WSOP 2022 Day 27: Colossus Posts Colossal Turnout

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on June 27th, 2022

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Some days at the World Series of Poker are chaotic. It is the stuff that tests the patience of WSOP staff.

The Seniors Championship was playing down to a final table, and a few tournaments were playing out their last few tables.

But the Colossus brought nearly 1,700 players back from their starting flights to play down to the money. Players busted so fast before the money – and certainly after that bubble burst – that they had to pause play several times in the first half of the day to catch up with bustouts and payouts.

The WSOP also scheduled three tournaments to start on Sunday: Salute to Warriors charity-based event and the Tag Team, both bringing in huge crowds; and the Poker Players Championship. The Tag Team gets chaotic because each team is comprised of two players. And the PPC doesn’t get a lot of players, but those who do play pay a lot of money to do so, and the fans like to see it.

Chaos. But they get through it; they always do.

Event 47: $1K Seniors NLHE Championship

Eighteen players started the day, but only five still had chips at the end of the night.

Ukrainian player Valerii Lubenets was the first to exit on Sunday, and others like Joseph D’Agostino and Brian Brunner followed. The final ten moved to one table, with Ben Sarnoff leading the crew and Kathy Liebert in second. Liebert proceeded to bust Domenico Scalamogna in tenth place to set the official final table.

Sarnoff busted Alexander Hill in ninth place, and Eric Smidinger took out Mark Pett in eighth. Sarnoff was back in action to eliminate Andres Korn in seventh place, and Smidinger ousted Jan Pettersson in sixth. Play then stopped for the night with five players to return on Monday.

 

Event 49: $2K NLHE

Just seven players took part in an unscheduled extra day for this event to play for the win. Mike Watson was the initial chipleader. Daniel Custodio didn’t take long to bust Evan Sandberg in seventh place, and the action kept up as Simeon Spasov eliminated Christopher Frank. Watson had lost ground early in the day but doubled through Custodio to stay in the game. Spasov then busted Walter Ripper and crippled and busted Ioannis Angelou Konstas.

Spasov had a dominating chip lead, but Mike Watson busted Custodio in third place to have a fighting chance at heads-up against Spasov. It actually didn’t take long for Watson to find a chance to double. He pushed all-in with A-9 suited, but Spasov showed A-Q. The board didn’t bring the requisite diamonds or nine, only a queen to officially give the title to Spasov.

 

Simeon Spasov grabs his first bracelet and $527,944 after outlasting 1,977 players in Event #49: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em!https://t.co/pi3BTeqDlE

📸: Katerina Lukina pic.twitter.com/8H0F687BIq

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 27, 2022

Event 51: $400 NLHE Colossus

Nearly 1,700 players had survived their starting flights and returned to the tournament areas on Sunday to play to the money. They did so quickly, and played well into the money. The night ended with just 68 players remaining.

 

Event 52: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed

Only 25 players returned for the final day of this mixed game tournament, but play was cautious. It wasn’t until mid-evening that they neared the final table with some bustouts, such as Mike Gorodinsky in 11^th place, Warwick Mirzikinian in tenth, and Sampo Ryynanen in ninth. After Scott Bohlman exited in eighth place and Nick Guagenti followed in seventh, the official final table got underway.

Considering the late hour at that point, the tournament director gave them two more levels to finish it up or return the next day to finish it. Things picked up from there, as David Bach busted Michael Chow, Andre Akkari sent Taylor Paur home, and overwhelming chipleader KT Park ousted David Bach in fourth place.

Park dominated, eliminating Phil Long in third and then Akkari in second. Park said that playing online mixed games at home in New Jersey gave him the experience needed to win this event and his first bracelet.

 

KT Park closes out Event #52: $2,500 Nine-Game Mix 6-Handed to win $219,799 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

📸 @hayleyocho https://t.co/MB57Xg0cmc pic.twitter.com/8pqnaWgi1A

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 27, 2022

Event 53: $2,500 Mixed NLHE-PLO

A quick structure set this one to play out in two days. What started with nearly 800 entries on Day 1 brought little more than 100 back on Day 2. The goal was to play to a winner. In the mid-evening hours, Randall Brooks busted in tenth place to set the unofficial final table. Joao Simao was the chipleader, as he was at the start of the day.

Simao eliminated Joni Jouhkimainen in ninth place, and the official final table was underway. Simao sent Cody Rich home in eighth place before the dinner break. After, Marius Gierse busted Fred Goldberg in seventh and Joshua McSwiney in sixth. Simao took his turn to bust Aden Salazar in fifth and his own fellow Brazilian Dante Goya in fourth place.

Gierse busted Ryan Riess in third place to take 8.6M into heads-up play, but Simao had a dominating stack of 30.8M. Gierse doubled once but couldn’t do it enough times. Simao won his second bracelet and celebrated with a very large Brazilian rail.

“Every time a Brazilian wins a bracelet, it makes our community grow, more and more, which is good for us and good for the poker world in general,” he said.

 

The $5,000 Mixed NLH/PLO bracelet was claimed by Joao Simao. The Brazilian also took away a first-place prize of $686,242.

📸 @hayleyocho https://t.co/sxjAwIQTsN pic.twitter.com/wh1bx7CCQ7

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 27, 2022

Event 54: $500 Salute to Warriors NLHE

Proceeds of this tournament will be donated to the USO and other United States veterans’ organizations. That always brings a lot of people to the tables. This year, it brought almost as many entries as 2021 and 2019 combined. Those 3K entries played down to fewer than 500 players, just a few from the money.

 

Event 55: $1K Tag Team NLHE

Teams of two players each came out in force for this fun event. It may be chaotic for organizers, but players love it. It is also one that brings in more women than most other WSOP events. There were 913 teams in total, though play was fast and only 183 of those teams made it to another day.

 

Event 56: $50K Poker Players Championship 6-Handed

One of the most prestigious events of the annual WSOP, players had to pony up $50K to play this mixed game tournament. The slow structure gives them five days, though, so it was slow to start. And registration remains open until Day 2. Even so, there were 91 players registered by day’s end, far more than the 63 last year or even the 74 in 2019. Most of them were still in action when play stopped for the night.

 

Today’s Poker Menu

Event 47 plays the Seniors Championship final table.

Event 51 plays the Colossus field down to its final table.

Event 54 continues its Salute to Warriors to find a final table.

Event 55 brings teams back to play to a final table.

Event 56 closes registration for the PPC and continues play.

Event 57 starts the NLHE Deepstack Championship at 11am.

Event 58 kicks off PLO-8 at 3pm.

World Series of Stalking the Hardest Working Man in Poker in his Natural Environment. @Kevmath 📸🥰🫶@WSOP Thank you for all you do for our community, Twitter Czar Extraordinaire! 🙇🏼‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/CgITNPFKz8

— Julie Anna Cornelius (@LuckyJadeJules) June 26, 2022