WSOPE Colossus Delays as Mini Main Reaches Final

I’ll admit it. I skipped yesterday’s recap. One reason was the American Thanksgiving holiday, for which I was cooking and spending time with family. The other reason was that Day 6 of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe was confusing.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The WSOPE Colossus was supposed to offer its first flight on November 24…but it didn’t happen. PokerNews was the only Twitter account – not WSOP or King’s – to say anything about it on November 24. The explanation was brief but noted that the powers-that-be cancelled Day 1A of the Colossus due to “large field sizes combined with staffing issues.”

Later, PokerNews posted the new Colossus schedule at the start of its Colossus live updates. This was the clearest listing of the rescheduled event:

-Day 1B: Thursday, Nov 25 at 11am

-Day 1C: Thursday, Nov 25 at 6pm

-Day 1D: Friday, Nov 26 at 11am

-Day 1E: Friday, Nov 26 at 6pm

-Day 1F: Saturday, Nov 27 at 11am

-Day 1G: Saturday, Nov 27 at 6pm

-Day 2: Sunday, Nov 28 at 2pm

-Day 3: Monday, Nov 29 at 1pm (final day)

At the same time, King’s Casino announced a schedule update. It seems that some of the high-stakes players scheduled to play Events 13 and 15 of the series in December – the €50K and €100K High Rollers – may have troubles getting to Rozvadov. So, new tournaments are taking their places.

-Event 13 on December 2-3: €10K buy-in NLHE 6-Max replaces €50K NLHE Diamond High Roller

-Event 15 on December 6-7: €3K buy-in NLHE Closer replaces €100K NLHE Super High Roller

❗Announcement❗
WSOPE Schedule Update. pic.twitter.com/4YBf6DPx5x

— King's Resort (@PokerroomKings) November 24, 2021

But wait, there’s more!

Christian Zetzsche explained some of the staffing and scheduling issues. The Czech Republic government put new Covid-19 restrictions into effect. This is in response to rising infection rates in various parts of Europe and lockdowns implemented in neighboring countries like Austria and Slovakia. While reports indicate that many of the new cases affect the unvaccinated, the increasing hospitalization rates have been significant enough to be concerning.

As of tomorrow, new government restrictions in the #CzechRepublic will be enabled and that has an influence on the @WSOP at @PokerroomKings.

All tournaments will go ahead as planned with adjusted earlier starting times and caps in place.

— Christian Zetzsche (@zedmaster84) November 25, 2021

Other than that, everything is fine.

Event 3: €1,350 Mini Main Event

This tournament finally set its prize pool at €1.5M, much more than double the original guarantee. And the total of nearly 1400 entries put it well past the 766 entries of the 2019 WSOP Europe. Day 2 of the tournament thinned the field from 211 players down to just nine for the final table. The internationally diverse group includes previous WSOPE Main Event champion Jack Sinclair, 888poker’s Vivian Saliba, and Day 1B chipleader Marius Gicovanu. But Ciro Perna of Italy starts at the top to play for the win.

Event 4: €2K PLO

The second of two days brought 44 players into action but only paid 37 of them. Vivian Saliba finished in 29^th place for €3,298, and Isabell Gsuck took 17^th place for €4,179. Richard Toth just missed the final table by a few spots. The Bulgarians and Slovakians ruled the final table.

Former chipleader Ian Bradley of the UK made it to third place, but the Slovakians went to heads-up. They were close friends, actually, and runner-up Alan Sabo said, “It was an amazing experience. I almost cried when I got heads-up with this guy. And winner Samuel Stranak said something prevailed over strategy regarding a big bluff. “I think it was the gin-tonic we had before the hand.”

WSOPE €2k Pot Limit Omaha Winner is 🇸🇰 Samuel Stranak 🇸🇰. Gold Bracelet event #4 attracted 241 entries & produced €423,557 prizepool. pic.twitter.com/qBI6ZP3lOV

— King's Resort (@PokerroomKings) November 25, 2021

Event 5: €550 NLHE Colossus

As mentioned, this tournament skipped Day 1A altogether and started with Day 1B. As it stands now, they will play through Day 1G, with all survivors then reconvening for Day 2 and then a final day. So far, the entry numbers have been good. There is no 2019 comparison, as that WSOPE did not offer a Colossus, but the €1M guarantee is the goal here. If all continues as it started, King’s will have no problem meeting that number.

Event 6: €1,650 NLHE/PLO Mix

Registration closed on Day 1 of this mixed game event with 339 entries, distinctly more than the 279 entries of the 2019 WSOPE. And the €483K prize pool exceeded the guarantee by more than double. Of the 76 players remaining, Dario Alioto and Stoyan Madanzhiev were in the top half of the chip counts.