Records Fall as the WSOP Chugs AlongSo Far More Than $49.4 Million Has Been Given Away This Summer |
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The first 27 events of the World Series of Poker are either completed or will be by the end of tomorrow, and the number of players who have come to Vegas to try for a bracelet, as well as the amount of money that has been generated in prize pools, have been astounding.
In less than three weeks, the tournaments of the WSOP have generated a total prize pool of more than $49.4 million from 26,564 buy-ins. The main event, which starts next Friday, is expected to have between 8,000 and 10,000 players, and the main event is only the biggest of the 18 tournaments left until the WSOP closes its 2006 chapter.
Some Comparisons
The 2006 WSOP officially started with the casino employees $500 buy-in no-limit event, an event that had been going on for years. Only three years ago, which just happens to be the year Chris Moneymaker won the main event, 208 employees played in this event. Last year, 662 players played.
This year, 1,232 players played, generating a prize pool of $554,400 and awarded the winner $127,496, which is almost the amount that Puggy Pearson took home when he won the 1973 main event ($130,000).
The first "real" WSOP event this year, the $1,500 buy-in no-limit tourney, attracted 2,776 players. Last year's event came close to that with 2,305 players. In 2003, 531 players entered the $1,500 event, which was the only $1,500 no-limit event offered. This year, eight no-limit hold'em $1,500 buy-in events will have taken place by the time the WSOP ends.
Last year's ladies event gained unexpected notoriety when Hollywood bombshell Jennifer Tilly outlasted 601 players and won it. This year, 1,128 women put up $1,000 each to play and Mary Jones won $236,094 for coming out on top. The prize was more than Doyle Brunson received for winning his first WSOP main event bracelet back in 1976, even though the buy-in for the main event always been $10,000.
Last year's $5,000 no-limit tournament attracted a healthy field of 466 players. In 2004, it attracted 254 players. (People will probably remember that Thomas "Thunder" Keller won that event.)
This year, the event brought in 622 players, generated a prize pool of $2,923,400 and gave the winner, Jeff Cabanillas, $818,546. It took 20 years for the main event to generate a top prize worth more than $800,000. In 1989, Phil Hellmuth won $755,000 for taking down a field of 178 in the main event. A year later, the main event would nearly reach $900,000 and it wasn't until 1991 that $1 million would be given to the winner of the main event.
Some events are attracting similar numbers to what they did last year. The 2006 $1,500 limit event (1,068 players) barely outpaced last year's event (1,049). In 2004, 608 people played in this event. This year's $1,500 stud event attracted only six more players than it did last year (472 in 2005). And the $3,000 limit event actually attracted fewer players this year (341) than last (406). But then again, this year's $3,000 Omaha eight-or-better tourney was scheduled to take place at the same time, which surely cut into the hold'em field.
Last year's main event attracted 5,619 players. This year's main event may bring in more people than the 9,385 who played in every main event from 1970 to 2004.
Now we have to wait only a little more than a week to find out if that will happens.
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