2009 Stats

Updated: July 15, 2009

LAS VEGAS – Despite a sluggish global economy, poker enthusiasts from 115 nations and territories descended on Las Vegas this summer to break a number of event records at the 40^th annual World Series of Poker^®, including the mark for most total player entries.

The 60,875 entries in this year’s 57 tournaments eclipsed the previous record of 58,720 entries established in 2008. The strong showing helped propel the total WSOP prize pool past $1 billion since the tournament’s inception in 1970. The total 2009 prize pool surpassed $174 million and, for only the second time in WSOP history, every member of the Main Event final table will win $1 million or more.

“Our results have exceeded every expectation,” said WSOP President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “The enormous global demand for high-stakes poker and our coveted gold bracelet have been on display at the Rio for the past five weeks, and we’re looking forward to continuing on with the Main Event and setting this year's November Nine.”

Some Final Numbers From This Year:

•   60,875 entrants (new record)
•   10 ¼ sellouts (new record)
•   $174,011,894 – Total Prize Pool This Year
•   $1,041,265,271 – Total Prize Money Awarded through 40 years of WSOP

With registration for this year’s Main Event, the World Series of Poker crossed the $1,000,000,000 threshold in total prize money awarded to players. During its 40-year history, the WSOP has paid out $1,041,265,271. Incredibly, more than $600,000,000 has been paid out just in the last five years alone, since Harrah’s Entertainment assumed control of the tournament. Here is the historical prize pool information for the World Series of Poker.

2009 - $174,011,894
2008 - $180,774,427
2007 - $159,796,918
2006 - $159,599,815
1970 to 2005 - $354,000,000

In addition, the 2009 WSOP established new records for:

MOST WSOP SELL OUTS
Ten tournaments reached maximum capacity at this year’s WSOP. This is the most gold bracelet events ever to sell out within a single year. A complete “sell out” means every seat at every available table is sold and additional players are/were turned away at registration. Sell-outs are based on various numbers, which include the total tables and seats available for tournament use. Events which sold out this year included: 4, 7, 22, 24, 28, 29, 39, 43, 51, and 54. Note that the Main Event also partially sold out, since Day 1-D reached full capacity – which means 11 events reached the maximum, in part.

MOST MILLION-DOLLAR TOURNAMENTS IN HISTORY
This year’s WSOP had more tournaments with more than $1 million in prize money than any other. There were 39 events out of 57 which crossed the million-dollar mark.

MOST TOURNAMENT ENTRANTS IN A SINGLE YEAR
The 2009 WSOP attracted 60,875 tournament entries overall. This mark eclipses the previous record set last year which was 58,720. These figures do not include WSOP-Europe.

FIRST NON-MAIN EVENT, NON-MEGA BUY-IN EVENT PRODUCES A $1 MILLION FIRST PRIZE
Every single gold bracelet winner won at least $165,000. Most winners won in excess of $300,000. However, for the first time ever – the winner of a non-Main Event/non-mega buy-in tournament won more than $1 million. Matthew Hawrilenko’s victory in the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #56) netted him a cash prize totaling $1,003,218.

LARGEST NON-WSOP MAIN EVENT TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY – FIFTH-BIGGEST OVERALL
The $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event 4) is the largest non-WSOP Main Event tournament in poker history. The previous record was set at the 2008 WSOP when the first No-Limit Hold’em competition ($1,500 buy-in Event #2) attracted 3,929 entrants. The number of players in the $1,000 buy-in “Stimulus Special” – 6,012! – demolished the previous mark and represented a whopping 53 percent increase in attendance over the previous record many initially thought might not be broken for some time!

LARGEST WSOP EVENTS IN HISTORY:
Here is a ranking of the six largest live poker tournaments in history:

8,773 players -- 2006 WSOP Main Event
6,844 players -- 2008 WSOP Main Event
6,358 players -- 2007 WSOP Main Event
6,494 players – 2009 WSOP Main Event
6,012 players -- 2009 WSOP Event 4

YOUNGEST FINAL TABLE IN HISTORY
The $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout (Event 41) was the youngest final table composition in WSOP history, with player ages ranging from 21 (youngest) to 24 (oldest).

