World Series of Poker Officials Unconcerned About Mixed Early Turnout

The whispers have started.

“Apparently, this event got something like 6,000 players last year…” one player said to another after the final count of 4,345 was announced for the year’s first $1,000 tournament.

Numbers have been down in a variety of events at the 2010 World Series of Poker, and the players have taken notice.

But when you look at the numbers, they’re not all bad. Through eight events, when compared to the closest equivalent tournament in 2009, five events had less entrants while three events attracted more players.

But while the overall turnouts for events have varied, many players have been focusing on the smaller buy-in no-limit hold’em events, which have been down across the board in this first week of the 2010 WSOP.

While the events do not match up perfectly with last year — some tournaments are on different days, have different start times, etc. — here is a breakdown of the 2009 turnouts so far, compared to their 2010 equivalents.

WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky said that tournament officials aren’t concerned that the turnout for some events is down, saying the full review of numbers wouldn’t begin until after the conclusion of the Series.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Palansky. “(Comparing the turnouts of each event year-to-year) is the completely wrong way to look at it in our view.”

Palansky said that with the new offerings at the $1,000 price point, the WSOP would actually be able to welcome “upwards of 20,000 entrants at this level buy-in [over the summer] — to us, that’s an increase of 14,000 over last year.”

There are a number of theories as to why the numbers are down in the hold’em events.

The first, offered by Palansky, is timing. The opening weekend of the WSOP fell on Memorial Day Weekend this year.

A second theory, voiced by a number of players, is the fact that there are six open events at the $1,000 price point this year, as opposed to last year, when there was only one. With more options, recreational players who might only play one WSOP event this summer can choose to fly in whichever weekend they chose.

“People play an average of 1.6 events, if you look over the last three years at the WSOP,” said Palansky.

Event with a smaller-than-expected turnout for the first $1,000 event, Palansky said that he felt “great” about the tournament, as a whole.

“It was like the eighth largest poker tournament in the history of the world,” said Palansky. “That’s pretty darn good when you’re getting into top 10 lists, especially for an event that you’re going to run five other times.”

It is also worth noting that some events have welcomed larger fields than 2009, including the premiere $50,000 event. While it is technically a different event — changing from H.O.R.S.E. to eight-game — the 2010 Players Championship welcomed a field of 116, a 22 percent increase over the $50k event of 2009.

The field for the $5,000 shootout also increased by 29 percent over 2009, while the $2,500 deuce-to-seven event increased by 13 percent over 2009.

“We can’t control whether it’s 1,000 or 100,000 people who walk through the doors this summer,” said Palansky. “We’re going to put ourselves in position to accommodate as many people as we can.”

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