Devilishly large payout in Vegas

Author: Simon Dexter

Poker tournaments, especially the WSOP*, are one of the few games where an associated event can start on 3rd July, yet by 14th July, we will have only reached day seven.

Of course, the reason for this apparent miscount is due to the field size: there are four day ones and two day twos, a calendar-confusing arrangement designed to accommodate all contestants. And how those contestant numbers have grown this year – up by more than 7.6% to 6,844, compared with last year’s 6,358.

The corresponding rise in the prize pool, to a staggering .3 million, means the eventual winner, who won’t be known for another four months yet, will collect a shade over million; last year’s victor, Jerry Yang, trousered .2 million after being crowned world champion.

Announcing the official prize pool, tournament director Jack Effel revealed that the top 666 players will receive a payout; finishing in 666th place is still worth ,320.

“Just a few weeks ago, sceptics wondered whether WSOP* numbers might be down on last year as the credit crunch began to bite, but there couldn’t be a clearer indication of poker’s popularity than these figures,” according to Peter Nadar of UKpokeranalytics.com.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah’s License Company, LLC (”Harrah’s”). Harrah’s does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with Littlewoods Gaming or it’s products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Tags: Las Vegas, Poker Tournaments, WSOP

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.