’Auteuil finished as the runner-up for $86,821. 
for Salas to hold with the pocket nines to claim a bigger chip lead going into the heads-up battle.
for Salas to hold with the pocket pair for two pair to eliminate "Eset93" in fourth place.
for D’Auteuil to stay ahead and even improve to a pair on the river to bust Martirosian in seventh place.
for D’Auteuil to flop a set immediately and even improve to a full house on the turn to bust both opponents.
for Chartier to bubble the final table.