Poker is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, and if you needed any more evidence just look to the 2016 edition of the World Series of Poker. As the November Nine is set with those players that will go on to the 2016 final table, let’s have a look at some of the record numbers that the Main Event has put up this year.
This year was the 47th edition of the World Series of Poker, which began on May 31 and lasted seven weeks and 69 total tournaments. The number of entries for this year broke the record as there were 107,833, which was only the second time that more than 100,000 entries were registered for the event. Those entries came from 107 different countries, which shows just how much the game of poker has grown. In case you’re wondering, that’s more than half of the countries in the entire world.
The majority of the entries still came from the United States as 84,027 people represented the stars and stripes. Every single one of the 50 states had an entry. Canada was next with 4,586, while the United Kingdom rounded out the top three with 4,388 entries. 15,767 players received a payout at the World Series of Poker this season, which came to a total of $221,211,336 in prizes. While that figure is astounding, it is still only the third-highest in the history of the tour. However, those seasons had million-dollar buy-in events.
The average field size at the World Series of Poker was 1,563, which means players had to battle past over 1,500 others to get their bracelet. Only three players won multiple events during this World Series of Poker season: Jason Mercier, Benny Glaser, and Ian Johns. At first, Mercier looked like he might set some records, but he cooled off.
The biggest first-place prize of the tournament is $8,000,000, which is obviously the final table for the Main Event. In terms of the gender split, most of the players continued to be male to the tune of 94.87%. They were of an average age of 41.12 while females made up 5.12% of the entries and they were of an average age of 44.71.
As for the November Nine, it is set. It’s led by Cliff Josephy, who is the only player out of the nine to have won a bracelet previously as he won an event in 2005 and again in 2013. He is one of five American players to go on to the final table, along with Qui Nyugen, Gordon Vayo, Michael Ruane and Jerry Wong.
Belgium’s Kenny Hallaert is also in the mix, along with Vojtech Ruzicka of the Czech Republic, Canada’s Griffin Benger and Spain’s Fernando Pons, who has never cashed out in a World Series of Poker event. The November Nine was decided on July 18, and the final table will be held over three days, starting on October 30, through Halloween, and then finishing on November 1.