Daniel Colman Wins $15.3 Million In 2014 World Series of Poker Big One For One Drop

Card Player’s 2014 WSOP coverage is sponsored by CarbonPoker.

Just over two months ago Daniel Colman had roughly $350,000 in live tournament earnings. Now the 23-year-old from Holden, Massachusetts is ranked sixth on the all-time money list with $17,988,859, largely as a result of winning the 2014 World Series of Poker $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop. Colman topped a field of 42 players in the seven-figure buy-in event to earn the second largest payout awarded in the history of tournament poker: $15,306,668. This was his fifth cash notched in a roughly eight-week span, with the other highlight being a win in the European Poker Tour Grand Final €100,000 super high roller for $2.1 million.

Colman entered the final day of this huge event in third chip position with 22,625,000. Joining him were a number of high-stakes poker’s biggest names including Scott Seiver, Tobias Reinkemeier and Christoph Vogelsang. There were also a few sharp, successful businessmen with a passion poker at the table including Tom Hall, Cary Katz and Paul Newey. Although play began nine-handed, only eight would make the money. Unfortuantely for Tom Hall he was the one eliminated on the $1.3 million money bubble in the first hand of the day when his pocket tens failed to win a race against Daniel Negreanu’s AQ. Once in the money the eliminations piled up quickly. Within three-and-half hours the field was narrowed from eight down to just two.

Colman would take a slight lead into heads-up play with two-time Card Player Player of the Year and six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. The two battled for 46 hands, but Colman was clearly in his element and despite a few setbacks early in the showdown he was able to retake the lead and then stretch it.

By the time the final hand arose Colman held just over a 5-to-1 chip advantage. With blinds of 800,000 – 1,600,000 with a 200,000 ante Negreanu limped in from the button and Colman made it 4 million to go. Negreanu responded with an all-in shove for just under 21 million. Colman quickly called and flipped up the KQ. Negreanu was ahead with the A4, but his lead was tenuous. His position became a lot stronger when the flop brought the AJ4 giving the Canadian pro two pair. Colman did have a gutshot straight draw, however, which he promptly hit with the 10 on the turn. Negreanu was still drawing live, as another ace or four would give him a winning full house. The 7 on the river changed nothing, however, securing the pot for Colman and sending Negreanu to the rail as the runner-up.

Colman declined to be interviewed after his huge win, seemingly not keen on being made a spectacle. Negreanu did talk to the media, and had plenty of good things to say about the young pro.

“Really he’s a class act, a good kid and I really like the way he plays,” said Negreanu after it was all over. “He plays a lot different than a lot of the other young kids, because he’s a lot more careful.”

Negreanu is one of poker’s most visible ambassadors and often is one of the most generous of the big names in the game when it comes to sharing his time with the media. Despite having a different approach, Negreanu fully supported Colman’s decision to steer clear of the post-tournament hype session.

“He plays poker,” said Negreanu. “That’s his job and he’s here to work, and if [press interviews] are not something he wants to do, I respect it completely.”

For his second-place finish Negreanu earned the largest score of his already incredible tournament career: $8,288,001. As a result he surpassed Antonio Esfandiari as the leader on the all-time money list with $29,643,419 in tournament earnings.

Colman may not have had elite-level live tournament results prior to 2014, but he was a highly successful heads-up sit’n’go player with years of experience in that realm. The turning point in the development of his professional career came back in 2007 he was sweating Olivier Busquet playing online and was often able to correctly put Busquet on hands, typing his reads into the chat. Busquet, who is one of the more respected names when it comes to that particular poker format, looked into Colman’s results and contacted him, eventually becoming somewhat of a mentor.

That relationship, combined with Colman’s talent for the game, lead to great success in the following years. In 2012 Colman became the first hyper-turbo player in online history to win more than $1,000,000 before rake back in a calendar year, a feat he achieved in only 9 months. Now the 23-year-old pro has written his name in the history books again, winning two of the biggest high-stakes poker tournaments in history. Only time will tell what other impressive poker feats he can accomplish moving forward.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

For more coverage from the 2014 summer series, visit our WSOP landing page.

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