WSOP Prize Pool at Three-Year High, Entrants at Three-Year Low
Through the first 46 events of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the total prize pool stands at a three-year high at $85.7 million, while the total number of entrants is at a three-year low of 48,620.
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Caesars Interactive Entertainment Vice President of Corporate CommunicationsSeth Palansky told PocketFives on Tuesday, “We’re tracking very similarly to our record-breaking years on attendance and prize pool that we’ve had the past two years. The most notable difference this year is all of the $10K events we have. Those tournaments take their toll when looking at entrants, but as you see, typically help grow the total prize pool.”
Here’s how the numbers look for 2012, 2013, and 2014:
2014 through 46 events: 48,620 entrants, $85,776,405 prize pool
2013 through 46 events: 52,546 entrants, $77,419,395 prize pool
2012 through 46 events: 48,689 entrants, $85,630,905 prize pool
Still to come this year are the $10,000 Main Event, the $1 million Big One for One Drop that’s capped at 56 players, and nine events that have buy-ins of $1,500 or less. As Palansky put it, “It has been a great, great summer thus far with a lot of big, new, and exciting events on the docket. Things are trending up and with $10 million guaranteed first place prize for the Main Event, we are very optimistic that 2014 will finish with a dramatic and historical conclusion.”
The Big One for One Drop should dramatically affect the total prize pool for 2014, as a sold out field of 56 would mean a total prize pool of nearly $50 million, with the winner potentially walking away with over $20 million. As of one week ago, there were 41 confirmed players. WSOP officials fully expect the event to sell out.
The Main Event had 6,352 entrants in 2013, which equated to a prize pool of $59 million. Therefore, the One Drop and Main Event combined could mean more than $110 million in prize money funneled into the 2014 WSOP purse by themselves. Last year, $197 million was awarded across 65 events, the same number that will play out this year. There were 79,471 total entrants one year ago.
The first 46 events included seven with a buy-in of $1,000 this year, the same number as last year.
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