LAS
VEGAS (June 20, 2011) – The 42nd annual World Series
of Poker (WSOP) Presented by Jack Links Beef Jerky at the Rio All-Suite Hotel
& Casino has officially reached the halfway point, eclipsing numerous
records along the way and positioning this year’s slate of tournaments to
shatter several all-time marks.
Through
30 events, total WSOP participation is up 11.7 percent, with 33,173 entrants lifting
the prize pool 8.6 percent over 2010 levels and establishing a new midway
milestone of $55,883,060.
Eleven
WSOP tournament records have been broken.
They are:
- Biggest
Heads-Up tournament prize pool in history ($3,040,000) – Event #2
-
Largest
live Omaha High-Low Split Tournament in history (925 entries) – Event #3
- Largest
live Six-Handed tournament in poker history (1,920 entries) – Event #10
- Biggest
Deuce-to-Seven tournament prize pool in history ($1,184,400) – Event #16
- Largest
live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3,157 entries) – Event #18
- Largest
live $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3,175 entries) – Event #20
- Largest
consecutive-days starting field sizes in poker history (combined 6,332 entries)
– Event #18 and Event #20
- Largest
live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history (1,071 entries) – Event #22
- Largest
Mixed-Game (Eight-Game Mix) in poker history (489 entries) – Event #23
- Largest
Seniors poker tournament in history (3,752 entries) – Event #30
- Largest
live $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start –
Event #30 (breaks record established in Event #20)
These
new attendance and prize money records come just one year after the 2010 WSOP enjoyed
year-over-year attendance growth of 20 percent and set records for nine of the
largest 17 live poker tournaments in history. It is also worth noting that these live
tournament records aren’t just WSOP-related. In fact, they are the largest turnouts for any
poker tournament worldwide – ever.
“We
are humbled once again by the incredible turnout from players all over the
world,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “It has been a record-setting summer thus far
in 2011 and we are confident it will continue through the duration of the
tournament.”
In
addition to the official WSOP gold bracelet events, all other poker-related
business is experiencing tremendous double-digit growth as well. Year-to-date, 79,166 entries have been
recorded.
WSOP
side action, which refers to all non-bracelet events -- including cash games,
single-table-satellites, mega-satellites and daily deepstack tournaments -- are
up 45 percent year-over-year.
Cash
games have attracted non-stop action featuring 96 live poker tables filled to
capacity. The cash games offered range
from $1-$2 blinds all the way up to high-stakes competition, including No-Limit
with blinds at $1,000/$2,000. Pot-Limit
Omaha, a game of growing popularity is generating more than 20 tables spread at
a time. This makes for arguably the
greatest concentration of Pot-Limit Omaha action anywhere in history.
Additionally,
the WSOP is spreading more than 150 satellite tournaments daily throughout the
42nd annual event. This segment
is up 18 percent over last year. (Note:
A satellite tournament is a lower buy-in event whose prize is an entry into a larger
buy-in event). Mega-satellites have been
particularly strong, regularly awarding dozens of seats per event and helping
feed the larger buy-in bracelet events.
Finally,
the Rio’s offering of low buy-in, one-day poker tournaments called “Daily
Deepstacks” have been the busiest of all events year-over-year. Players participating in the daily 2 pm
tournaments with a $235 buy-in are regularly seeing 800-plus player fields and
first place prizes in the $30,000-40,000 range.
Three Daily Deepstack tournaments are taking place, at 2 pm, 4 pm and 6
pm and all are seeing sharp increases.
These tournaments continue through July 16th.
Tournament
Director Jack Effel explained, “It is one thing to plan and prepare to
accommodate such a large number of people on a daily basis, but it is truly an amazing
feeling to see it all unfold in front of your eyes like we have witnessed at
the WSOP in 2011. We are grateful for
everyone’s patience throughout and want to thank the players who have showed up
thus far. We look forward to welcoming
still more players who are still yet to make their 2011 WSOP debut.”
On
Friday, June 18, the WSOP sat 5,946 players for the various poker tournaments
scheduled that day – the largest number of players ever entered on a single day
in live poker history.
A
total of 408 poker tables are in use at the Rio this summer during the WSOP. Despite the largest concentration of poker
tables at one time anywhere in history, on several days demand has outstripped
supply due to the unprecedented number of players descending upon the Rio.
Along
with all the poker action, some outstanding charitable work is being performed
as well. Poker players are rallying
behind the “Bad Beat on Cancer” initiative, where one percent of all poker
winnings are pledged to the official WSOP charities: the Nevada Cancer
Institute and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
A new
Bad Beat on Cancer Seminar Series provides free seminars from well-known poker
players, which has already received much attention and rave reviews. The seminars are held during weekend mornings
throughout the WSOP. In addition to
providing helpful strategic advice to many players and fans of the game, the
seminars also help to raise the awareness of the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative.
For more information on this, click HERE.