We recently ran a story previewing a brand new and, as predicted, record breaking tournament on this year’s World Series of Poker schedule called the Colossus. With a tiny US$565 buy-in and US$5 million guaranteed prize money, the goal was to break the record of 8,773 players for the largest live poker tournament ever held and with 22,374 starters it did that and more.
But as it turns out, the Colossus has sparked a bit of controversy as well. Despite a total prize pool of US$11.187 million, the WSOP’s decision to set aside just US$638,880 – 5.7 percent of the prize pool – for the winner went down like a lead balloon with players. In particular, many took issue with the fact that with US$65 taken from each buy-in, the WSOP’s rake of US$1,454,310 was more than double first place prize money. Others suggested those paying off backers had been dudded by the extremely flat pay structure.
The WSOP disagreed, with Vice President of Corporate Communications Seth Palansky insisting the payout structure was based on a tried and tested formula and pointing out that top prize represented 1,130 times the buy-in.
Our thoughts? We’re generally fans of the WSOP’s flatter payouts this year for the simple fact that more players being paid means more amateur players being paid which increases the likelihood of them playing again in future.
In this case however, paying the winner just 5.7 percent of the prize pool just doesn’t seem to be a fair reward for navigating your way through such a mammoth field. As poker players, we all dream of running good just “one time” in a major live tournament. To beat a field of 22,374 you need to use up your one time, two times, three times and more … surely that if anything deserves to be rewarded with a much bigger chunk of the prize pool?
It’s a debate that will no doubt rage on for some time but if Colossus returns again in 2016 we’re betting the payout structure will look very different.
