Big finish at the World Series
The opening weekend of the 2015 World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas featured the Colossus, a no-limit hold ’em tournament with a $565 buy-in and a $5-million guaranteed prize pool. It was the smallest buy-in offered at the WSOP in 35 years.
There were four starting flights to accommodate a field of 22,374 entrants, which crushed the previous record of 8,773 players, set in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. The massive turnout created a prize pool of nearly $11.2 million, the biggest ever for a live tournament with a buy-in of less than $5,000. The winner would receive $638,880.
The event also set a record for best single-day attendance at a poker tournament, with 12,172 entrants taking to the felt on May 30. And to top it all off, the Colossus attracted 5,664 “unique” players who were making their WSOP debuts.
All told, 2,241 players won money in the tournament, which required 982 dealers and 4,480 decks of cards. The gold bracelet went to 25year-old Cord Garcia, a poker pro from Houston.
In the final hand of the tournament, with the blinds at a staggering 500,000-1 million, plus an ante of 150,000, Garcia raised to 3 million on the button. Brad McFarland called from the big blind to see a flop of 4♥ Q♦ 2♦.
McFarland check-called Garcia’s bet of 4.1 million on the flop, and then checkcalled Garcia’s bet of 8.4 million after seeing the 2♣ arrive on the turn.
When the 7♦ completed the board on the river, McFarland checked for a third time and then moved all in after Garcia bet 17.5 million.
Garcia snap-called with the 4♠ 4♦ for a full house, and a stunned McFarland showed the A♦ 8♥ for a failed bluff.
Despite losing the hand, McFarland actually played it well, in my opinion. Calling a raise with an ace is pretty standard in heads-up play, and even though McFarland missed the flop, there were a lot of cards that could help him on the turn. For instance, if a diamond turned, McFarland would be in a good spot to represent the flush.
The 2♣ on the turn was useless to McFarland. He checked, but he wasn’t giving up on the hand, as he called Garcia’s bet with, in my opinion, a plan to bluff the river.
Sure enough, a third diamond appeared on the board, and McFarland attempted a reasonable bluff with his all-in check-raise. Had Garcia been holding a hand less powerful than a full house, there’s a good chance McFarland’s bluff would have succeeded. But obviously, he had no chance of bluffing Garcia off a full house, and McFarland had to settle for a $386,253 consolation prize.