WSOP Halfway Point Report: Records Fall as 24,000+ Players Ante-Up

June 23rd, 2017 | by Kaycee James

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has reached its halfway point and, so far, the vital statistics make for positive reading.

The WSOP has broken multiple records this year and we’re only halfway through the action. (Image: PokerSites.com)

When the Department of Justice (DOJ) shutdown PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker on April 15, 2011, the impact was felt far beyond the online poker world. With US players unable to take part in online satellites, numbers at the WSOP took a nosedive.

Today, however, things are on the up according to the latest review of the 2017 WSOP. Following the recent trend of numbers increasing across the board, this year’s festival has already welcomed 24,281 unique individuals across 37 bracelet events.

Putting this into perspective, that figure equates to an entry-per-tournament average of 1,665 players.

Events Old and New Attracting the Masses

Helping to bring in the masses this year have been two No Limit Hold’em events; one old and one new.

The $1,000 Seniors event has long been a staple fixture on the roster and this year more players aged 50+ ante-up than ever before. When the registration desks had closed and the total number of entry fees had been counted, the final figure stood at 5,389.

As well as being almost 1,000 players more than in 2016 (also a record-breaking year), that amount of interest generated a prizepool worth $4,850,100.

As for the new event breaking new ground, the 2017 incarnation of the $1,500 Millionaire Maker saw 7,761 entries collected over the course of two starting days. This time around, Canada’s Pablo Mariz took home the bracelet and $1,221,407 in prize money.

While interest in No Limit Hold’em events has always been high, other disciplines often haven’t reflected the recent growth of the game. This year, however, Event #18 bucked that trend when 3,186 players entered the $565 Pot Limit Omaha Event.

On top of creating a $1,593,000 prizepool, the tournament became the largest non-Hold’em live event in history.

National and International Interest in 2017

As ever, the US is the most represented country at the WSOP with 51,311 players joining the action after 37 events. Next in the line-up is Canada at 2,191, followed by the UK (1,753), France (553) and Australia (496).

After 37 events, 10,305 entrants have been from outside the US this year, which would suggest that an influx of travelers is helping to break records.

With exactly one month of WSOP action left, many are now looking to marquee tournaments such as the $50,000 Players’ Championship and the $10,000 Main Event. Given the current swell of participation, we may see yet more records fall this summer and, potentially, one of the largest WSOP Main Events in history.