Preparing for its first big weekend on its seven week schedule, the 2015 World Series of Poker has plenty of action going around the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino. Two tournaments will enter into their second days of play on Friday while “The Colossus” awaits for what could be the largest live poker tournament event ever.
Event #3 – $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo Eights or Better
After seeing the first two tournaments on the WSOP schedule come up short of their performance of 2014, WSOP officials had to be a bit happier with the attendance for Event #3, the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo Eights or Better tournament. In 2014, a whopping 1036 players vied for the title, which was eventually won by Nick Kost over Kal Raichura. For 2015, the players didn’t break that mark but put together a 918 player field that built more than a $1.2 million prize pool.
Befitting the nature of the split-pot game – where the high hand and the low hand split the pot evenly and the object is to “scoop” the entirety of the kitty – the play was rather slow on Day 1. Starting with 7500 in chips, players had some time to work before the blinds would eventually catch up with them in this limit event. With that said, there were still several notables who were parked on the rail by the time the end of the evening arrived.
At the start of Level 4, actor/poker player James Woods would start the parade to the exits of the tournament arena, falling at the hands of Calen McNeil (the 2013 champion of this tournament) when McNeil’s nut flush on a board that contained no low draw (2-6-9-K-J) ended Woods’ day. Larry Wright, Barry Greenstein, Brandon Shack-Harris, Phil Hellmuth, Allen Kessler and Mike Matusow (making his triumphant return to the WSOP after medical problems forced him out of action) all would fail to find success on this day, but plenty of other players will be back on Friday for Day 2 action.
Leading the way for the players as they settle into their seats will be Tony Ma, who holds 57,800 in chips to sit atop the player mountain. He will face challenges from Calvin Anderson (38,300), John Monnette, (36,800), Allen Cunningham (30,100), Taylor Paur (56,000), Eric Crain (55,600) and Don Zewin (53,900), while Brian Rast (4300) and Ashton Griffin (5100) face a hard (or perhaps quick and painless) road on Day 2. Action will resume in the Amazon Room at the Rio at 2PM (Pacific Daylight Time), with plans to play as close to the final table as possible.
Event #4 – $3000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
In another good sign for the 2015 WSOP, the $3000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout – Event #4 on the calendar – also drew in a comparable crowd to its 2014 incarnation. Last year, 389 players showed up for the game, with Kory Kilpatrick defeating Eric Wasserson to take down the WSOP bracelet. For 2015, 308 runners put their money on the line and, by the end of the night, the 40 survivors were all guaranteed a WSOP cash for their resumes.
Under the format of a Shootout tournament, a player has to defeat his table to move on in the competition. This goes on until only one player is left, thus leading many to believe that it is an easy way to win a WSOP bracelet in that you “only” have to defeat 2 or 3 tables to get to the gold. Those tables, however, are lined with dangers that sometimes you can avoid in a full tournament.
Battles such as Craig McCorkell versus Eugene Katchalov, James Woods against Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Jason Somerville battling Kathy Liebert and defending champion Kilpatrick against Corey Lieblein were just a few of the matchups that were simply the heads-up action from the individual tables. McCorkell, Woods, Somerville and Lieblein were the victors of those battles, but they’ll now have to head to tables that will feature Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk, Giacomo Fundaro, Carlos Mortensen, Jake Balsinger, Sam Stein and a host of other professionals (literally…it is tough to look through the 40 players remaining and not find a recognizable name) if they are to move on in the tournament.
The 40 players will break down into ten, four-handed tables at 2PM (Vegas Time) and each of those tables’ eventual winner will move onto Saturday’s final table. Although each of the players already has earned $6180 for their bankroll, their eyes are locked on the top prize of $201,812 and the WSOP bracelet.
Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip the Dogs of War
When you call a tournament “The Colossus,” it better live up to the name. Caesars Entertainment and WSOP officials seem to have struck gold this year – as they did in 2014 with “The Millionaire Maker” – in bringing the $500 (plus $65 juice) tournament to the WSOP schedule.
Actually Event #5 on the roster of events, “The Colossus” has the potential to be the largest ever live tournament poker event in the game’s history. Friday will feature two starting flights for the event – one beginning at 10AM and another beginning at 7PM – and players can sign up for each of those starting flights. For example, if they aren’t happy with their performance in the 10AM flight, they can sacrifice those chips and enter the 7PM flight. This same factor will hold true on Saturday, when two more flights at the same times will be sent off.
WSOP officials have already stated that Flights A, B and C (the two 10AM flights and Friday’s 7PM flight) have already sold out, leaving stragglers to try to get into the 7PM Saturday night Flight D slot. With a $5 million guaranteed prize pool, the number of entries would have to surpass 20,000 to “break even” and it is expected that “The Colossus” will perhaps even reach the 22,500 level.
With this being the only action in the WSOP tournament arena for Friday and Saturday, there are some pros who might take a shot at the event (hey, a $500 investment for a huge payday? Who wouldn’t?). At the end of Friday, we should have an idea of how the poker community has taken to “The Colossus” and whether the tournament will live up to its name.
