Colossus Tournament 2017
- Colossus Tournament 2017 Leaderboard
- Colossus Tournament 2017 Champions
- Colossus Tournament 2017 Bracket
- Colossus Tournament 2017 Games
The $565 buy-in Colossus poker tournament attracts the largest field of any World Series of Poker event. Unfortunately, this year’s Colossus fielded the smallest group of players in its short history.
Brazilian Roberly Felicio won the event, banking the $1,000,000 first-place prize
Colossus fields shrink each year
The 2019 WSOP Colossus gives players 40,000 chips to start and a much deeper structure. The 2019 edition of the World Series of Poker Colossus event has a bunch of changes when compared to the 2018 version of the event. In fact, almost everything other than the event’s name has been changed for this year’s WSOP, but players should very much. Posted 18:41 UTC-8 JanKores. Level 40. THE COLOSSUS III - $565 No-Limit Hold'em. Pomponio's live tournament cashes had totaled less than $140,000 before he entered this. Event Highlights. Thomas Pomponio Wins Event #5: THE COLOSSUS III - $565 No-Limit Hold'em For $1,000,000. Taylor Black Eliminated in 2nd Place ($545,480). The Colossus is also one of the most difficult events to win because of the large playing field and Colossus III which took place at the 2017 WSOP last week was no different. The event saw a total of 18,054 registrations as the Colossus III format allowed players to re-enter multiple times and tournament organizers stated that one player.
This year’s tournament fielded 13,070 entries. The tournament, a five-day event, ran from June 2 to June 7.
There’s no denying the tournament is a gigantic event. Multiple big-name players offer instructions for how to navigate the huge number of players in the event.
Still, this year’s event was the smallest incarnation of the Colossus so far. In fact, the fields have shrunk each subsequent year since the tournament’s debut in 2015.
The 2015 event remains the largest version of Colossus. In fact, it’s the largest live tournament ever played, with 22,374 entries generating a prizepool that ballooned over $11 million.
The fields have tumbled by 42 percent since. Even more alarmingly, each year’s decline has been greater than the last.
This year’s event hosted nearly 5,000 fewer entries than 2017’s event alone. Overall, attendance is down by more than 9,000 entries.
Why the shrinkage, WSOP?
Colossus Tournament 2017 Leaderboard
The dying fields might seem confusing. After all, the WSOP continues chugging along, with this year’s Main Event ranking as the second-largest in that event’s history.
However, there are three main reasons that the Colossus is less colossal this year:
Cannibalization
WSOP management took a bit of a flyer on the Colossus in 2015. There was a great deal of uncertainty about offering such a low buy-in event.
Colossus Tournament 2017 Champions
Furthermore, the team had to withstand criticism from top pros and amateurs alike. The low buy-in drew their ire because, in their view, it cheapened the value of the coveted WSOP bracelet.
So, when tens of thousands of people showed up, management felt emboldened about smaller buy-in events. It began introducing more low buy-in tournaments in 2016, when a $565 Pot-Limit Omaha event appeared.
Colossus Tournament 2017 Bracket
The following year brought two events which were actually lower in buy-in than even the Colossus. A $333 online poker event on WSOP.com and the $365 buy-in Giant likely shaved off some of the players who would normally stretch for the Colossus.
So, in 2018, WSOP hit an all-time high for low buy-in tournaments, introducing a PLO Giant. That addition brought the total of three-digit buy-in events to five.
Scheduling/competition
The Colossus field also shrank due to the numerous options available to players at the same time. Two of the aforementioned low buy-in events ran either just before or during the Colossus.
For example, the $365 WSOP.com event ran entirely on what amounted to be Day 2 of the Colossus. The player pools from those two events alone combined for nearly 12,000 entries. Sure, some players multi-tabled by playing on their computer or tablet at the table
There was also an MSPT event at Venetian running at the same time. This event, part of Venetian’s Deepstacks Series, drew over 4,400 entries and carried a guarantee of $3.5 million.
All these competitors and complaints about the tournament structure could lead to a dwindling field. However, there is also one other, and simpler, reason for the decline.
Novelty
It may sound unfair, but the Colossus just isn’t the new baby anymore. The event still promises a big field, sure, but the addition of so many new events – including the lower buy-in ones – have drained interest in the tournament.
Colossus Tournament 2017 Games
This problem doesn’t have an easy solution. The reason why a tournament like the Main Event can continue to sustain or grow usually has to do with its presentation.
The Colossus has a reputation as a tournament for getting lucky, rather than as a skill-heavy event. Aside from the chance of rubbing elbows with famous pros (who are likely goofing around), there’s not much draw for a player who has worked hard to hone his or her game.
Winning a WSOP bracelet means engaging in gambling, to be sure. However, at their core, the events themselves should not be gambles. Otherwise, we should all just play slots tournaments.