World Series of Poker -- Attendance Numbers for the Third Week

The third week of tournaments is in the books at the 2011 World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and attendance continues to increase over last summer in both the cash games and tournaments. Eleven attendance records have fallen at the Rio according to official World Series statistics.

“We are humbled once again by the incredible turnout from players all over the world,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “It has been a record-setting summer thus far in 2011 and we are confident it will continue through the duration of the tournament.” In addition to the official WSOP gold bracelet events, all other poker-related business is experiencing tremendous double-digit growth as well.

WSOP side action, which refers to all non-bracelet events – including cash games, single-table-satellites, mega-satellites and daily deepstack tournaments – are up 45 percent year-over-year. Cash games have attracted non-stop action featuring 96 live poker tables filled to capacity. The cash games offered ranges from $1-$2 blinds all the way up to high-stakes competition, including no-limit with blinds at $1,000/$2,000. Pot-limit Omaha, a game of growing popularity is generating more than 20 tables spread at a time. This makes for arguably the greatest concentration of pot-limit Omaha action anywhere in history.

Tournament Director Jack Effel explained, “It is one thing to plan and prepare to accommodate such a large number of people on a daily basis, but it is truly an amazing feeling to see it all unfold in front of your eyes like we have witnessed at the WSOP in 2011. We are grateful for everyone’s patience throughout and want to thank the players who have showed up thus far. We look forward to welcoming still more players who are still yet to make their 2011 WSOP debut.” On Friday, June 18, the WSOP sat 5,946 players for the various poker tournaments scheduled that day – the largest number of players ever entered on a single day in live poker history.

Below is a look at the records that have been broken, as well as the gainers and losers so far from the bracelet events. Read on below to also see how the bracelet winners from the first two weeks of the summer stack up.

Eleven WSOP tournament records have been broken. They are:

- Biggest Heads-Up tournament prize pool in history ($3,040,000) – Event #2

- Largest live Omaha High-Low Split Tournament in history (925 entries) – Event #3

- Largest live Six-Handed tournament in poker history (1,920 entries) – Event #10

- Biggest Deuce-to-Seven tournament prize pool in history ($1,184,400) – Event #16

- Largest live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start (3,157 entries) – Event #18

- Largest live $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start (3,175 entries) – Event #20

- Largest consecutive-days starting field sizes in poker history (combined 6,332 entries) – Event #18 and Event #20

- Largest live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history (1,071 entries) – Event #22

- Largest Mixed-Game (Eight-Game Mix) in poker history (489 entries) – Event #23

- Largest Seniors poker tournament in history (3,752 entries) – Event #30

- Largest live $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start – Event #30 (breaks record established in Event #20)

Attendance Rises in 7 Events, and Falls in 4 During Week 3

The trend of growth continues to stay pretty close to across the board as the 2011 WSOP passes the halfway point. Any events that shrunk during week 3 were small, while the growth numbers were robust. The $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event (21 percent increase), the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event (19.5 percent increase), and the $1,000 seniors no-limit hold’em championship (19.4 percent increase) in particular posted strong growth numbers that represent hundreds of new players passing through the Rio over last year.

The attendance figures at the 2011 WSOP will continue to be closely watched this summer as a barometer for the poker world post-Black Friday, and you can get a look at those numbers each week here at CardPlayer.com.

2011 WSOP Second Week Events Attendance Numbers:

Event No. 22 ($1,500 pot-limit Omaha) – 1,071 players 2010 – 885 players (21 percent increase)

Event No. 23 ($2,500 eight-game mixed) – 489 players 2010 – 452 players (8.2 percent increase)

Event No. 24 ($5,000 no-limit hold’em shootout) – 387 players 2010 – 358 players (8.1 percent increase)

Event No. 25 ($1,500 seven-card stud eight-or-better) – 606 players 2010 – 644 players (6.3 percent decline)

Event No. 26 ($2,500 six-handed no-limit hold’em) – 1,378 players 2010 – 1,245 players (10.7 percent increase)

Event No. 27 ($10,000 limit hold’em championship) – 152 players 2010 – 171 players (12.5 percent decline)

Event No. 28 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em) – 2,500 players 2010 – 2,092 players (19.5 percent increase)

Event No. 29 ($2,500 six-handed 10-game mixed) – 431 players 2010 – This is a new event for 2011.

Event No. 30 ($1,000 seniors no-limit hold’em) – 3,752 players 2010 – 3,142 players (19.4 percent increase)

Event No. 31 ($3,000 pot-limit Omaha) – 685 players 2010 – This is a new event for 2011.

Event No. 32 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em) – 2,828 players 2010 – 2,563 players (10.3 percent increase)

Event No. 33 ($10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better championship) – 168 players 2010 – 170 players (1.2 percent decline)

Event No. 34 ($1,000 no-limit hold’em) – 3,144 players 2010 – 3,289 players (4.4 percent decline)

Event No. 35 ($5,000 six-handed pot-limit Omaha) – 507 players 2010 – This is a new event for 2011.

2011 WSOP Statistics – Week 3:

NOTE: Official statistics provided by WSOP.com.

Through the conclusion of Event #33, the 2011 WSOP has attracted 41,454 combined total entries. $64,138,560 in prize money has been awarded to winners.

Through the conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of nationality of gold bracelet winners has been:

United States (22)
Canada (4)
Great Britain (3)
France (2)
Russia (1)
Ukraine (1)

Through the conclusion of this tournament, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has been:

United States (17)
Canada (4)
Great Britain (3)
France (2)
Ukraine (2)
Israel (1)
Russia (1)
Honduras (1)
Indonesia (1)
Germany (1)

Through the conclusion of this event, the home-states of (American) winners have been:

California (5)
Nevada (3)
New York (3)
Texas (2)
Illinois (2)
New Jersey (1)
Florida (1)
Tennessee (1)
Connecticut (1)
Indiana (1)
Maryland (1)
Virginia (1)

Through the conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of professional poker players to semi-pros and amateurs who won gold bracelets has been:

Professional Players (24): Jake Cody, Cheech Barbaro, Eugene Katchalov, Allen Bari, Harrison Wilder, Matt Perrins, Sean Getzwiller,
Viacheslav Zhukov, David Diaz, Andrew Badecker, Tyler Bonkowski, Brian Rast, John Juanda, Aaron Steury, Darren Woods, Jason Somerville,
Bertrand Grospellier, John Monnette, Mark Radoja, Chris Viox, Dan Idema, Andy Frankenberger, Chris Lee, Sam Stein

Semi-Pros (4): Sean R. Drake, Amir Lehavot, Oleksii Kovalchuk, Eric Rodawig

Amateurs (4): Geffrey Klein, Foster Hays, James Hess, Kirk Caldwell

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