When Brian Rast staged a miraculous comeback to win the $10,000 Razz Championship, it marked not only his seventh bracelet but also the halfway point in the 2025 World Series of Poker.
Many players had predicted numbers would be down this year for two reasons – the economic downturn and Trump’s isolationism.
Dara O’Kearney believed that fewer people would travel to the USA after Trump’s recent rhetoric. He said, "I have a strong suspicion it will be the most American WSOP in a long time, with a lot fewer players traveling from abroad."
Rast himself was more bullish, saying, "I don't view this year as being materially different, even though I would agree that there's more uncertainty about the future.”
He also made a good point about crypto.
“Almost everyone who plays high rollers and nosebleed stakes is involved in crypto," he said.
"Even if you take those people out, I would guess that low-level pros or amateurs are probably more likely to own Bitcoin than the average person," he continued. "Bitcoin's doing fine, right? Yeah, it's down from the all-time high, but if you sell half a Bitcoin, that pays for a pretty nice schedule of events."
Alex Fitzgerald was also a bull and said people "always find money for thrills. There's nothing more thrilling than poker. So, even if people are hurting, there are still some small buy-ins, and there is always that opportunity."
What are the halfway numbers?
So, who was right? The bulls or the bears?
In terms of numbers, if you just take the first 50 events from each series, the 2024 WSOP just pips 2025, but it’s close — 107,785 entries to 104,938.
However, that doesn’t paint a very clear picture, as the schedules are different. The biggest field from last year was in the $300 Gladiators event, with 20,647 entries. That hasn’t played yet in 2025.
The 2025 Colossus has already been played, though, which drew 16,301 entries this year. It was played later in the schedule last year and got 19,303 runners.
2025 vs. 2024 — the first 50 events
If you just look at the same events over the two years, the numbers are even closer — 102,639 in 2024 and 102,050 in 2025. If this were an election, it might call for a recount.
2025 vs. 2024 — like-for-like events
Here’s a look at how some of the headline events stack up.
| Event | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 Mystery Millions | 19,654 | 18,409 |
| $500 Colossus (was $400 in 2024) | 16,301 | 19,303 |
| $1,500 Monster Stack | 9,920 | 8,703 |
| $1,000 Seniors | 7,575 | 7,954 |
| $1,500 NLH Super Turbo Bounty | 2,232 | 2,110 |
| $1,500 HORSE | 867 | 835 |
| $5,000 Seniors High Roller | 801 | 680 |
| $10,000 PLO 8 | 386 | 259 |
| $50,000 NLH High Roller | 171 | 177 |
| $10,000 Dealers Choice | 152 | 141 |
| $10,000 Razz | 134 | 118 |
| $10,000 Limit Championship | 118 | 133 |
| $100,000 NLH High Roller | 103 | 112 |
| $250,000 NLH High Roller | 63 | 75 |
And the winner is... It's a dead heat
We’re calling it as a dead heat at the moment. Some events are slightly up, some are slightly down, but despite the downturn in the economy, the WSOP seems as popular as ever.
The Main Event is the big one, and the WSOP will be very keen to keep numbers above 10,000. 10,112 players played it last year, and as it’s GGPoker’s first year as owner, we expect that number to be slightly surpassed.
As Eugene Katchalov told us before the series, “I would assume having GGPoker behind the brand is going to boost the numbers a lot. And I would assume — even though I don't play on GGPoker personally — that they're probably running a lot of satellites and would want to send a lot of players there with packages.”
Our prediction? 10,213.
Who's winning the bracelets?
Players from the USA are dominating the bracelets again, but it’s almost identical to last year. 33 of the first 50 bracelets were won by the USA last year, compared to 32 this year.
But, we’re still waiting for the results of the $1k Seniors (Event #48). That plays to a winner tomorrow, and six of the final seven are from the USA. The one Canadian, Lawrence Rabie, is in sixth with 8 million chips to the chip leader’s 49 million. We'll call that an exact match.
USA vs. Rest of the World bracelets
2025 Player of the Year
Scott Bohlman’s out in front at the moment, but he’s followed by the double-bracelet-winning Brit Benny Glaser and Viktor Blom, who’s the biggest points scorer in the PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll competition.
- Scott Bohlman — 2,397.19
- Benny Glaser — 2,241.79
- Viktor Blom — 2,116.13
- Caleb Furth — 2,021.1
- Joao Vieira — 1,963.49
- Nick Schulman — 1,961.03
- Shaun Deeb — 1,951.01
- Philip Sternheimer — 1,910.4
- Daniel Negreanu — 1,769.58
- Ryan Hoenig — 1,737.62
PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll
Team YEG Allstars has a very narrow two-point lead over Team Ginger. Both teams have Viktor Blom but YEG Allstars have him combined with Daniel Negreanu. Here’s the team currently leading the way and closing in on 1,000 points on the leaderboard.
Team YEG Allstars
- Viktor Blom: 295
- Daniel Negreanu: 202
- Ben Lamb: 138
- Jason Koon: 128
- Isaac Haxton: 85
- Brian Hastings: 77
- Chris Hunichen: 32
- Adrian Mateos: 11
Total score: 968 points
