WSOP 2016 Kicks Off with The Colossus

WSOP 2016 Kicks Off with The Colossus
Its official! The 2016 WSOP is under way and the action has started with what is hyped; to be the largest poker tournament ever. Technically, the WSOP always starts with the Employee Event. Winners do receive a gold bracelet and some cash prizes, but the real play begins on day 2. Christopher Sand would win the employee event for $75,000. What is the Colossus? The Colossus is a fairly new addition to the WSOP with the smallest buy in of any event in history for the WSOP. With a buy in just $565, players could now have a shot at winning a bracelet as cheap as ever. Last year, over 23,000 players entered making it the largest tournament ever. This year, with the ability to pre-register online and the re-entry, the field is expected to be even larger. Day one is held over 3 days much like the main event has been handled, and the tournament will take almost a week to conclude. While having such a large field, the structure is made so that on each day 1, players will make the money. Each starting day has 2 stages and play until the money is reached. After the 5th stage, players who busted out, can re-enter into the 6th stage. Once all 6 stages are complete, play will resume as normal and until a winner is crowned. Some notable players to enter the tournament were Allen Cunningham, Greg Raymer and Michael Mizrachi. Only Cunningham has made the money thus far. Of course there were plenty other top pros in the field – with too many to mention however. Its likely many of the pros will opt to pass on the re-entry as the first $10,000 event also starts the same day as the re-entry period. These higher buy ins are the bread and butter for the top players, and missing out on one of those would be blasphemy. Some may choose to play if the guaranteed prize pool grows over the already massive $7 million. With a $1 million guaranteed first place prize, some may find the reward worth the small buy in. it's unlikely they will win $1 million for finishing first in a $10k buy in with a smaller field. Some may choose to play both at the same time. We have seen this done in the past. Chris Ferguson pulled off the feat some time ago and cashed in both tournaments he was playing in.
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