WSOP still booming 15 years after Chris Moneymaker’s win

Fifteen years after Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event to help ignite a poker boom, the game continues to grow.

“We now pay out more people in the Main Event than entered it when he won it in 2003,” said Seth Palansky, vice president of corporate communications for the WSOP.

Moneymaker, an accountant and amateur poker player when he claimed the game’s most coveted prize, outlasted 838 other players en route to the world title and $2.5 million payday.

In 2017, Scott Blumstein of New Jersey topped a field of 7,221 to win the Main Event and $8.1 million, and 1,084 players cashed.

Overall, last year’s WSOP featured a record 120,995 participants from 111 countries and a record $231 million in prize money.

“We’re optimistic we’re going to challenge those records this year,” Palansky said.

The 49th annual WSOP officially opened Wednesday with the first of a record 78 events at the Rio, where the public is welcome to watch, free of charge, until it ends July 17.

The WSOP starts in earnest Saturday with the $565 buy-in “Colossus” No-limit Hold ’em tournament. The winner is guaranteed $1 million, which explains why the Colossus has set the record for the three largest live tournaments in poker history for the past three years. The inaugural Colossus in 2015 still holds the record for the most entries at 22,374.

“That is the big kickoff event for the recreational playing community. There’s nothing else like it for that buy-in to win that much,” Palansky said. “It’s become a must play for the home poker player. You put in $500, and four days later you could be standing there with one million bucks.”

One notable change at this year’s WSOP is that the Main Event $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold ’em World Championship has been pushed up a week to accommodate ESPN. As such, the Main Event, which will take place from July 2 to 14 and will be televised live by ESPN, won’t conclude the WSOP as in past years.

Thirteen other tournaments will start after the Main Event, which for the first time in more than a decade will feature play every day until a winner is crowned.

The final event of the WSOP will be The Big One for One Drop $1 million buy-in No-limit Hold ’em tournament, which starts July 15 and will be shown by ESPN.

“That’s definitely a great one to watch. It’s elite and exclusive. There are up to 48 players, and the winner takes home $15 million or so,” Palansky said. “It’s a mix of businessmen, philanthropists and the best poker pros out there.”

The Main Event winner will turn his $10,000 buy-in into about $8 million.

“It’s a grueling affair. You’ve got to play 10 long, hard days of poker,” Palansky said. “That’s still considered the world championship.”

There are four official online WSOP gold bracelet events, starting with Sunday’s $365 buy-in WSOP.com No-limit Hold ’em tournament. For the first time, New Jersey poker players may enter the online events alongside participants in Nevada.

Palansky noted that the online events are open to anyone inside Nevada’s borders at the time of play, not just Nevada residents.

The biggest buy-in event besides The Big One for One Drop is Friday’s $100,000 buy-in No-limit Hold ’em High Roller tournament. Palansky expects it to draw about 150 of the world’s top poker players who will compete for a first-place prize that was $4.5 million last year.

For the recreational player, the WSOP is hosting a $175 buy-in nonsanctioned charity event Friday to benefit Nevada Youth Soccer. Soccer stars Lionel Messi and Neymar, a past WSOP participant, have donated signed jerseys to the event.

“You can win cash and cool prizes,” Palansky said.

Those interested in entering any WSOP event can register at the Rio or WSOP.com.

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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.