The story of the World Series of Poker is of a series that grew, and grew, and then GREW! The Moneymaker Effect of the 2000s saw attendance balloon in size, for the Main Event but also for the many side events. For almost 20 years it seemed the record field in the 2006 Main Event - 8,773 - was as big as it was ever going to get.
But then came 2023.
Last year’s Main Event reframed what we thought was possible, as 10,043 players turned out to play for the most coveted prize in poker: the World Champion’s bracelet. The biggest-ever Main Event field led to the biggest-ever Main Event prize, with Daniel Weinman taking down the incredible $12.1M up top. It was a new peak for live poker.
But now, here comes 2024.
We’ve dusted off the crystal ball, cast the runes and consulted the poker gods, and we think we might be in for a new Biggest Ever WSOP. Here are eight reasons why…
#1: WSOP 2023 was no bluff: live poker is booming
Last summer the WSOP broke attendance records, with over 214,000 entries across 95 events, but things haven’t quietly reverted to the norm since then. Consider this:
- WSOP Circuit events more than doubled in participation; entries were up over 50% in US events.
- The WPT World Championship at the Wynn in December 2023 set a new record for the largest guaranteed prize pool for a live poker tournament with $40M promised - a big leap from the $15M GTD the year before. Sure, they missed it by 6% or so, but only because it was so huge, and 3,835 entries suggest they were on the right path.
- That $40M guarantee didn’t stop some other huge tournament series from taking place at the same time. WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas also got over 3,000 entries for its own Main Event in December, while EPT Prague attracted almost 1,000 runners to its Main Event in Europe.
- The Rungood Poker Series drew almost 80% more players last year than the previous year, with more than 50,000 entries and more events than ever before.
- Attendance records continue to be broken in the Asian Poker Tour, with this spring’s tour stop in Taipei setting a new bar for the biggest and richest tourney series in Taiwan. The Jeju series in May would do the same for Korea.
- The North American Poker Tour returned to Las Vegas after 12 years in late 2023, with over a dozen events and more than a thousand entrants for the Main Event.
- The two EPT Main Events that have taken place in 2024 (Paris and Monte Carlo) have both attracted more entries and awarded more prize money than they did in 2023.
#2: Poker entertainment is big business
When it comes to poker entertainment, the past year has seen the return of old favorites, the debut of new IPs and the blossoming of long-running formats.
PokerStars’ The Big Game on Tour is back on our screens in 2024, while GGPoker’s Game of Gold showed us a new side of televised poker in late 2023, bringing a new, younger crowd into the world of poker content. There are live streams available day and night, showing elite players competing face-to-face for millions in glamorous locations; and then there are online players streaming their ups and down, their bustouts and epic victories.
It was only a year ago that the biggest-ever televised pot went down at Hustler Casino Live, while TikTok, Twitch and YouTube all feature poker channels that are growing and growing. Just last month a poker short on YouTube by Wolfgang Poker hit 100 million views, helped by the fact he has reached an astonishing 1,000,000 subscribers - huge numbers for anyone, let alone a poker content creator.
Add to this the recent debut of single-player poker video game Balatro, which is likely on its way to creating a new generation of talented poker players in a similar fashion to how Magic: The Gathering once did. In a few months since launch its grossed over $13M.
#3: Poker is in the mainstream as Beyoncé gets involved
When Queen Bey released the first track from her new album during Super Bowl LVIII, we knew it would be huge for her and for music. And when we saw it was called ‘Texas Hold’em’ we braced ourselves for another poker boom.
We can’t speak to her poker skills, but we know all about Beyoncé’s talents in building and nurturing a fanbase. If she’s suddenly talking poker, you can be sure plenty of others are too - many for the first time. Recent years have also seen TV shows like Billions and Breaking Bad incorporate poker into their storylines, while last year's award-winning Poker Face from Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson received critical acclaim.
Taking the game mainstream can only be good for its growth.
