2019 World Series of Poker Big 50 Event Sets The Record For Largest Live Tournament Field In History

The 2019 World Series of Poker ‘Big 50’ event has officially set the record for the largest ever field in live tournament poker history. Over the course of four starting flights, a total of 28,371 entries were made to create a $13,509,435 prize pool.

This event blew away the previous record holder, with an increase of nearly 27 percent in field size over the 22,374 entries made in the inaugural WSOP Colossus event held in 2015.

The record-breaking field means that the winner of the tournament will have to accumulate over 1 billion tournament chips. There are 1,418,550,000 chips in play, the most in play in the history of tournament poker.

Of the 28,371 entries, there were 17,970 unique participants and 10,401 re-entries. It took 1,208 dealers to complete the event’s four starting flights.

The first starting flight of this event attracted 6,095 entries, day 1B saw another 5,972 entries made, while day 1C added 7,183. The final flight was by far the largest, 2ith 9,121 entries made on day 1D. That means that the final flight of this event had enough entries to put it in seventh place as the largest field in WSOP history, were it a stand-alone tournament.

Here is a look at the ten largest WSOP events by field size:

While the total amount of money up for grabs is known, the final payout information for the players that make it to day 3 and beyond has not yet been released. Those numbers cannot be finalized until the completion of day 2D.

The numbers aren’t finalized, but the WSOP announced Tuesday afternoon that the winner of the event will take home $1,150,000, the biggest payday in history at the $500 price point.

“It’s a testament to the love of the game of poker so many of us have, and we’re so thankful for the players who came out to usher in our 50th iteration,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart in a statement. “From humble beginnings 50 years ago with a half a dozen players, to creating a $13 million+ prize pool for a $500 buy-in – unheard – and truly shows the modern day poker scene is alive and well and ready to cater to a new generation.”

Day 3 is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, June 5. It will mark the first time that players from the four starting flights will combine into one field. Play is scheduled to continue until a champion is decided on Friday, June 7.

For more coverage from the summer series, check out the 2019 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, results, news, player interviews, and event recaps.

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