Will The 2023 World Series Of Poker Main Event Break Records In Las Vegas?WSOP Tournament Officials Expect Field Larger Than 2006's 8,773 Players |
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The $10,000 World Series of Poker main event attracted its second-largest field ever in 2022 with 8,663 players, falling just 110 entries short of tying the record set in 2006, when Jamie Gold earned a payout of $12 million as the champion.
This year, tournament organizers are bracing for a full house and a field that will test the limits of the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas casinos’ 608 total tables.
“With the momentum generated from the WSOP’s debut on the Las Vegas Strip last year, we expect a record-breaking WSOP and world championship at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas in 2023,” Executive Director Ty Stewart said before the series kicked off. “If the main event is on your bucket list, this is the year to get to Vegas.”
So far, Stewart’s optimism has proven correct, with numerous fields in preliminary events shattering the turnout numbers from last year. Overall, the numbers are up about 15 percent across the board, and the WSOP has already paid out over $200 million in prize money with more than 30 events still to play out.
The $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker, now in it’s tenth year, saw a record field of 10,416, and the inaugural $300 buy-in Gladiators of Poker event saw 23,102 runners alone, making it the second largest live tournament in poker history.
The main event, which kicks off Monday, July 3 and wraps up with a champion crowned on Monday, July 17, will feature four starting flights, each beginning at noon July 3-6. The incredibly deep-stacked tournament utilizes 120-minute levels and 60,000 in starting chips, or 300 big blinds to start.
If the field record is broken, a drawing will be held for all players that will award one lucky participant a main event buy-in for the next 30 years. This ‘main event for life’ drawing is scheduled for Saturday, July 8.
In 2022, it was online streamer Espen Jorstad who topped the second-largest field in WSOP main event history for the top prize of $10 million. Jorstad, who had won his first bracelet earlier in the series in the $1,000 tag team event alongside Patrick Leonard, became the first player from Norway to win the main event.
| Year | Champion | Entries | Prize Pool | Payout |
| 1970 | Johnny Moss | 7 | N/A | N/A |
| 1971 | Johnny Moss | 6 | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| 1972 | “Amarillo Slim” Preston | 8 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| 1973 | Walter “Puggy” Pearson | 13 | $130,000 | $130,000 |
| 1974 | Johnny Moss | 16 | $160,000 | $160,000 |
| 1975 | Bryan “Sailor” Roberts | 21 | $210,000 | $210,000 |
| 1976 | Doyle Brunson | 22 | $220,000 | $220,000 |
| 1977 | Doyle Brunson | 34 | $340,000 | $340,000 |
| 1978 | Bobby Baldwin | 42 | $420,000 | $210,000 |
| 1979 | Hal Fowler | 54 | $540,000 | $270,000 |
| 1980 | Stu Ungar | 73 | $730,000 | $385,000 |
| 1981 | Stu Ungar | 75 | $750,000 | $375,000 |
| 1982 | Jack Straus | 104 | $1,040,000 | $520,000 |
| 1983 | Tom McEvoy | 108 | $1,080,000 | $540,000 |
| 1984 | Jack Keller | 132 | $1,320,000 | $660,000 |
| 1985 | Bill Smith | 140 | $1,400,000 | $700,000 |
| 1986 | Berry Johnston | 141 | $1,410,000 | $570,000 |
| 1987 | Johnny Chan | 152 | $1,520,000 | $625,000 |
| 1988 | Johnny Chan | 167 | $1,670,000 | $700,000 |
| 1989 | Phil Hellmuth | 178 | $1,780,000 | $755,000 |
| 1990 | Mansour Matloubi | 194 | $1,940,000 | $895,000 |
| 1991 | Brad Daugherty | 215 | $2,150,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1992 | Hamid Dastmalchi | 201 | $2,010,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1993 | Jim Bechtel | 231 | $2,308,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1994 | Russ Hamilton | 268 | $2,680,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | Dan Harrington | 273 | $2,730,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | Huck Seed | 295 | $2,950,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1997 | Stu Ungar | 312 | $3,120,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | 350 | $3,500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 1999 | Noel Furlong | 393 | $3,930,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 2000 | Chris Ferguson | 512 | $5,120,000 | $1,500,000 |
| 2001 | Carlos Mortensen | 613 | $6,130,000 | $1,500,000 |
| 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | 631 | $6,310,000 | $2,000,000 |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | 839 | $7,802,700 | $2,500,000 |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | 2,576 | $24,224,400 | $5,000,000 |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | 5,619 | $52,818,610 | $7,500,000 |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | 8,773 | $82,512,162 | $12,000,000 |
| 2007 | Jerry Yang | 6,358 | $59,784,954 | $8,250,000 |
| 2008 | Peter Eastgate | 6,844 | $64,333,600 | $9,152,416 |
| 2009 | Joe Cada | 6,494 | $61,043,600 | $8,547,042 |
| 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | 7,319 | $68,798,600 | $8,944,310 |
| 2011 | Pius Heinz | 6,865 | $64,531,000 | $8,715,638 |
| 2012 | Greg Merson | 6,598 | $62,021,200 | $8,531,853 |
| 2013 | Ryan Riess | 6,352 | $59,708,800 | $8,361,570 |
| 2014 | Martin Jacobson | 6,683 | $62,820,200 | $10,000,000 |
| 2015 | Joe McKeehen | 6,420 | $60,348,000 | $7,683,346 |
| 2016 | Qui Nguyen | 6,737 | $63,327,800 | $8,005,310 |
| 2017 | Scott Blumstein | 7,221 | $67,877,400 | $8,150,000 |
| 2018 | John Cynn | 7,874 | $74,015,600 | $8,800,000 |
| 2019 | Hossein Ensan | 8,569 | $80,548,600 | $10,000,000 |
| 2020 | Damian Salas | 1,379 | $14,238,400 | $2,550,969 |
| 2021 | Koray Aldemir | 6,650 | $62,011,250 | $8,000,000 |
| 2022 | Espen Jorstad | 8,663 | $80,782,475 | $10,000,000 |
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