World Series of Poker Breaks Main Event Record With 10,112 Registered Players

This year's participation will break the attendance record set by last year's Main Event, which saw 10,043 players enter the annual tournament.

Ziv Chen - News Editor at Covers.com
Ziv Chen • News Editor
Jul 9, 2024 • 15:32 ET • 4 min read
WSOP 2024
Photo By - USA TODAY Sports

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2024 has broken the competition’s one-year-old attendance record, with registration now closed and 10,112 players having entered the Main Event at Horseshoe Las Vegas. This number was boosted through late registration, allowing players to buy-in as late as Day 2 on July 8.

Confirming poker's recent mini-boom in crossover popularity — with everyone from pro athletes to chess pros and Twitch streamers taking to the felt — this year’s field tops last year’s Main Event attendance of 10,043 players by a small margin. At the time, 2023's field broke the long-standing 2006 record of 8,773 players. The total prize pool for this year’s Main Event is $94,041,600.

“10,000 entrants has become the new magic number for the WSOP Main Event," said Ty Stewart, SVP & executive director of WSOP. "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.”

This year’s main event bracelet, revealed by Jack Binion, weighs 445 grams and is crafted from 10-karat yellow gold. Adorned with 2,253 gemstones (1,948 of which are round diamonds), it also includes 230 black onyx stones and 75 red rubies, with each gem designed to represent each suit. The most distinctive feature of this year’s main event bracelet is the removable golden faceplate, which doubles as a card protector.

"The WSOP Main Event Bracelet is known as the most expensive trophy in sports, but the reason it’s priceless in the minds of players is because of Jack Binion," added Stewart.

Founded in 1970 with just seven main-event entrants, the World Series of Poker is the longest-running gaming event in the world, having paid more than $3.3 billion in prize money to date. In 2013, online poker was legalized in Nevada, and the WSOP launched its online poker platform. It's managed as a division of Ceasars Entertainment.

The 2024 series, which began on May 28, runs until July 17, with the Main Event champion crowned on that date.

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Ziv Chen
News Editor

Ziv has been deep in the iGaming trenches for over 20 years, long before most people could spell "geolocation compliance." With a background in marketing and business development at some of the biggest names in gambling tech, Ziv knows the industry from the inside out. Since joining Covers, he's turned his sharp eye (and sharper keyboard) toward everything happening in the fast-moving world of online gambling. Whether it's new state launches, the latest twists in regulation, or what the big operators and game providers are cooking up next, Ziv breaks it all down with clarity, context, and just the right amount of snark. He covers the business side of betting, from affiliate trends and revenue reports to the tech powering your favorite slots. His motto in writing is “let’s make it make sense without putting you to sleep.”

When he’s not tracking gambling legislation or looking for the next breaking story, Ziv is living and dying with every pitch and play from his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. As a Pitt graduate, it’s a city loyalty forged in heartbreak, but one he wouldn’t trade for anything, except maybe a few more playoff wins.

When away from the keyboard, Ziv loves to hit the road and soak up the energy of casinos. Whether strolling the neon jungle called the Vegas Strip, or wandering into a smoky riverboat casino in the Midwest, Ziv’s in his element. He’s the guy chatting with players, blackjack dealers, and asking pit bosses way too many questions, all in the name of “research,” of course. The casino floor isn’t just his workplace, it’s a weird and wonderful ecosystem of flashing lights, wild characters, and pure sensory overload, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

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