SECOND-LONGEST FINAL TABLE IN POKER HISTORY
The $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. World Championship (Event 49) was the second-longest finale in poker history – both by time and number of hands:

19 hours/9 minutes -- 2008 WSOP-Europe Championship
18 hours/44 minutes – 2009 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
16 hours (estimated) -- 2005 $1,500 Razz Championship
14 hours/30 minutes – 2005 WSOP Main Event
14 hours – 2006 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

LONGEST WSOP FINALTABLES (By Number of Hands)

484 – 2008 WSOP-Europe Championship
480 – 2009 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
354 – 2006 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
341 – 2007 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
314 – 2008 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Note: Number of hands was not recorded for WSOP events prior to 2003

FIRST-EVER BINION’S CUP ATTRACTS MOST FORMER WORLD CHAMPIONS EVER TO PLAY IN ONE EVENT
The winner of the inaugural “Binion’s Cup Champions Invitational was designated “The Champion of Champions.” The honors belongs to Atom McEvoy, the winner. It was the largest collection of WSOP current and former world champions ever in history. There were 19 former champions entered in last year’s Main Event, but this tournament had twenty.

LARGEST SEVEN-CARD STUD HIGH-LOW SPLIT PRIZE IN HISTORY
Event 37 was the richest Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split prize pool in poker history at $1,541,600. It eclipsed last year’s previous record by more than $300,000. This was only the second million-dollar prize pool ever for any Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split tournament.

LARGEST SENIORS POKER EVENT IN HISTORY
The Seniors Championship was the largest such event in poker history. The turnout of 2,707 this year shattered last year's record of 2,218 (then, a record high). The 2009 figure represents a 22 percent increase over 2008. Records were also smashed for largest prize pool and biggest cash prize ever paid in a seniors’ poker event.

LARGEST OMAHA-HIGH LOW SPLIT TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY
This was the largest live Omaha High-Low Split tournament in history. The previous record was set at the 2008 WSOP when the same event attracted 833 players. The number of entrants this year – 918 – smashed the previous mark and represented a nine percent increase in attendance over the same tournament held last year.

LARGEST 2-7 LOWBALL TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY
Last year's event attracted 238 entries. Entries increased by 8 percent to 258 players in 2009. Event 55 was the largest Limit Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball tournament in poker history.

LARGEST POT-LIMIT OMAHA TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY
The $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event (Event 5) attracted 809 entrants. This is the largest live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history.

LARGEST LIVE SIX-HANDED POKER TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY
Event #9 was the largest live Six-Handed tournament in history – with 1,459 players.

MOST CASHES IN WSOP HISTORY
Phil Hellmuth added to his status as the all-time leader in WSOP cashes, now with 74 career in-the-money finishes.

MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS TO CASH AT WSOP
Berry Johnston’s in-the-money finish in a gold bracelet tournament this year gives the 1986 World Champion cashes for 27 Straight WSOP Years -- the most in history.

MOST GOLD BRACELET WINS IN A SINGLE YEAR
Jeffrey Lisandro tied the mark for most wins in a single year, with three. He is the fifth player to accomplish this feat along with Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, PuggyPearson and Ted Forrest.

OLDEST PLAYER TO PLAY IN MAIN EVENT
Jack Ury, 96 years old (Breaking his record from last year).

FIRST HUNGARIAN WSOP WINNER IN HISTORY
Peter Traply became the first Hungarian WSOP champion in history. The best previous finish by a Hungarian player was Richard Toth, who finished second in 2006.

IVEY MOVES INTO TIE FOR SIXTH-PLACE IN WSOP WINS
With his two victories this year, Phil Ivey joins Billy Baxter with seven WSOP titles, which ranks sixth on the all-time wins list. Still remaining ahead of Ivey are Phil Hellmuth (11 wins), Doyle Brunson (10 wins), Johnny Moss (10 wins), Johnny Moss (9 wins), and Erik Seidel (8 wins).

