Thomas Boivin Leads at the End of Event #5A: $565 Colossus III No-Limit Hold'Em

Event #5A: $565 Colossus III No-Limit Hold'Em has come to and end with 93 players moving on to Day 2. Leading the field is Thomas Boivin with an outstanding 538,000 chips. Boivin made the trip from Europe to Las Vegas with a few friends to compete in the 2017 WSOP and is looking for his first-ever gold bracelet. Close behind him is Newton Deleon (433,000) and Kevon Bakhtiari (382,000) rounding out the top three.

The day started with around 2,000 players walking through the doors early this morning to take part in this perennial favorite event. The $8,000,000 guaranteed prizepool and $1,000,000 guaranteed first-place prize attracts a lot of entries and caters to all kinds of players. The field quickly grew, with late registration open for six levels and one rebuy permitted, to 2,756 total entries.

Tom Middleton burst the money bubble shortly before Level 12 began with pocket nines versus his opponent's pocket eights. There were 414 players remaining that all received a minimum cash payout of $833.

Some notables to take part in Event #5A that were unable to crack the money bubble include Kristen Bicknell, Chris Moorman, Mike Leah, Melanie Weisner, Nick Yunis, Kathy Liebert, and Kenny Hallaert. There were a few familiar faces to bag and tag heading to Day 2 that included Nadya Magnus (136,000) and 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer (78,000).

Here is a look at some of the chip leaders heading into Day 2, with a full list being posted when it is available. That wraps up everything for Day 1a in the Colossus but there is still Day 1b going on and you can follow the action here.