2015 WSOP Day 4: Colossus Huge, Petrangelo Wins First, Mizrachi Heads-Up for Third

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May 31, 2015 4 min read

The fourth day of the 2015 World Series of Poker was another busy one with the continuation of the record-breaking Event #5: The Colossus $565 No-Limit Hold'em. A champion was crowned in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout, and after 11 levels of play they got down to just two players remaining in Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low.

Nick Petrangelo Books His First WSOP Bracelet Win in the $3,000 Shootout

Nick Petrangelo continued his blazing hot year with his first WSOP gold bracelet win in Event #4: $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout on Saturday. The Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, pro pushed over the $1 million mark in 2015 tournament earnings after booking the $201,812 win. He defeated high-stakes online grinder Jason Les heads up.

"I was feeling good coming in, especially about my live game," Petrangelo said. "I'm really happy to get one out of the way early. It'll make the rest of the summer a lot easier for sure. In the past, I had a lot of chances. I think maybe I'm making better decisions later on. But obviously there's so much variance in tournament poker."

The final table of the event began just after 2 p.m. local time with two-time Academy Award nomineee and long-time poker enthusiast James Woods' name on the marquee after he defeated high-stakes heads-up specialist Doug Polk Friday to book a spot in the final 10.

An ill-timed bluff from 2013 WSOP bracelet winner Loni Harwood shot David Peters into the early lead and she was out soon after in 10th place. Peters added to his lead sending 2009 WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up Championship winner Leo Wolpert home ninth with queens over tens all in preflop. Then, Peters, the man with over $1 million in earnings at the WSOP to date, looked like a shoe-in to win his first bracelet, also sending WSOP bracelet winner Brian Lemke out eighth and Woods home seventh.

However, it was Petrangelo who busted Norweigian Andreas Hoivold sixth to push over the one-million chip mark, and after taking big pots off Jeffrey Griffiths and Peters, Petrangelo suddenly found himself in the lead. Petrangelo continued to chip up, moving over the two-million mark when he sent Derek Bowers out fifth, outflopping his jacks with big slick.

But after Les put Griffiths on the rail fourth and Peters beside him third, the two pros entered heads-up play in a dead heat. Petrangelo and Les then took a dinner break, but when they returned it was Petrangalo pushing into a 2-1 lead when he rivered two pair in a big pot. Les snatched the lead back, picking off a Petrangelo king-high bluff with just third pair, but Petrangelo pulled ahead again when his flopped pair of aces turned two and held against Les' rivered tens up. Back and forth they went with Les pulling into the lead again and Petrangelo fighting back to move ahead, finally taking a commanding 8-1 lead after flopping top pair twice and holding.

In the end, despite one double from Les, Petrangelo got him to call it off pre flop with the Q♥10♦ and held on for the win with the J♥K♠ following a board of bricks.

"The shootouts are always tough because you're playing short-handed and they bring out tough fields, so you're playing short-handed against really good players," added Petrangelo.

Still Counting the Colossus

The final two starting flights for Event #5: The Colossus $565 No-Limit Hold'em, drew even more massive crowds to the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino Saturday, ensuring it will go down in history as the largest tournament in live poker history by a rather wide margin.

With a number of refunds still to be processed and the final tally yet to be finally tallied, the official numbers will not be released until 5 p.m. Sunday when Day 2 of the event is now scheduled to begin. However, WSOP Vice President of Corporate Communications and Editor-in-Chief of WSOP.com Seth Palansky told PokerNews the number will be over 20,000 and could be as many as 22,000.

A number of players crossed the six-figure mark today, including Steven Geralis and Brit Simon Deadman, but with literally thousands of players bagging stacks, it's too early to call anyone a front runner in The Colossus right now.

Robert Mizrachi Heads Up for His Third Bracelet in the $1,500 O8

The third day of Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low started with 49 players and plans to hand out the first non-hold'em bracelet of the 2015 WSOP and a $251,022 first-place prize.

Winner of the inaugural Dealers' Choice event at the 2014 WSOP, Robert Mizrachi continued to prove his limit-game prowess in this event, vaulting into the chip lead as the field was whittled down to a final table and beyond.

By the time 10 levels of play were through, the field was down to heads-up play. Don Zewin, who finished runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in the 2012 WSOP $2,500 Razz, finished third to leave 2012 WSOP Europe €1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha 16th-place finisher Jacob Dahl taking on Mizrachi.

A decision was made to continue for one more level and Mizrachi took the first lead before relinquishing it to Dahl as the level wore on. Play ended with Dahl on 5.085 million to Mizrachi's 1.815 million. Play will resume at 3 p.m. Sunday with both players guaranteed at least $155,333.

Here's how the rest of the final table finished up:

Sunday will also see the start of Event #6: $1,000 Hyper Hold'em beginning at 11 a.m. and Event #7: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship at 4 p.m.

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