Exclusive: WSOP 2022 Was the Biggest Series in History

The 2022 World Series of Poker is officially in the books. Held in a new venue at Bally’s and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip, returning to the summer slot, the series has been an enormous success.

Numerous records were smashed this year, including the record for the biggest prize money ever awarded, the largest turnout across the series, and the most millionaires created in a single series. The Main Event was also only 100 entries away from becoming the most-attended ever.

As per data crunched by pokerfuse and Poker Industry PRO with the help of WSOP US and PokerNews, the numbers are mind-boggling, to say the least.

The 53rd Annual World Series of Poker awarded a staggering $333,362,004 in prize money over 88 live bracelet events — beating the previous record attained in 2019 by nearly $50 million.

The series drew an astonishing 182,662 entrants — over 50% more than the pandemic-hit 2021 series. As reported earlier, the Main Event pulled in 8,663 entrants for a total prize pool of $80,782,475.

“This year’s historic WSOP was special for the poker community,” World Series of Poker Senior Executive Director Ty Stewart said. “Against all odds, poker made its way back in a big way and for the first time to the Las Vegas Strip.”

WSOP 2022 Live Series Stats

• Live Bracelets: 88
• Prize Pool Awarded: $333,362,004
• Avg Prize Pool: $3,788,205
• Total Entries: 182,662
• Avg Entries: 2076
• Avg Buy-in: $11,156
• Fees Collected: $31,543,560

Along with the 88 live bracelets, the organizers also held 13 online bracelets for players in New Jersey & Nevada. These events produced $13,017,963 in prize money and attracted 15,767 entrants.

WSOP 2022 Online Series Stats (Only New Jersey & Nevada)

• Online Bracelets: 13
• Prize Pool Awarded: $13,017,963
• Avg Prize Pool: $1,001,382
• Total Entries: 15,767
• Avg Buy-in: $2104
• Fees Collected: $1,165,077

Counting both live and online bracelets (held for players in New Jersey & Nevada), the WSOP 2022 officially ends with an eye-watering prize pool of $346,379,967 and 198,429 entries over 101 events.

WSOP 2022 All Bracelets Stats

WSOP 2022 Series: Key Statistics and Numbers

• For the first time, the WSOP series generated a total prize pool well above $300 million.
• Total Prize Money surpassed last year’s numbers by nearly $100 million more
• Beat the 2019 record for the largest WSOP series by $50 million
• Total Prize Pool generated across all the WSOP series exceeded $3.8 billion
• Online bracelets in NJ & NV generated just over $13 million, while the online series in PA & MI produced over $1.5 million
• 25 players became millionaires during the series
• 71 out of 88 live bracelet events produced prize pools of at least $1 million
• Average prize pool per bracelet event across the 98 schedule series is just over $3.5 million

WSOP Still Attracting New Players

While it was expected that the turnout would go up significantly this year when looking closely at the numbers, there is clear evidence that new players are turning out to play the World Series.

Pre-pandemic in 2019, the total entrants for the live series were around 173k. This year’s participation represents an increase of approximately 5.5%.

“This is the year that everyone is basically returning to the World Series of Poker after not having the opportunity to do so for whatever reason,” Jack Effel, Vice President at WSOP, said in an interview to Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We saw obviously a big increase in online activity during the pandemic, and we’ve seen more people getting into poker. We’re seeing a lot of those people coming to the World Series of Poker for the first time.”

“There’s definitely new players that are being made organically throughout the system. I think a lot of the people we’re seeing this year are new,” Effel added.

WSOP Stats Comparison 2019 vs. 2021 vs. 2022

In the 52-year history of the WSOP, the richest tournament series has now awarded more than $3.8 billion in prize money over 1,693 bracelet events. Total entrants across the series spanning more than five decades have gone up to 1.7 million, while nearly 130,000 of that come on all of the Main Events held.

With $333,362,004 in prize money awarded over 88 live bracelet events, the 2022 installment is, by far, the most massive WSOP in its 52-year history. The WSOP series in 2019 awarded around $283 million across the live events, while the 2021 series generated close to $230 million.

All Time WSOP Stats:

• Prize Money Awarded: $3,874,776,560 ($3.8 billion)
• Entries: 1,703,459 (1.7 million)
• Main Event Entries: 129,425
• Bracelets: 1693

Most of the events did incredibly well, including the Main, which many anticipated becoming the largest ever but had to settle for the second-largest as it only fell 110 entrants shy of breaking the 2006 record. But the opening week’s Housewarming Event drew the largest turnout. In total, 20,080 hopefuls entered the event, creating a prize pool of $8.4 million.

The debutant $1000 buy-in Million Dollar aka Mystery Bounty event also had a great outing attracting 14,112 runners and a prize pool of $12.5 million.

“To see Espen persevere through 8,662 Main Event entrants — the second most in WSOP history — was incredible. We’re looking forward to raising Espen’s banner and coming back bigger than ever in the new Horseshoe Las Vegas next summer,” Stewart said.

WSOP Turnout Comparison 2019 vs. 2021 vs. 2022

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