The 2018 WSOP Europe Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em Crushes the Guarantee
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 | Åland 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 |
flop and Markus Sturz had looked him up. Once all other tables were finished, the cards were turned over.
turn sent Armino from hero to almost zero and he had just one out left. It wasn't meant to be, as the blank 
river failed to improve the Dutchman. Armino has thus become the bubble boy of the final flight and action will recommence shortly after one table breaks.
, Markus Sturz ended up all in and at risk for the last 71,500. He was called by Timo Kamphues and the showdown was as follows:
on the turn to improve to kings and jacks, but the 
river counterfeited the hand to let Sturz double in dramatic fashion.
and Cirianni tripled up, Vychlopen was eliminated by Topoly. The biggest stack on the table now belongs to Teeranan Chuennirun.
flop favoured Stagi, and he held onto the lead thanks to the 
turn and 
for two pair.
for the superior two pair and dragged in the massive pot much to the disbelief of many players at the table.
, Salvatore Greco ended up all in and at risk and he was called two ways by Raphael Pelzers and Shlomi Benguigui. Pelzers splashed his remaining chips in after the 
, Matous Skorepa was all in for just 4,900 and Matteo Martelli in the two seat tried to involve him in table chat. The Italian eventually called and Skorepa turned over the 
river. Martelli celebrated vividly and then explained in table chat after he had not noticed he held a set of jacks. Skorepa's empty seat was soon after filled with Peter Siemund, who busted in the previous flight.
