Brazil’s Roberly Felicio Wins WSOP Colossus for $1 Million

Living up to its name, the $565 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em COLOSSUS drew a massive field of 13,070 players to the Rio Convention center, with $1 million set aside for its ultimate champion. Five days of intense action later, and it was Brazil’s Roberly Felicio who would eventually best his opponents, including US player Sang Liu heads-up, to claim the life-changing sum, as well as a coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

Brazil’s 4th Bracelet

In 2008, Alexander Gomes became the first Brazilian player to capture a WSOP bracelet after topping a field at the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $770,540. In 2011, Andre Akkari, a Team PokerStars Pro, then doubled his country’s tally following a winning performance at the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em for $675,117, while in 2015 Thiago Nishijima took down the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $546,843.

On Thursday, Roberly Felicio subsequently joined his fellow countrymen after triumphing at the COLOSSUS event for a cool $1 million payday, but unlike his experienced compatriots, Felicio’s win constitutes the lion’s share of his career earnings. In fact, the player has now multiplied his overall winnings by ten times, and commenting upon what the victory means to him, 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.”

$565 NLHE Colossus

The $565 NLHE Colossus featured 1,754 money places, and amongst the recognizable pros seeing a return on their investment was Phil Ivey in 533rd ($2,048), Eric Baldwin in 165th ($3,754), Men Nguyen in 108th ($3,754), Valentin Vornicu in 77th ($6,366), Andrey Zaichenko in 50th ($11,483), and Kurt Jewell in 26th ($22,003).

Sang Liu then entered the final table as chip leader on an 18.2 million stack, followed by Scott Margereson on 13.8m, and Joel Wurtzel on 8.3m. Also in contention was Gunther Dumsky (6.5m), Song Choe (5.8m), Roberly Felicio (4.7m), John Racener (3.5m), Timothy Miles (2.8m), and Steven Jones (1.3m).

Song Choe (J-7) scored the first series of eliminations starting with Steven Jones (A-2) in 9th, and John Racener in 8th, before being dealt K-J and doing likewise to Gunther Dumsky (8-8) in 7th. A short while later, however, Choe lost a big hand against Scott Margereson, after which Timothy Miles bounced him from the tournament in 6th.

Next, three hours of five-handed play ensued, concluding with Sang Liu (A-K) knocking out Miles (J-J) in 5th, resulting in a further four hours of play before Felício (9-9) sent Margereson (A-6) to the rail in 4th. Finally, Liu (K-10) eliminated Wurtzel (A-4) in 3rd to usher in heads-up play for the title.

Heads-Up

Felicio and Liu entered the final battle fairly equal in chips. Twenty-five hands later, Liu limped in with pocket jacks, before instantly calling Felicio’s preflop all-in shove holding pocket tens. After losing that hand, Felicio made some ground back on the very next hand when his J-8 beat his opponent’s J-10 after an 8 spiked on the river. Soon after, the defining hand was played with Felicio’s A-J up against the A-6 of Liu. The 5-4-2-10-Q board that ensued missed both players, though, meaning Sang Liu had to be satisfied with a half a million dollars runner-up prize, while Felício took down the huge event.

Furthermore, he did so with the full support of a vocal rail that included the likes of Andre Akkari, Felipe Ramos, and Bruno Politano, and commenting after his famous victory, Felício said:

“It was a wonderful experience. 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.”

Final Table Result:

1: Roberly Felício (Braz) $1,000,000
2: Sang Liu (USA) $500,000
3: Joel Wurtzel (USA) $300,000
4: Scott Margereson (ENG) $220,040
5: Timothy Miles (USA) $166,091
6: Song Choe (USA) $126,158
7: Gunther Dumsky (GER) $96,431
8: John Racener (USA) $74,178
9: Steven Jones (USA) $57,425