Twentynine Palms, CA – The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest and most prestigious gaming event in the world. Listed below are some of the interesting statistics for the 2009 WSOP through the first 56 Events.

The 2009 WSOP has attracted 54,381 entries. There has been $112,968,294 in total prize money awarded to winners.

Multiple Gold Bracelet Winners at the 2009 WSOP:

Jeffrey Lisandro – 1st, 1st, 1st
Brock Parker – 1st, 1st
Phil Ivey – 1st, 1st
Greg Mueller – 1st, 1st

Gold Bracelet Plus 2nd-Place Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck – 1st, 2nd (3rd and 6th)
James Van Alstyne – 1st, 2nd (6th)
Pete "The Greek" Vilandos – 1st, 2nd
Angel Guillen – 1st, 2nd
Vitaly Lunkin – 1st, 2nd (4th)
Brandon Cantu – 1st, 2nd
Marc Naalden – 1st, 2nd

Multiple Top-Three Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck – 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Steve Sung – 1st, 3rd
Scott Clements – 2nd, 3rd
Eric Baldwin – 1st, 3rd

Gold Bracelet Winners by Nation:

United States – 36
United Kingdom – 3
Canada – 3
Australia – 2
Germany – 2
Russian Federation – 1
Finland – 1
Sweden – 1
Mexico – 1
Italy – 1
Holland – 1
Hungary – 1
Iran – 1 (Current Canadian citizen who wanted the bracelet ceremony to play his Native Iran's National Anthem to show his supoprt for the people of Iran)

Players outside the United States make this event a true "World" Series. This year, 18 of 56 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (33 percent). Last year 19 of the 59 gold bracelet events were won by non-Americans (33 percent). In, 2007, the number was 15 of 55 (29 percent). In 2006, the number was only 5 of 45 (11 percent).

The professionals are taking back the WSOP. The breakdown of gold bracelet winners by profesional status was:

Professionals – 39 wins

(Andrew Cohen, Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey – 1, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb, Ville Wahlbeck, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker – 1, Jeffrey Lisandro – 1, Daniel Alaei, Brock Parker-2, John-Paul Kelly, Jeff Carris, Nick Schulman, Phil Ivey – 2, Pete Vilandos, Tomas Alenius, Roland de Wolfe, J.C. Tran, James Van Alstyne, Angel, Guillen, Greg Mueller – 1, Eric Baldwin, Jordan Smith, Jeffrey Lisandro – 2, Richard Austin, Marc Naalden, Matt Graham, Peter Traply, Jerrod Ankenman, Jeffrey Lisandro – 3, John Kabbaj, Jeff Ahmadi, Brandon Cantu, Greg Mueller – 2, Carston Joh, David Bach)

Semi-Pros – 7 wins

(Vitaly Lunkin, Brian Lemke, Lisa Hamilton, Leo Wolpert, Ray Foley, Derek Raymond, Jeff Ahmadi Matt Hawrilenko)

Amateurs – 9 wins

(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson, Zac Fellows, Michael Eise, Michael T. Davis, Jorg Peisert, David J. Halpert, Tony Veckey)

Fourteen of the 56 winners this year (25 percent) were previous gold bracelet winners. There have been three double winners in 2009 – Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, and Greg “FBT” Mueller. There has been one triple winner in 2009 – Jeffrey Lisandro.

2009 WSOP “Player of the Year” standings going into the Main Event:

355 – Jeffrey Lisandro
320 – Ville Wahlbeck
242 – Phil Ivey
240 – Greg Mueller
240 – Vitaly Lunkin
227 – Brock Parker
220 – James Van Alstyne
205 – Matt Hawrilenko
195 – Roland de Wolfe
195 – Daniel Negreanu
185 – Vitaly Lunkin
185 – Marc Naalden