The World Series of Poker Main Event failed to break the Main Event attendance record, but the 8,569 figure represents the second-largest field size in the past 50-years and the fourth successive year that the attendance has increased.
The 50th Anniversary World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been a chestnut crushing success, with records falling like rose petals at the end of a bountiful bloom. The swan in the lake would have been a record-breaking WSOP Main Event, and they nearly got there.
At the end of the triumvirate of Day 1’s, 8,129-entrants had paid their dues leaving the WSOP with the Herculean task of dragging 644 poker loving peeps from the streets, woods, and clouds.
They failed, but it was a sterling effort with 440-people choosing to take advantage of late registration, joining the melee at the beginning of Day 2, to bring the total number of entrants to 8,569.
It’s an incredible achievement considering the limited options available to the WSOP for online satellite qualification, and it’s the fourth successive year that the WSOP Main Event number has moved north. If that trend is to continue in 2020, I suggest the WSOP hierarchy finds a fairy, like Rob Yong, to add some magic dust to the affair.
It wasn’t a record-breaker, but it’s still the second-largest Main Event attendance in the history of the tournament. The $80,548,600 prize pool is also the second-highest in 50-years, and the $10m first prize equals that paid to Martin Jacobson in 2014 as the second-highest first prize in history.
One thousand two hundred eighty-six players will receive a minimum of $15,000.
Here are the payouts.
Payouts
1. $10m
2. $6m
3. $4m
4. $3m
5. $2.2m
6. $1.85m
7. $1.525m
8. $1.25m
9. $1m
Day 2ab: Morgenstern and Hall bag top 10 stacks, Nguyen back in the groove
The 3,248-entrants that survived the culls on Day 1a & b combined to compete in Day 2ab, and 1,087 survived five levels.
Daniel Negreanu had the poker world in the palm of his hand during his incredible run in 2015, but he won’t be repeating the feat. Neither will the 2013 champion, Ryan Riess. The All-Time Money earner, Justin Bonomo, won’t be winning add a WSOP Main Event Championship to his list of impressive victories, and neither will the recently crowned Global Poker Index (GPI) #1, Stephen Chidwick.
Those through to Day 3 include:
Former Main Event Champs: Qui Nguyen (602,400), Scott Blumstein (229,700), Joe Hachem (57,000), and Chris Moneymaker (56,000),
Bracelet winners: Andre Akkari (467,400), Jeff Lisandro (466,400), Asi Moshe (464,100), Barny Boatman (445,000), and Shaun Deeb (428,200).
Day 1b chip leader, Adam Owen (511,800), and Day 1a chip leader, Bryan Campanello (460,400).
Here are the Top 10 chip counts.
Top 10 chip counts
1. Timothy Su – 791,000
2. Tony Blanchandin – 744,500
3. Anton Morgenstern – 735,000
4. Florian Duta – 731,500
5. Galen Hall – 705,900
6. Gerry Claunch – 699,600
7. Rachid Amamou – 688,000
8. Bryan Buonocore – 668,800
9. Anthony Spinella – 643,799
10. Brian Yoon – 643,400
Day 2c: The defending champion is through; Hellmuth falls
Four thousand eight entrants boiled down to 1,793 at the end of Day 2c. At least four former Main Event champions made it through to the third day including the defending champion: Jim Bechtel (251,600), John Cynn (248,900), Johnny Chan (232,500) and Scotty Nguyen (17,500).
Former bracelet winners: Kathy Liebert (555,000), Adam Friedman (549,600), Sam Greenwood (535,800), Jeff Madsen (488,600), Brandon Cantu (464,500), Calvin Anderson (459,400), Andres Korn (447,400), and Bertrand Grospellier (428,200) also made it through, as did Day 1c chip leader, James Henson (231,600).
Here are the Top 10 chip counts.
Top 10 chip counts
1. Julian Milliard – 947,900
2. Vlastimil Pustina – 930,700
3. Andrew Brokos – 895,400
4. Aleksa Pavicevic – 867.700
5. Nai Hu – 798,300
6. Kainalu McCue-Unciano – 765,600
7. Dapeng Mu – 762,700
8. Hugo Torres – 720,400
9. Cody Brinn – 708,800
10. Tom Cannuli – 667,000
Amongst those that didn’t clamber through to Day 3 included the 15-time WSOP bracelet winner, Phil Hellmuth, the German phenom, Fedor Holz, and the fabulous Finn, Patrik Antonius, whose boat was crushed by a much bigger boat when floating down the river.
888Poker did their bit with 130 players qualifying for the event via their online satellite programs, and they pulled out all the stops to make sure it was a memorable experience for them.
