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Daniel Negreanu: World Series Of Poker Main Event Shouldn't Have $10 Million Guaranteed Top Prize

Poker Pro Says That The Event Should Have Flatter Payout Structure

by Brian Pempus  |  Published: Dec 29, 2014  |  

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Next year will mark the second year in a row that the World Series of Poker is guaranteeing a $10 million payday for the person who wins the $10,000 buy-in main event that begins in early July.

In November, Swedish poker pro Martin Jacobson outlasted nearly 6,700 players to take the lion’s share of the $62,820,200 prize pool. The main event in 2014 did increase by more than 500 players compared to 2013, and the guarantee might have played a role.

It was the first time that main event participation increased year-over-year since online poker’s Black Friday in April 2011, but the sample size for that data is admittedly small. Online poker, albeit limited, returning to Nevada, as well as Full Tilt funds being returned to thousands of players early this year, might have played bigger roles in 2014’s attendance.

Poker Hall of Fame member Daniel Negreanu is pleased with the uptick, but he thinks that the main event would be more successful if the WSOP didn’t have a big guarantee up top, but rather guaranteed that all those who make the final table earn at least $1 million, in addition to the WSOP perhaps paying out more people who make it deep.

Here’s a look at Negreanu’s Tweets from over the weekend.

The last time ninth place earned at least $1 million at the WSOP was in 2006, when the top prize was $12 million. Though, that year, the runner-up received $6.1 million, a kind of disparity between first and second that wasn’t seen again until this year. For comparison: When Ryan Riess won the main event in 2013 for $8.36 million, Jay Farber received about $5.1 million, which was roughly what Felix Stephensen received after Jacobson took $10 million.

Here’s a look at the main event payouts since 2006:

2006: 8,773 players, $12 million to first
2007: 6,358 players, $8.25 million to first
2008: 6,844 players, $9.15 million to first
2009: 6,494 players, $8.54 million to first
2010: 7,319 players, $8.94 million to first
2011: 6,865 players, $8.71 million to first
2012: 6,598 players, $8.52 million to first
2013: 6,352 players, $8.36 million to first
2014: 6,683 players, $10 million to first

Do you agree with Negreanu? Let us know in the comments section below.

 
 
Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Poker Tournaments,   Main Event,   WSOP
 
 
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