Richard Dubini Carrying Two Flags Deep in Main Event

Day 5 of the World Series of Poker Main Event began with Argentina in pole position. Damian Salas was atop the chip counts and while there was a blip at the beginning of the day, order has been restored and Salas continues to pace the field into the final few hours of play. Across the Brasilia Room though, another Argentine is making his way up the counts.

Thanks to a massive double right before the last break, Richard Dubini is sitting near 4 million chips and while he is potentially trending towards a career-best WSOP result, the young professional isn’t looking too far ahead.

“This is my best Main Event so far but I don’t want to think too much.” Dubini said, making it very clear that he wants to improve on this finish, after already besting his 2013 run, which ended in 295^th place.

Recording a career-best finish in the world’s biggest event is one thing but doing it with a friend and countryman make it even sweeter for Dubini.

“Damian and I are good friends, now we are here, in the same room. I can’t believe it.” Dubini said, before talking about the excitement in his home country. “Poker is growing, they love poker and there are a lot of passionate players.”

That growth led Argentina to the country’s second WSOP bracelet earlier this summer, when Andres Korn won the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event on PokerGO. While Dubini missed a bracelet this summer, finishing 8^th in the $1,500 Bounty event, he did pick up something he has been working towards for a long time.

Earlier this summer, Dubini became the newest member of Team partypoker. Over the next few months, Dubini will travel the globe as a sponsored pro, playing both live and online under the partypoker flag.

“I have waited for something like this for a long time,” Dubini said, pointing to his Team partypoker patch. “I’m very happy, so many good things are happening for me, I’m very grateful.”

Dubini is in the midst of another one of those good things on Day 5 of the Main Event. Even with his recent success and sponsorship aside, a run to the final table would top them all, as Dubini simply said, “This is my dream.”