In the end, it was what the officials for Caesars Entertainment and the WSOP had billed it to be: the largest ever live tournament ever held. When the numbers were announced for “The Colossus” at the 2015 World Series of Poker this afternoon, it wasn’t surprising that it broke records but what was a stunner was the amount of vitriol aimed at the owner/operators of the venerable tournament circuit.
According to unofficial counts by the WSOP, 3448 players came back on Sunday afternoon still not knowing how many places would be paid in “The Colossus” nor what first place would pay the eventual champion. That number served to create the largest Day 2 in poker history and, about an hour into the Day 2 action, the official numbers and the prize pool were announced for the tournament overall. When those numbers were announced, there were equal parts amazement and dismay at the actions of Caesars and WSOP officials.
All totaled, there were 22,374 official entries into the tournament, by far making it the largest live poker tournament of all-time (the previous record holder was the 2006 WSOP Championship Event, which pulled in a 8773 player field albeit without multiple entries). The prize pool of $11,187,000 is the largest for a tournament with less than a $5000 buy in but, as the folks competing in the tournament caught their breath over that announcement, they would soon have something to vent about.
In tournament poker, normally about 10% of the tournament field will receive a payout from the event and, on this point, Caesars and the WSOP were pretty close to accurate. 2241 players will take home an official WSOP cash from “The Colossus,” with the minimum payday being slightly less than double the buy-in at $1096. The first place prize in many poker tournaments is also around 10%-15% and this is where it seems that the wheels have come off “The Colossus.”
Demonstrating a very flat payout structure (to be honest, something that had been advocated by many players prior to the 2015 WSOP), the WSOP made sure that most of the final table would receive six figure paydays. While the eighth and ninth place finishers will fall short of that six-figure payday ($87,817 and $67,681, respectively), the top seven finishers will all take home six digits for their play in “The Colossus”:
1st – $638,880
2nd – $386,253
3rd – $308,761
4th – $234,927
5th – $182,348
6th – $140,956
7th – $109,632
This is where a great deal of complaint is coming from. The first place payday represents 5.7% of the total prize pool, a far cry from the usual payout for a major poker tournament and probably well under what many of the participants in the event were expecting. For those that had access to their Facebook or Twitter accounts, the venomous response from the players was nearly immediate.
“At the WSOP, Colossus first place is $600,000?” Dan Heimiller queried over Facebook. “5% is way too little for first. 10% should be minimum for any tourney!” (And that comes from someone who has cashed in the event and is still playing.) “Very disappointing payout structure for the Colossus!” Will Failla stated. “How could you win the biggest poker tournament in history and not make $1 million for it?” “Really confused about WSOP Colossus only paying $600k for first with $11 million in the pool,” Vanessa Rousso said to her followers on Twitter. “5% of pool is a complete departure from the industry standard.” Blair Hinkle also sounded off on Twitter, chirping, “Some poker players were calling “The Colossus” the lottery. After payouts it’s been downgraded to scratch tickets.”
There were those that stood up for the WSOP, however. “This is the first time I’ve seen players suggest that payout structure should be determined by event rake,” Dan O’Brien opined over Twitter. “Could it be because it’s asinine?” Jonathan Aguiar stated, “You complain about top heavy payouts, then the WSOP does something great for the economy instead of the sexy (big payout number) for marketing and you complain?”
Perhaps the final word on the payout outrage was the Vice President of Communications for the WSOP, Ty Stewart. Stewart took to his Twitter account to try and answer the outrage from players, saying first that “The Colossus (is) about the field at large and we’re happy that thousands will go home with a pretty strong ROI for their efforts. For those who complain,” Stewart continued, “we take market average rake (and) we have pretty darn high expenses to put this thing on. Not getting 1000x ROI (to the first place finisher).”
“We like getting praise but sometimes you have to do the right thing,” Stewart chirped over Twitter. “Going top heavy for PR value and short-changing thousands would have been worse.” While citing that there wasn’t “a roadmap” for handling such a tournament as “The Colossus,” Stewart also put a thought out there that might give players a pause. “We’ll take (a deep look) at whether top heavier or first place plus prize pool guarantee (works best) IF EVENT COMES BACK, (emphasis by writer)” Stewart said. “But the money has to come (out of) somewhere.”
