The WSOP Main Event is a tournament like no other, and last night it showed once again. A record-breaking 4,571 players turned yesterday into the biggest single day in WSOP history, eclipsing last year’s Day 1C mark by 309 entries. In this article we’ll look at the numbers of past and present WSOP Main Events, further emphasizing the magnitude of poker’s greatest tournament.
Combining the fields from all three starting days ensured that the 2018 WSOP Main Event goes down in history as the second biggest of all time with 7,874 players and a prize pool that exceeds $74 million. In addition to that, for the first time in WSOP Main Event history, the biggest tournament of the year saw more than 7,000 players enter in back-to-back years.
After running the numbers, the WSOP announced the event payouts last night. Here’s what the nine finalists will be playing for, live on ESPN, on July 12, 13 and 14.
While the ‘Jamie Gold year’ will reign supreme for at least a few more years with 8,773 players participation in 2006, it’s a spectacular development to see this $10,000 tournament from for the fourth straight year in the post-UIGEA and post-Black Friday era.
| Big Numbers: 20 Years of WSOP Main Event | ||||
| Year | Winner | First Prize | Players | Prize Pool |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | $1,000,000 | 350 | $3,500,000 |
| 1999 | Noel Furlong | $1,000,000 | 393 | $3,930,000 |
| 2000 | Chris Ferguson | $1,500,000 | 512 | $5,120,000 |
| 2001 | Carlos Mortensen | $1,500,000 | 613 | $5,946,220 |
| 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | $2,000,000 | 631 | $5,931,000 |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | $2,500,000 | 839 | $7,802,700 |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 | 2,576 | $24,224,400 |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 | 5,619 | $52,818,610 |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | $12,000,000 | 8,773 | $82,512,162 |
| 2007 | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 | 6,358 | $59,784,954 |
| 2008 | Peter Eastgate | $9,152,416 | 6,844 | $64,333,600 |
| 2009 | Joe Cada | $8,547,042 | 6,494 | $61,043,600 |
| 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,310 | 7,319 | $68,798,600 |
| 2011 | Pius Heinz | $8,715,638 | 6,865 | $64,531,000 |
| 2012 | Greg Merson | $8,531,853 | 6,598 | $62,021,200 |
| 2013 | Ryan Riess | $8,361,570 | 6,352 | $59,708,800 |
| 2014 | Martin Jacobson | $10,000,000 | 6,683 | $62,820,200 |
| 2015 | Joe McKeehen | $7,683,346 | 6,420 | $60,348,000 |
| 2016 | Qui Nguyen | $8,005,310 | 6,737 | $63,327,800 |
| 2017 | Scott Blumstein | $8,150,000 | 7,221 | $67,877,400 |
| 2018 | $8,800,000 | 7,874 | $74,015,600 | |
With all three flights of the WSOP Main Event wrapped up, there are now 5,940 total remaining players, meaning that 24% of the field has been eliminated. In total 15% of the total field will reach the money, which is likely to be reached early on Day 4. While the winner won’t be known for another nine days, all remaining players can slowly start dreaming of what they’ll do with the pile of cash that awaits them at the end poker’s toughest journey.
The action resumes Tune in for continued coverage of the WSOP Main Event today, live on PokerGO, starting tonight 11:00 pm ET – 8:00 pm PT – 5:00 am CET. The action resumes today with Day 2A/B as 659 Day 1A and 1,801 Day 1B survivors continue their quest to win the first prize of $8.8 million. Relive Day 1C through the images of photographer Drew Amato.