Registration for the 2025 World Sequence of Poker Predominant Occasion closed yesterday afternoon, and sadly for the executives operating the Sequence, it won’t be one for the record-books.
After the previous couple of gamers registered for the Predominant Occasion, 2024’s record-shattering subject of 10,112 was not damaged. Nonetheless, the 9,735 gamers will probably be a part of the third-largest subject to compete for essentially the most coveted prize in poker — $10 million and a bracelet massive sufficient to choke Norman the Scottish Highland Bull.
These gamers constructed a prize pool price $92,579,850. The final 9 gamers are all assured no less than $1 million, with the highest three incomes $4 million, $6 million and $10 million — the identical quantity final 12 months’s Champion Jonathan Tamayo received.
The tourney began July 2. Gamers had six days to provide you with $10,000 or satellite tv for pc their approach in via WSOP.com and get in yesterday in the course of the first official Day 2. Of these, 6,282 gamers have already been eradicated, leaving 3,453 to play right this moment.
By the best way, the Predominant Occasion actually isn’t a $10,000 buy-in match, however calling it a $9,510 + $490 seems horrible though that’s what it’s. The brand new proprietor of the WSOP, GGPoker, grossed $4,770,150 from the charges. One other 2.1% was taken from the general prize pool for charges that go to sellers and employees, which quantities to $1,944,176 this 12 months.
Sadly, 1,992 will bust earlier than making the min-cash of $15,000 for attending to 1,461st place.
Because of this the Predominant Occasion is the most important take a look at in poker: That is just the start for the gamers who managed to seek out two luggage. They now have to run the gauntlet for seven extra days with a view to win the entire rattling factor on July 16.
It’s the primary time the Predominant Occasion didn’t surpass 10,000 entrants for the reason that first time it did in 2023 with 10,043.
Nonetheless, 9,735 is a gigantic quantity. Take into consideration this: When Chris Ferguson and his lengthy hair and black cowboy and dancing footwear received the Predominant Occasion 25 years in the past in 2000, he was one in every of 512 gamers.
That’s practically 150 gamers lower than who entered Day 1 final week.
Then Chris Moneymaker got here alongside. His win in 2003 ignited the Poker Increase, and the WSOP was the primary beneficiary. It could solely take three years till the entry numbers exploded 10-times to eight,773.
The goals of hitting 10,000 entrants within the Predominant Occasion appeared like a actuality till the Federal Authorities nuked on-line poker in America with the Illegal Web Playing Enforcement Act of 2006.
It could take greater than a decade earlier than 8,000 was once more surpassed in 2019 (8,569, received by Hossein Ensan), after which Covid put a brake on issues, however it positive looks like the rocket ship has re-launched.
Credit score should go to the WSOP and Caesars, who simply handed the torch to GGPoker, the net poker big and the corporate that simply purchased the collection in final 12 months.
