Get Ready for The Colossus Day 1c!
Welcome back to PokerNews, the official media partner of the 2025 World Series of Poker and home of live updates from all bracelet events.
Are you ready to take on the Colossus? Today marks the start of the third of four flights in Event #19: $500 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em, which sees a slight increase in buy-in from the $400 of previous editions. The Colossus is one of the cheapest bracelet-awarding events on the 2025 WSOP schedule, so expect the crowds to keep growing at Horseshoe and Paris, Las Vegas over the next two days.
PokerNews live updates begin on Day 2 at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday, June 8.
Day 1 players start with 50,000 chips and play 40-minute levels throughout the tournament. Play on Day 1 lasts for 17 levels, with players heading on a 20-minute break every three levels or when the floor staff color up. A 75-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 12 (~7:00 p.m.). If you play this event and bust, you may reenter once per flight.
Day 2, on June 8, sees the surviving players from the four starting flights combine and fight it out over the course of 15 levels. June 9 is when the third and final day commences, although its start time is yet to be decided.
Last year's Colossus was the best-attended since the WSOP created it. Some 19,337 players bought in, creating a colossal $5,940,883 prize pool. Bulgarian grinder Martin Alcaide captured the lion's share of the pot, $501,250, and his first WSOP bracelet.
Speaking to PokerNews shortly after his victory, Alcaide said, "I feel so relieved mostly. I was mostly just scared of losing, which is not a good mindset, so I was just trying to concentrate on the hands, so I'm relieved more to be rid of the tension than the happiness right now, but I'm sure that will change."
| Year | Entries | Winner | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 19,337 | Martin Alcaide | $501,250 | |
| 2023 | 15,879 | Moshe Refaelowitz | $501,120 | |
| 2022 | 13,565 | Paul Hizer | $414,490 | |
| 2021 | 9,399 | Anatolii Zyrin | $314,705 | |
| 2019 | 13,109 | Sejin Park | $451,272 |
Planning on playing this event? PokerNews activates MyStack for every WSOP event, regardless of that tournament's buy-in, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting.
MyStack is a free poker tool that allows you to control your chip counts on our live reporting pages. Once you have created a free PokerNews account, you can use MyStack to update your chip counts in real time; hopefully, your stack will continue increasing throughout the event!
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Stay tuned to PokerNews for updates on this and all bracelet events at the 2025 WSOP!