Thomas Pomponio won the Colossus III event at the World Series of Poker, beating a field of over 18,000 players. Before winning WSOP Event #5, Pomponio’s biggest successes came in deepstacks events.
Before Wednesday’s victory, Thomas Pomponio’s career winnings were less than $140,000. He pocketed exactly $1,000,000 in the Colossus III No-Limit Hold’em event, which had a $565 entry fee.
Feels Surreal to Win Colossus III
In the post-tournament interview, Thomas Pomponio said he was elated with the win. He said, “It feels…just surreal. Ever since I was a kid, I was dreaming about sitting there and holding that gold,” said the new WSOP bracelet winner.
Continuing a recent trend, Thomas Pomponio mounted a comeback at the final table. He was fourth in total chips when the Colossus III final table became. The action was fast-paced in the final stage of the tournament, as most of the finalists seemed to prefer making decisions within a few seconds.
Fast-Paced Final Table in Event #5
The rapidfire decision making seemed to favor Thomas Pomponio, as he produced the first knockout of the day. Pomponio and Erkut Yilmaz entered the pot with the same A-K hand, while Luke Vrabel lost his chip stack holding A-J.
Matt Affleck was next out in 8th place. Ralph Massey finished in 7th, while Erkut Yilmaz went bust in 6th place. For a time, Taylor Black took the chip lead by flopping a flush against Kent Coppock, which hurt the prospects for Mr. Coppock.
John Hanna Emerged with Chip Stack Lead
When Yilmaz lost his chips to John Hanna, it meant that Hanna had about a third of the chips left in the tournament. Despite holding a decide advantage, it was Taylor Black and Thomas Pomponio who started to dictate play.
First, Mr. Pomponio knocked out Kent Coppock in 5th place. Then Taylor Black took down Mark Babekov, who started the day as a chip leader, in back-to-back hands. The first hand was pivotal, as Taylor Black held A-K versus Babekov’s pair of queens. When Black paired his king on the turn, it cripped Babekov, who bowed out on the next hand in something of a formality.
Taylor Black’s Lead in Chips
That left Taylor Black with the chip lead, holding roughly 50% of the chips. Despite that lead, Thomas Pomponio seized the initiative and pushed Black out of several pots with aggressive bets. Eventually, John Hanna exited the tournament when he was one card shot of a flush.
In heads-up play, Taylor Black started with a roughly 5-to-3 lead in chips. That dynamic changed only 4 hands into heads-up play, as Pomponio won when he flopped a pair of kings against Black’s pair of tens. That gave Pomponio a sizeable lead and he never trailed after that point.
Thomas Pomponio Collects $1,000,000 in Winnings
Winning the Colossus III event makes Thomas Pomponio the second player to win more than $1 million and a bracelet this year. Doug Polk won the High Roller for One Drop event the day before, taking down the largest victory prize of the 2017 World Series of Poker so far.
Thomas Pomponio is a resident of Manahawlan, New Jersey. He placed high in a few deepstacks events at the 2016 WSOP, as well as a deepstacks event at Borgata earlier this year.
About Colossus III
The Colossus III event’s field of 18,054 players means it likely will have the largest field of players in the 2017 WSOP schedule. Despite that fact, the size of the field was considered disappointing by many in the poker world, because the Colossus II event in 2016 had a larger field.
