Roberly Felicio Wins the 2018 WSOP COLOSSUS for $1,000,000!
After playing 243 hands today, Roberly Felicio finally managed to clinch the win in the end by defeating Sang Liu heads-up in Event #7: $565 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em. Not only did he win the fifth coveted gold WSOP bracelet for Brazil, he also took home $1,000,000 for his efforts over the past days. Over six starting days, 13,070 hopefuls took their seats, creating a total prize pool of $6,535,000.
Just after he had his winner photo taken, Felicio said: "I’m very happy, it was a tough final table with tough opponents. Heads-up was very emotional. But I’m very excited to take home my first bracelet, I still can’t believe it."
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roberly Felicio | Brazil | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Sang Liu | United States | $500,000 |
| 3 | Joel Wurtzel | United States | $300,000 |
| 4 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | $220,040 |
| 5 | Timothy Miles | United States | $166,091 |
| 6 | Song Choe | United States | $126,158 |
| 7 | Gunther Dumsky | Germany | $96,431 |
| 8 | John Racener | United States | $74,178 |
| 9 | Steven Jones | United States | $57,425 |
Final Table Action
First to the rail in ninth place was Steven Jones, who started the final table as the short stack. He ran his ace-deuce into the jack-seven of Song Choe in the fifth hand of the day. Choe flopped two pair to take Jones out of the running.
Fifteen hands later, it was John Racener’s turn to say goodbye when he ran his ace-jack into the pocket sevens of Choe. The hand right after that, Gunther Dumsky had to leave the stage when he shoved all in on the turn with pocket eights on a six-four-three-king board. Again, it was Choe to take care of business as he called with king-jack for top pair to eliminate Dumsky.
However, Choe was about to lose most of those chips when he doubled up Scott Margereson. Choe had flopped a set of jacks, but Margereson rivered a straight to scoop a big pot. Choe left the stage in sixth place when he found ace-seven and called when Timothy Miles put him all-in with pocket eights. The board didn’t help in any way and Choe got to take home $126,158 for his efforts.
With five players left, Margereson made a monster laydown against Miles as the stream would later reveal. Holding pocket sixes on a six-queen-king-ace board, it was Miles who check-raised all in after Margereson had bet. Amazingly enough, "Aggro Santos" found a fold with bottom set, and it turned out to be the correct decision as Miles played pocket kings for a higher set.
After playing five-handed for almost three hours, next to go was Miles who ran his pocket jacks into the ace-king of Liu. An ace fell on the flop to knock out Miles in fifth. Another long spell without a bustout followed as four-handed play lasted nearly four hours. In hand #192, the curtain finally closed on Margereson, who ran his last nine big blinds with ace-six into the pocket nines of Felicio.
Twenty minutes later, Liu got rid of Joel Wurtzel when the latter shoved ace-four into the king-ten of Liu. Liu managed to hit a flush on the turn to leave Wurtzel drawing dead. With Wurtzel's elimination in 3rd place, heads-up play between Felicio and Liu would commence.
In the 25th hand of heads-up play, Liu had limped and then snap-called the shove of Felicio with pocket jacks. Felicio held pocket tens but the jacks on the flop gave Liu quads and left Felicio drawing dead, while Liu was dancing around the table. However, the celebration was about to be cut short as the players got their stacks in the middle again in the next hand. Felicio moved all in on a jack-seven-three flop. Liu snap-called again with jack-ten. Felicio was behind, holding jack-eight. However, the Brazilian spiked a crucial eight on the river to give him the double-up he needed to stay in the tournament.
Liu grinded his way back up and found a double-up once more before the final hand of the night was dealt. After a limp by Felicio, Liu shoved and Felicio snap-called. The Brazilian held ace-jack and Liu was behind holding ace-six of spades. The flop gave Liu both flush and straight draws but the turn and river bricked out. The Brazilian rail erupted in cheers and their phones were all out to record this amazing win for their fellow countryman.
Andre Akkari, Felipe Ramos, and Bruno Politano were some of the Brazilians on his rail.
“It was a wonderful experience," Felicio said about his high-profile rail. "I studied a lot and had a great coach in Felipe Ramos. I remember sitting down with Andre Akkari for the first time, I was shaking. And now I have a bracelet, just like him, and I still haven’t comprehended it.”
As soon as he was done with the interviews, the whole rail gave him a big hug and Felicio seemed overwhelmed and over the moon with all the attention.
This concludes the live reporting for the COLOSSUS for 2018. The PokerNews live reporting team will be here for the whole World Series of Poker so stay tuned for all the updates from the floor!
