Lance ‘Cord’ Garcia, a 25-year-old poker player from Houston, Texas, was the one to emerge victorious over the record-breaking field of the first-ever WSOP Colossus $565 No-Limit Hold’em event to win his first WSOP bracelet as well as his first WSOP cash of $638,880.
The Colossus was among the most highly-anticipated events in this year’s WSOP schedule, as it promised a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million. The considerable prize pool as well as the $565 buy-in fee attracted a total of 22,374 entries (or 14,284 unique players) over 4 starting flights. Those who were eliminated at one flight were given the opportunity to re-enter. Quite expectedly, the event broke the record for the biggest ever live tournament in the history of poker. Prior to the Colossus, the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which attracted a total of 8,773 entries, was the largest tournament to be ever held.
All 22,374 entries created the huge prize pool of $11,187,000. Of all players, who took part in the Colossus, only the top 2241 finishers were paid, with the payouts starting from $1,096.
The final day of the event saw 9 players returning for the official final table. And interestingly enough, all of them except for Ray Henson scored their best live tournament cashes.
Garcia had to face Brad McFarland in a heads-up play. Prior to the Colossus, the latter had a total of $30,000 in live tournament earnings. The last hand occurred with Garcia holding [4s][4d] against his opponent’s [Ad][8h]. The board ran out [4h][Qd][2d][2c][7d] and there was nothing else left for McFarland but to content himself with a consolation prize of $386,253 and a runner-up finish.
As for Garcia, he was awarded the first-place prize of $638,880 and his first WSOP bracelet. The player has never appeared at a final table or even cashed in a WSOP event before the Colossus. Yet, he is the holder of one WSOPC ring, which he won back in 2012. After the Colossus, his live tournament earnings amount to a little more than $1 million.
Ray Henson, one of Garcia’s best friends, finished 3rd in the event to scoop $308,761. The player has cashed in a total of 21 WSOP events.
Paul Lentz took 4th place for $234,927. Aditya Prasetyo was eliminated in 5th place. His portion of the prize pool totaled $182,348. Kenny Hallaert, the only non-American finalist, finished 6th for $140,956. Garry Simms took 7th place in the event to receive the amount of $109,632. David Farber finished 8th and was paid $87,817 for his efforts. Rounding up the final table, Anthony Blanda took 9th place for $67,681.
