From the glory days of the 8,000-player+ 2006 Main Event to the swingy years post-Black Friday attendance at the WSOP has always been used a sort of barometer for the health of the poker industry as a whole.
Fair? In some ways. As they say, numbers don't lie. Except, of course, when they do.
Comparing stats across a varied range of WSOP events that change - sometimes drastically - year-to-year also makes it difficult to come to any decisive conclusions.
New All-Time Record for First Half of Any WSOP
If you're a regular follower of the WSOP-related threads on the 2+2 forums you've already been exposed to both ends of the extreme.
Both the apocalyptic doomsayers (numbers are plummeting! poker is dead!) and the eye-test counter-balancers (I was just there, and it was packed) are well represented
The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. With registration for 35 of 68 events for 2015 closed there are a few final figures to look at, however.
What they all mean ... that's still up for debate.
Some (rather obvious) findings:
Tourneys: 35
Players: 59,748
Total Prize Money: $71,051,670
Total Fees: $7,364,860
Collectively the number of players and prize money is a new all-time record for the first half of any WSOP in history.
New events like the 22,000-player $565 Colossus obviously skew that number, as does the second edition of the Millionaire Maker.
Numbers for the Championship events (the big ones with $10k buy-ins), however, are down. Six out of seven championship events had less players than 2014.
As for the rest ... some are up, some are down. What does it all mean? You decide.
Nr.
Tourney
Players 2014
Players 2015
Difference
Prize Pool
Fee
1
$500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em
876
688
-21.46%
344000
44720
2
$5,000 No Limit Hold'em
696
422
-39.37%
1983400
126600
3
$1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
1036
918
-11.39%
1239300
137700
4
$3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout
389
308
-20.82%
840840
83160
5
$565 The Colossus
–
22374
–
11187000
1454310
6
$1,000 No Limit Hold'em Hyper Turbo
–
1436
–
1292400
143600
7
$10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
120
109
-9.17%
1024600
65400
8
$1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em
557
639
14.72%
862650
95850
9
$1,500 Seven Card Razz
352
462
31.25%
623700
69300
10
$10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em
136
143
5.15%
1344200
85800
11
$1,500 Limit Hold'em
657
626
-4.72%
845100
93900
12
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed
1587
1651
4.03%
2228850
247650
13
$2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
470
474
0.85%
1078350
106650
14
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout
948
1000
5.49%
1360000
150000
15
$10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em
160
128
-20.00%
1203200
76800
16
$1,500 Millionaire Maker No Limit Hold'em
7977
7275
-8.80%
9821250
1091250
17
$10,000 Seven Card Razz
112
103
-8.04%
968200
61800
18
$1,000 Turbo No Limit Hold'em
1473
1791
21.59%
1611900
179100
19
$3,000 Limit Hold'em
–
319
–
870870
86130
20
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em
2086
1844
-11.60%
2489400
276600
21
$10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
178
157
-11.80%
1475800
94200
22
$1,000 No Limit Hold'em
2043
1951
-4.50%
1755900
195100
23
$1,500 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball
241
219
-9.13%
295650
32850
24
$1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
743
772
3.90%
1042200
115800
25
$5,000 No Limit Hold'em Eight Handed
550
493
-10.36%
2317100
147900
26
$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha
1128
1293
14.63%
1163700
129300
27
$10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
134
91
-32.09%
855400
54600
28
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Monster Stack
7862
7192
-8.52%
9709200
1078800
29
$10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball
87
77
-11.49%
723800
46200
30
$1,000 No Limit Hold'em
1688
2150
27.37%
1935000
215000
31
$3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
474
480
1.27%
1310400
129600
32
$5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed
541
550
1.66%
2585000
165000
33
$1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
348
388
11.49%
523800
58200
34
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Mixed Max
1475
873
-40.81%
1178550
130950
35
$3,000 H.O.R.S.E.
–
352
–
960960
95040
Sum
–
–
59748
–
71051670
7364860
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