Event #5: THE COLOSSUS Attracts Over 4,000 Players, Ranzinger Tops Biggest Flight on Day 1j
After five days and ten starting flights, Day 1 of Event #5: THE COLOSSUS is finally in the books. A field of 4,115 hopefuls has been whittled down to just 258 in the process, with over half that number showing up today for the final two flights, creating two flights of over 1,000 runners. It was Germany's Sascha Ranzinger who bagged the overnight chip lead on Day 1j with 517,500, leading a field of 74 survivors and placing him in second place in the overall standings. Nebojsa Ankucic, who topped Day 1i with 525,500, will start Day 2 as the chipleader of THE COLOSSUS.
At 6 p.m. today, every space of the poker room in King's Casino in Rozvadov was filled to give as many players as possible a seat. Due to the massive success of this event, the casino was operating at maximum capacity, which left a substantial number of players on the rail at the start. With players going down at a rapid pace, every alternate was able to get a seat within the first six levels of play, and the €2,000,000 guarantee was met shortly after.
Behind Ranzinger, Lukasz Grossmann found himself bagging a top stack with 451,500. A lot of players fell by the wayside on the final day and didn't make it through to Day 2. Georgios Zisimopoulos, Vojtech Ruzicka, Yehuda Cohen, Roberto Romanello and William Kassouf all came up short, with some of them firing off multiple bullets. Marc MacDonnell tried his luck several times as well today, buying in for no less than nine times over the course of the past days. It didn't work out for the Irish professional, who ended every one of his nine attempts at the rail.
One of the players that nearly made it to Day 2 was Ismael Bojang. Bojang opted to bring a tried-and-tested online strategy to the live felt: multi-tabling. The German ran back and forth between THE COLOSSUS and Event #7: €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo throughout the day. After advancing in the PLO-8 tourney, Bojang fell during the last hand of the night in THE COLOSSUS and saved himself a tough decision which event to focus on tomorrow.
All 74 remaining players will be lumped together with the 184 survivors from the nine earlier flights and return at 3 p.m. local time to contest for the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet. Each player has already secured an in the money finish; the total prize pool and payouts will be announced tomorrow before the start of Day 2. Blinds will resume in the level 2,500/5,000 with a running ante of 500, as the first flight stopped play at that level.
Keep following PokerNews throughout the week to see who will capture WSOP glory in one of the biggest events ever held on European soil.