The 2018 WSOP Europe Event #1: �550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em Crushes the Guarantee

Christian Zetzsche

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

The first gold bracelet event of the 2018 World Series of Poker has finished all eight starting days and a total field of 2,992 entries emerged in Event #1: �550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em to ensure that the guaranteed prize pool of �1,000,000 was easily surpassed. Thanks to 820 entries on Day 1G and another 839 entries on Day 1H, a prize pool of �1,435,412 was created and 296 players remain in contention to follow into the footsteps of Matous Skorepa.

Leading the 89 survivors in the final flight is Germany's Michael Mandl with 801,000, followed by Balazs Toth (565,000) and Markus Sturz (564,000). Several notables used their final opportunity to book a seat for Day 2 including Ivaylo Sivinov (505,000), Konstantinos Tsirakidis (399,000), Asher Dahan (371,000), Timo Kamphues (242,000), Barbara Martinez (210,000), Fabian Gumz (190,000), Anthony Ghamrawi (160,000) and Allen Kessler (154,000).

The bid of Matous Skorepa to defend his title at King's Casino ended in the first level of play on the first bullet, and in the final hand of the night on his second entry. Skorepa was left short with fewer than one big blind and lost a three-way all in against Ivaylo Sivinov and Ramez Haddad to ensure that a new COLOSSUS champion will be crowned in Europe's biggest poker arena. Skorepa cashed for �885 and other notables in the money on Day 1H include Peter Kamaras, Jan Mach, Evangelos Bechrakis, Yves Hallague, and Jan Teunis.

Day 1H Payouts

Place	Winner	Country	Prize (in EUR)
90	Matous Skorepa	Czech Republic	�?885
91	Zoran Ilicic	Serbia	�?834
92	Sinisa Bodrozic	Croatia	�?834
93	Ersin Sancak	Austria	�?834
94	Alessio Soriano	Italy	�?834
95	Jan Teunis	Netherlands	�?834
96	Adrian Pajonk	Germany	�?834
97	Xenos Schirmer	Germany	�?834
98	Daniel Rejc	Czech Republic	�?834
99	Eleftherios Tzikas	Germany	�?834
100	Hans Klimas	Germany	�?801
101	Ioannis Chorianopoulos	Greece	�?801
102	Alfonso Amendola	Italy	�?801
103	Mark Eiermann	Germany	�?801
104	Hanan Barzel	Israel	�?801
105	Matan Barkat	Israel	�?801
106	Erkan Cinar	Germany	�?801
107	Fabio Gamba	Italy	�?801
108	Ahmed Ibrahimi	Morocco	�?801
109	Yves Hallague	France	�?801
110	Amir Shojaei	Germany	�?801
111	Witali Filinberg	Germany	�?801
112	Walter Steffl	?land Islands	�?801
113	Hoang Anh Dam	Vietnam	�?801
114	Nicola Benedetto	Italy	�?801
115	Jan Mach	Czech Republic	�?801
116	Franz Kleinsasser	Austria	�?801
117	Evangelos Bechrakis	Greece	�?801
118	Paschalis Papadopoulos	Greece	�?801
119	Alexandra Radinger	Austria	�?801
120	Giuseppe Demasi	Italy	�?801
121	Frank Seifert	Germany	�?801
122	Nicolas Pilato	Belgium	�?801
123	Werner Oberbauer	Germany	�?801
124	Johnny Oestbjerg	Denmark	�?801
125	Agostino Ascone	Italy	�?801
126	Peter Kamaras	Hungary	�?801

Action of the day

Following right into the strong turnout of the penultimate flight, Day 1H kicked off with more than 250 players in their seats and that number grew rapidly in the hours that followed. The more players bowed out in the previous starting day, the more jumped right back into the action for their final chance to take home a portion of the seven-figure prize pool.

Among those that arrived and left without anything to show for were the WSOP bracelet winners Lukas Zaskodny, Artur Rudziankov, Jeff Madsen, Dutch Boyd, Theodore McQuilkin, Sebastian Langrock and Makarios Avramidis. Current 2018 WSOP Player of the Year contender Shaun Deeb fired twice but was unable to run up a stack. Other big names that didn't make it through the final starting day were Maria Lampropulos, Manig Loeser, David Taborsky and Andrej Desset to name just a few.

In the final break of the night at the end of level 16, the money bubble was only three eliminations away and hand-for-hand play lasted all but two hands. There were two double ups on separate tables in the first attempt and Leonardo Armino ended up as the bubble boy when his flopped set of nines didn't hold up. Markus Sturz looked him up with pocket aces for the over pair and hit the two-outer right away on the turn.

In the final stages of the night, more than 30 players headed to the payout desk and the field was reduced to just 89 hopefuls that advanced. They join the survivors of each previous Day 1 and out of a total field of 2,992 entries, there are 296 players still in contention. A separate Day 2 prize pool will be created and the minimum payout will be slightly higher than the biggest prize paid on all Day 1s combined.

Day 2 will kick off on Sunday, October 14th, 2018, as of 3 p.m. local time with 19 minutes left in level 18 at blinds of 4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 big blind ante. The level duration increases to 40 minutes each and the event will play a fixed amount of levels or down to the final table, whichever comes first. Make sure to tune back in then to find out who remains in contention for the coveted gold bracelet here in Rozvadov.

2018 WSOPE �550 The COLOSSUS Schedule

Day	Date	Starting Time	Late Reg	Entries	Survivors	Further Information
1A	Tuesday October 9th	18:00	~23:40	154	12	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 24 spots paid
1B	Wednesday October 10th	18:00	~23:40	167	17	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 26 spots paid
1C	Thursday October 11th	12:00	~17:40	125	12	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 19 spots paid
1D	Thursday October 11th	18:00	~23:40	164	10	Play concluded with 19:00 left in level 18, top 25 spots paid
1E	Friday October 12th	12:00	~17:40	318	33	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 48 spots paid
1F	Friday October 12th	18:00	~23:40	405	38	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 61 spots paid
1G	Saturday October 13th	12:00	~17:40	820	85	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 123 spots paid
1H	Saturday October 13th	18:00	~23:40	839	89	Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 126 spots paid
2	Sunday October 14th	15:00	-	2,992	296	Level duration increases to 40 minutes
3	Monday October 15th	tba	-	tba	-	Play Down to a champion