Poker in Las Vegas continues to thrive as for consecutive years, the buy-in for the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas has set a new record for the largest prize pool in live poker tournament history.
Close to 10,112 runners engaged with the event, eclipsing last year’s record of 10,043 entrants.
Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the WSOP, commented on the continued growth of the event: “Ten thousand entrants has become the new magic number for the WSOP Main Event. The response has been overwhelming since our move to the Las Vegas Strip. Thank you to our partners, team members, and, most of all, the players for another unforgettable summer.”
Furthermore, the prize pool for the event came in at just over $94m and every player who makes the final table will land a seven-figure payday.
It means that for the second year in a row, the top prize amounts to $10m in addition to the coveted WSOP bracelet.
Last year, Georgia poker pro Daniel Weinman topped the field to win the tournament’s top prize and the first eight-figure payday in WSOP Main Event history.
It comes at an interesting time for Poker as many in the sector continue to underline the importance of innovation.
Speaking at the CasinoBeats Summit in Malta, Amit Berkovich, VP Head of Poker at evoke, emphasised his belief that “the market has become saturated with so many things to compete over players, detailing that online poker is facing competition against “recreational games” on top of thriving entertainment and social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Netflix.
Calling on the experience of a professional poker player was Peter Jesko, Strategic Consultant at Casino Guru, who referred to an existing discussion of whether online poker is dead by stating that it’s still alive, but is offering less opportunities for players to make consistent cash.
Jesko also referred to the uniqueness of poker as an encouraging factor for the game’s survival, suggesting there are little to no other games that combine gambling and skill-based gameplay as well as poker does.
The panel then moved onto the presence of live poker tournaments that stem from the online scene. Telly Bartolo, Marketing and Event Manager at Casino Malta, explained that these tournaments offer much more than just a gameplay experience.
He commented: “Poker players moving from online to live tournaments are looking to travel, they’re looking to meet people form different nationalities and mingle around. It’s not all about the actual game, but it becomes about all the other things in the full experience.”
