On Thursday, World Series of Poker organizers announced that due to the overwhelming demand for seats in the $565 buy-in Colossus Event, the late starting flights on both Friday and Saturday would be pushed back to 7 p.m.
Additionally, all four starting flights will now play 11 levels instead of the previously schedule 10. The WSOP hopes that the added play will make it easier to combine the field for day 2.
“After reviewing yesterday’s event no. 1, that offered same buy-in, starting stack and structure as the Colossus, we see that the extra play as a result of more chips and added levels is giving more play than we anticipated,” said a WSOP report. “As a result, we are making changes.”
When the action kicked off Friday at 10 a.m., many players were still in line to register, although flights a, b and c are already sold out with the exception of late waves. Players at the front of the lines reported waiting upwards of 90 minutes to buy in.
Players who register for the initial late waves may not get into the tournament for two to three hours. The WSOP will take late wave players as late as six hours into the tournament, where each player will start with approximately 10 big blinds.
Colossus Update: Selling Flight D (Sat. 7 pm) currently. Only late waves available for other 3 Flights. Play begins sharply @10 today.
— WSOP (@WSOP) May 29, 2015
The final field numbers won’t be available until Sunday morning, but the Colossus Event has already broken the record for the largest live poker tournament in history. Conservative estimates have the field approaching the 20,000-player mark.
For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.
