WSOP by the Numbers: 2024 Main Event Breaks Field-Size Record

Though it was hardly a shoe-in, when all the entries were counted, the 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event was indeed the largest WSOP championship event ever, drawing 10,112 players. The field size eclipsed last year’s record of 10,043, which finally broke the 2006 record that had stood for 17 years. 

Monday was the second Day 2, for all survivors of Day 1D, as the mammothly record tournament played out at both the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas casino resorts. It also served as the last chance for late registration. With 5,014 participants jumping into the Main Event fray on its last day, it was the more than 600 late entries – available in the first two levels of the day – that pushed 2024 to the top of the all-time field size list.

Top 10 WSOP Main Event Field Sizes

Here’s a list of the largest WSOP Main Events in history, along with what the tournament paid the winner and who won it. 

This chart tells a tale … with 2006 long being seen as the peak of the poker boom in the early ‘00s. The WSOP flirted with breaking it repeatedly over the next decade-plus, and then came just 110 runners short in the first later-pandemic live event. 

And that was before the rest of the world was traveling to Las Vegas. But once international travel fully returned, the poker world finally busted through the artificial ceiling that had stood for seven years, and then did it again this year to suggest this new level wasn’t a fluke. 

WSOP Main Event Final Table Payouts

At $94,041,600, the 2024 prize pool is the largest in history. With 15% of the entries getting paid, 1,517 will cash with a minimum of at least $15,000. Here’s what the top of the payout chart looks like:

1st - $10,000,000

2nd - $6,000,000

3rd - $4,000,000

4th - $3,000,000

5th - $2,500,000

6th - $2,000,000

7th - $1,500,000

8th - $1,250,000

9th - $1,000,000

The House Always Wins?

To be sure, the WSOP puts on a good show. They have for 55 years, and have shown they can do it at different locations. Their cut of the action from this year’s Main Event: $7,078,400, or 7% of the total buyins. 

(Image: courtesy of WSOP)