A Look at Field Sizes from the 2015 World Series of Poker

July 24, 2015

Records were set on many fronts this summer at the 2015 World Series of Poker. The 22,374 total entries in The Colossus were by far the most of any live tournament in history, and the 14,284 unique entries this event generated were easily the most ever for any live event, let alone the WSOP. The Colossus was also the catalyst that led several to more WSOP records being set. Among them were a total of 103,512 total entries spread across 68 events with 11,643 total cashes in those events.

Colossus or not, topping six figures in entries is no small feat achieved by the WSOP, and it's the first time the WSOP ever surpassed 100,000. Once again they've raised the bar and shown that the WSOP is the most popular poker series around. Knowing this year's total entries were 21,152 more than last year's 82,360, the Colossus stands out as the booming schedule addition.

As for prize money, the 2015 festival generated $210,379,285. That's the third most all time for the WSOP, only behind 2012 and 2014 when there was the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop on the schedule.

All told, the WSOP has awarded an astounding $2,278,264,214 in prize money throughout its 46-year history. That's right — more than two billion.

2015 WSOP Stats

• Total Entries: 103,512
• Total Prize Pool: $210,379,285
• Total Places Paid: 11,638
• Main Event Entries: 6,420
• Main Event Prize Pool: $60,348,000
• Largest 1st-Place Prize: $7,680,021
• Average 1st-Place Prize: $558,571
• Average Age: 41.04 (male: 40.82; female: 44.86)
• Male Participation: 94.56% (97,887 entries)
• Female Participation: 5.43% (5,625 entries)
• Countries Represented: 111
• Top 10 Entries by Country:
• United States: 82,439
• Canada: 4,871
• United Kingdom: 3,466
• France: 1,236
• Russia: 1,150
• Brazil: 1,077
• Germany: 1,040
• Australia: 778
• Italy: 674
• Austria: 537
• U.S. States Represented: 50

Of the 68 gold bracelet events on this year's schedule, 12 were new additions this year when compared to last year. Those events were as follows:

• Event #5: $565 "The Colossus" NLHE
• Event #6: $1,000 Hyper NLHE
• Event #35: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E
• Event #42: $1,500 Extended-Play NLHE
• Event #43: $1,000 Super Seniors' NLHE
• Event #55: $1,500 DraftKings 50/50 NLHE
• Event #56: $5,000 Turbo NLHE
• Event #60: $25,000 PLO High Roller
• Event #62: $1,500 NLHE Bounty
• Event #64: $1,000 WSOP.com Online NLHE
• Event #66: $777 "Lucky 7s" NLHE
• Event #67: $10,000 6-Max Dealer's Choice

Although the Colossus event helped the WSOP set a handful of new records and surpass 100,000 in total entries, not every event saw an increase from year to year, including the WSOP Main Event that slid from 6,683 entries in 2014 to 6,420 entries in 2015. Despite this slide, which is in line with other major tournaments around the world, the alteration of the payout structure to pay 1,000 spots should help the event grow in years to come.

In the following five tables, you'll see that we've broken up the WSOP schedule by variants — hold'em, Omaha, stud, 2-7 draw lowball, and mixed games. In each table, we looked at how this year's non-new tournaments compared to recent offerings in terms of field size.

Hold'em

When it comes to events that have multiple installments, like the common $1,000 and $1,500 no-limit hold'em tournaments, we compared each to the one in previous years that were at a similar date. Of the 32 hold'em events, 20 of them trended down when comparing this year to the last time they were held. Some of the downward trends aren't huge, and Event #19: $3,000 6-Max Limit Hold'em was previously held in 2013 with a smaller buy-in of $2,500.

Earlier in the summer, we tackled the pot-limit hold'em question. The $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship is on a downswing and could be on the way out, while the $1,500 buy-in draws an average of 627 players over the last five years and should stick around. While the pot-limit variant is the third most popular version of hold'em, there should remain at least one event on the schedule, and the $1,500 buy-in level seems to still attract.

The six-max limit variant had been a $2,500 buy-in before being off the schedule in 2014. It was back this year as a $3,000 buy-in and pretty much picked up right where it left off. Meanwhile, the turnout for the $1,500 Limit Hold'em tournament is among the most consistent of the WSOP events over the years, averaging about 673 entrants the last five years.

Omaha

Of the nine Omaha events on the schedule for 2015 that weren't brand new, less than half of them trended down, which is better than the results we saw from the game's two-card cousin. It's also important to note that Event #26: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha attracted 1,293 entries and set the record for largest non-hold'em live tournament in history.

Stud

Of the six stud-variant tournaments, only one event increased. That event was Event #9: $1,500 Razz that saw a jump from 352 entries in 2014 to 462 entries in 2015 — a healthy increase of 31.25 percent.

2-7 Draw Lowball

While it's not a massive dip, the 2-7 draw lowball numbers are at their lowest in recent years. It's hard to find these games run around the world, making the WSOP the prime spot for the lowball specialists to get their fix. One of those specialists is the 2012 $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball bracelet winner Larry Wright, and he thinks a good way to help boost the numbers would be to add more lowball to the schedule. Specifically, Wright would like to see a no-limit 2-7 lowball/no-limit hold'em tournament added to the WSOP docket, helping to draw more from that crowd and get them interested in an under-appreciated game.

This year, there were four different 2-7 draw lowball offerings — two in limit triple draw, and two in no-limit single draw. Event #33: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw saw the only increase of the bunch, jumping from 348 entries in 2014 to 388 in 2015. Event #29: $10,000 NL 2-7 Draw Championship turned out to be the lowest turnout of the summer, but even with just 77 entries this event is still highly regarded as one of the most prestigious gold bracelets to win.

Mixed Games

Finally, the mixed games. Two of the five mixed-game events saw increases — Event #24: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and Event #63: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. Both increases were rather small in terms of percentage increase, whereas the drops in the other three were of a greater percentage.

_{Stats and information via WSOP.com.}

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