INSIDE THE NUMBERS: 2016 WORLD SERIES OF POKER AT THE HALFWAY POINT
35 of 69 Events Complete, All Benchmarks Showing another Sensational Year at the WSOP
Still Plenty of Poker Left with Exciting and New Events on Tap through July 18 Including Crazy Eights, Tag Team Event, Online Event & Main Event
LAS VEGAS (June 27, 2016) – The 2016 version of the World Series of Poker is currently ongoing at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and is pacing exceptionally, following what was a record-breaking year in 2015.
With 35 official WSOP gold bracelet events complete (and 34 more to go), the 47th Annual WSOP is on pace to potentially surpass last year as the largest in terms of participation in the series’ storied 47-year history.
To date, 59,507 entries have been tallied in the first 35 gold bracelet events, just behind last year’s record pace of 59,771, less than half of one percent off. (This is not an apples-to-apples comparison, as the schedule of events differs from year to year). Thus far in 2016, the average entries per official WSOP gold bracelet event are 1,700.
Players from 98 countries have already participated in events this WSOP, the exact same seen at this point last year.
In terms of prize money awarded, the 35 official WSOP gold bracelet events have awarded $69,072,845. On an event basis, the average prize pool is averaging $1,973,510.
“It’s great to see poker alive and well in Las Vegas this summer,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Paying out 50% more places this summer and continuing to sprinkle in some new and unique events while bringing back the stalwarts has proven to be a successful recipe at the WSOP. Everyone seems to be having fun this summer and with several new and exciting events in the back half of our schedule, we remain confident that players will find some great poker playing options the rest of the way.”
A record 8,694 participants have received prize money this year (through 35 events), a result of the payout structure change awarding prize money to the final 15% of entrants in most events, instead of what was 10% in the past. Last year a record 11,638 cashed in WSOP gold bracelet events during the 68-event schedule, a number sure to be smashed this year.
Between official WSOP gold bracelet, Daily Deepstack, single and mega satellites, a total of 124,844 entries have been recorded at the 2016 WSOP, ahead of last year’s 116,977 entries at this point (Up 6.7%) (Note these numbers do not include participation in cash games, for which we don’t track entries).
In terms of participants, the Top 5 countries are U.S. (49,323), Canada (2,287), United Kingdom (1,889), Germany (580) and Russia (549).
To date in WSOP gold bracelet events, 75 different countries have cashed with the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Russia and Germany in the Top 5.
For more on how players are doing based on their nationality, please see our World Rankings for 2016 here: http://www.wsop.com/2016/worldrankings/
The WSOP gold bracelet tally shows the U.S. players dominating, winning 27 of the first 35 events, with Russia (2), Spain (2), United Kingdom (2), Belgium (1) and Sweden (1) the others.
Poker of course attracts participants of all ages. Thus far the WSOP has seen those as young as 21 and as old as 95. The average age of entrants is 42.91 and for cashers it is 40.44. Males account for 56,601 of entries (95.1%) with females tracking at 4.9% (2,906 entries).
For more stats on the 2016 WSOP, please visit: http://www.wsop.com/players/stats/byyear/?y=2016
In addition to the fantastic tournament action, live action game activity has been plentiful as well, with as many as 81(so far) tables running simultaneously. WSOP Live-Action (@WSOPLiveAction) is spreading a wide variety of games at stakes from $1-$3 NL, all the way up to $10-$25 NL and $100-$200-$400 PLO. Pineapple Open Faced Chinese has been a big hit again this year. Players have also enjoyed the no posting for new players in Pot Limit and No Limit games sitting down. With the upcoming schedule, live action is expected to reach the 91 table capacity. For limit players, the Rio cash game section has brought back mandatory posting for new players in all limit games. Cash games are dedicated to maintaining must move tables for all of the limit games (7 Stud, 7 Stud 8/O, Omaha 8/O and Mixed). Limit action this year has ranged from $10-$20 to $75-$150. By popular demand, the Rio Pavilion room is running PLO and BIG O games with three blind structures as opposed to two blind. They are playing with mandatory button straddles/mandatory Mississippi straddles, depending on the limit and game. There has also been a new game introduced in the mix this year. Called “Drawmaha”. This is played as a “Split Game”. Half of the hand goes to the winner of an Omaha High hand and half of the hand goes to the winner of a Budugi hand.
The 2016 WSOP official has just over three weeks remaining, and among the highlights left on the schedule is as follows:
- Monday, June 27 – Event #46 – $1,500 buy-in Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (every player is a bounty worth $500) – 11am
- Tuesday, June 28 – Event #48 – $5000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels) (2 day event) – 11am
- Wednesday, June 29 – Event #50 – $1,500 buy-in Shootout No-Limit Hold’em — 11am
- Wednesday June 29 – Event #51 – $10,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Championship – 3pm
- Friday, July 1 – Event #54A/B – $888 buy-in Crazy Eights Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (new event) ($888,888 guaranteed 1st place prize) – two starting flights, 10am & 4pm
- Saturday, July 2 – Event #54C/D – $888 buy-in Crazy Eights Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (new event) ($888,888 guaranteed 1st place prize) – two starting flights, 10am & 4pm
- Saturday, July 2 – Event #55 – $50,000 buy-in Poker Players’ Championship 6-Handed (8-game variants to determine poker’s all-around top player) – 3pm
- Monday, July 4 – Event #58 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (30 minute levels; two-day event) – 11am
- Wednesday, July 6 – Event #61 – $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em – 2-4 person teams. New Event, Entry fee is per team. 11am
- Wednesday, July 6 – Event #62 – $25,000 buy-in High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed (4-day event) – 3pm
- Friday, July 8 – Event #65 – $10,000 buy-in Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship (Ladies receive 90% discount on buy-in price) – 11am
- Friday, July 8 – Event #66 – $1,000 buy-in WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold’em (only online WSOP gold bracelet event of the year, via WSOP.com Nevada software) – 1pm
- Friday, July 8 – Event #67 – $111,111 buy-in High Roller for ONE DROP Charity No-Limit Hold’em (5% of entry pool donated to ONE DROP organization) – 1pm
- Sat. July 9/Sun. July 10/Mon. July 11 – Event #68 – $10,000 buy-in Main Event World Championship (3 starting flights) – Now with 50,000 starting chip stack. Expected to pay 1,000 places – 11am
- Tues. July 12/Wed. July 13/Thurs. July 14 – Event #69A/B/C – $1000 buy-in Little One for ONE DROP ($111 add-on to double starting chip stack) – All $111 would go to ONE DROP as charitable donation – 3pm
ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2015, the event attracted 103,512 entrants from 111 different countries to the Rio in Las Vegas and awarded over $210 million in prize money. In addition, the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit www.WSOP.com.