#4: Multi-state online poker is growing
Players in Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey can enjoy the bigger fields, more options and higher prizes that come with a larger player pool, thanks to WSOP.COM’s rebrand as WSOP Online and the merging of liquidity that comes with it.
This not only improves the day-to-day experience for players in multiple states - including upgraded functionality like multi-tabling on mobile and Mystery Bounty tourneys - but it also throws open the chance to compete for WSOP Online bracelets to many more people. 30 online bracelet events will take place this summer, including a new $10K WSOP Online Championship on July 11.
Players in these states will surely welcome the chance to play more events, for more money, with more players. But it’s not just those in Michigan, New Jersey and Nevada that are heading online in their droves, because…
#5: The online game is booming
For much of the past 15 years, PokerStars was more or less unopposed when it came to dominating global online poker traffic. The rise of GGPoker in recent years, along with new formats, bigger tourneys and better guarantees right across the board has led us to a point where a site like ACR Poker can guarantee $12.5M in prize money in a single online tournament.
The 2023 WSOP Online Main Event on GGPoker nearly broke its own record, amassing a prize pool of over $26 million from 5,492 participants.
ACR Poker's Venom tournament has been just one online high point in a season filled with them, with a massive $350M+ in guarantees available this spring across PokerStars, 888poker, ACR, GGPoker and more.
While regulation is still a thorny subject - especially across much of the USA - one could argue that never before have more players had more choices to play for more money online. GGPoker is sending players to the WSOP in droves, and since 2020 there have even been bracelet events held online.
And speaking of 2020…
#6: There’s no pandemic
Even for those who didn’t catch a dose, recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 has taken longer than we thought. Now that we have a few more years between us in the rearview mirror, attendance figures in many areas of live entertainment are rising again.
Last year’s record numbers at the WSOP appeared to indicate that fears around the virus had decreased. Another year on, we’re hoping even more people feel safe, comfortable and healthy enough to join in with poker’s biggest party.
#7: Players believe in the boom
When we sent out our State of Poker survey there was one question in particular we wanted the answer to: ‘Is poker’s popularity growing?’
As a site dedicated to poker and its players, we knew what answer we wanted to hear, but the whole point of conducting a survey is to find out what people actually believe, not just what you want them to.
Of our survey respondents, we found just 9% felt that poker’s popularity was in decline, while 56% believed it was growing and 35% that it was stable.
There were two other useful findings: that winning a big tournament like the WSOP was the ultimate poker dream for most players, and that the WSOP was the most popular live poker event to play.
#8: Poker media is booming
Not for nuthin', but with poker media outlets dropping like flies over the past decade, who would've thought there was room for a feisty, modern poker media company to seize the initiative and grow the market?
Well, that's what PokerOrg is doing, and we're growing fast. What's more, we're bringing creators to our platform, and to live events, and together we're expanding our reach, growing our socials and maintaining a loyal audience. And WSOP 2024 gives us all the opportunity to turbo-charge that growth.
‘Bigger and Better’
“Records are made to be broken,” said the WSOP’s SVP Ty Stewart when the 2024 schedule was announced, “so our motto this year is ‘bigger and better’.”
They’re talking the talk and walking the walk, with more side events, new tournament types and around 100 additional poker tables at the Horseshoe and the Paris ready to accommodate what they believe will be new record numbers of players.
For all these reasons and more, PokerOrg is all-in at the WSOP this summer.
- We’re sending the biggest team we’ve ever put together to cover it from start to finish
- We’ll have players in events to bring you the inside scoop from inside the rail
- Bookmark PokerOrg for full daily briefings giving you the essential rundown on every single day of the series
- Visit the PokerOrg Clubhouse during the Main Event to refuel and recharge, plus meet famous players and score some free goodies
No matter how many records get broken, this summer will be big. Keep it locked on PokerOrg so you don’t miss a minute of it.
See you there.
