2016 WSOP Broke All Sorts of Records

July 31st, 2016 | by Kaycee James

The 2016 WSOP broke 47-year records for number of entrants. (Image: pokernews.com)

The 2016 WSOP concluded last week, sans the Main Event final table in October. By all accounts, the 47^th annual summer series was a rousing success.

Never before has the series had more entrants over the course of the summer than the recently concluded World Series of Poker. That’s good news for the industry, and a “not so fast, my friend” to the “poker is on the decline” crowd.

In fact, poker is on the upswing. If not, there wouldn’t have been a record 107,833 entrants during the series. WSOP execs predicted the series would break records, and they were right.

The 2016 World Series of Poker features some unique events with buy-ins ranging from $565 to $111,111, and just about everything in between.

Why the Increased Attendance

There may be a number of factors for why this year’s WSOP broke the all-time overall attendance record. One reason could have to do with an increased number of gimmick events.

In 2015, the WSOP introduced the first ever $565 Colossus, which set a record for most entrants in a live poker tournament. Colossus II didn’t quite break last year’s record of 22,374, but it came close (21,613). That tournament got the summer started off on the right foot.

Event #12, the $565 Pot-Limit Omaha championship featured the largest live PLO field ever (2,483). It was also the cheapest PLO tournament in WSOP history. Ryan Laplante, an openly gay and proud poker player won the tournament.

Event #54, the $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em was one of the craziest events of the summer. There were 6,761 entries in this turbo tournament. Many players loved the ability to register multiple times and the “cheap” $888 buy-in. The event was sponsored by, you guessed it…888poker.

The final tournament of the summer, Event #69, the $1,111 Little One for One Drop attracted a large field as well (4,360). The big lure of this tournament was many players seeking one last opportunity at winning a bracelet in 2016. Players were eligible to re-enter as many times as they wanted during each of the three Day One starting flights.

More Positive Numbers

Want to hear more positive stats on the 2016 WSOP? The series paid out $221,211,336 in total prize money. That’s a 47-year record.

There were 15,767 players paid over the course of 69 bracelet events. Yep, that’s another record. This was the summer of setting records.

The 2016 World Series of Poker had many highs (i.e. Jason Mercier nearly winning three bracelets in a week) and some lows (i.e. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Howard Lederer returning to the Rio to compete for the first time since 2010 despite most poker players wanting them banned from the WSOP). But it was a successful summer for the most popular poker series in the world