2007 WSOP draws more than 54,000 entrants

The 2007 World Series of Poker presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light attracted 54,288 total registrants, the most in World Series of Poker history. The 55-event series, played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, is now culminating with the us$ 10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship.

The 55-event series, played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, is now culminating with the USD 10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship, commonly referred to as the Main Event. With 6,358 entries, this year’s Main Event is the second-largest live poker tournament ever played.

„Poker is alive and well, and the 2007 World Series of Poker has been a tremendous success,“ said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. In all, the 2007 WSOP generated a total prize pool of USD 159,796,918. The Main Event prize pool is USD 59,784,954, with the winner receiving USD 8.25 million. A total of 621 Main Event players will finish in the money and will receive at least us$ 20,320, more than double their original buy-in.

Among the highlights of this year’s World Series of Poker were record turnouts for the Ladies Championship, the Seniors Championship and the USD 50,000 Horse Championship. This year also saw the single busiest day in World Series of Poker history, when 3,151 players participated in a USD 1,500 No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship on June 30.

Due to the size of the Main Event playing field, the tournament’s start was spread over four days. Beginning tomorrow, the next stage of the tournament will be split over two days, after which the fields will merge for a single Day 3 on July 11. The Main Event final table will begin at noon on July 17.

The WSOP is operated by an affiliate of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest operator of casino-entertainment resorts.