California’s Courtenay Williams beat out a field of over 16,000 to win the top prize
Courtenay Williams has captured his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet and a life-changing prize by winning the $500 Colossus event at the 2025 WSOP. Outlasting a massive field of 16,301 entrants, Williams earned $542,540—a score nearly five times larger than all of his previous live earnings.
The Colossus, with its reputation for delivering players a shot at life-altering payouts for a low buy-in, came through in dramatic fashion once again. Williams, a Los Angeles player, navigated through several tough foes on the final day, including three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng and poker veteran Matt Glantz, who continues to search for his first WSOP victory despite more than $9 million in career winnings.
Williams was one of the shorter stacks at the start of the final table. Ramaswamy Pyloore had a comfortable chip lead with 45 big blinds and eliminated several players, including Antonio Trocoli Filho and Jason Blodgett. Glantz gained momentum by taking out Kaiwen Wei, and the final three players—Williams, Pyloore, and Glantz—were near even in chips heading into the late stages.
Williams doubled up on time with ace-three, beating ace-seven versus Pyloore, then won a crucial flip with ace-queen spiking an ace on the river to beat pocket nines of Glantz. That hand eliminated Glantz in third place for $273,260.
The heads-up battle between Williams and Pyloore seesawed. Pyloore briefly regained the lead after he made a straight against pocket threes. But Williams rebounded, dealing the coup de grâce with pocket kings against Pyloore’s top pair. Williams closed out the win on the very next hand with a flopped set of nines.
After grinding his way from the bottom of the pack, Williams not only won his first WSOP bracelet but did so in one of the largest and toughest events of the series.
