2022 WSOP Main Event Field Second Largest of Off Time

Published on July 9th, 2022 1:14 pm EST

The good news? Poker is alive and well.

The bad news? The 2022 World Series of Poker main event just BARELY missed out on breaking the all-time attendance record.

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It was the summer of 2006.

Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker were operating freely in the United States, and poker was still in the midst of its "Moneymaker Boom".

Practically every college kid had dreams of becoming a professional poker player, and "Rounders" had a place in nearly every young person's DVD collection.

The online poker rooms were handing out WSOP main event seats like candy, which resulted in the tournament smashing its all-time attendance record, as 8,773 players turned out for the main event.

A few months after that, UIGEA became law in the United States, Party Poker pulled out of the country and the WSOP attendance numbers dropped.

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After "Black Friday" in 2011, some people thought that the WSOP main event attendance record would never be broken.

Poker, however, continues to be popular around the world, and this has been helped quite a bit by streaming sites such as Twitch, which has helped to stoke interest in the game amongst younger players.

In addition, the slow spread of legalized online poker in the United States has helped attendance numbers, as states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania are able to offer online poker to the masses.

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There was a real hope that 2022 would be the year when the all-time attendance record would be broken.

Everything seemed to be lining up - travel restrictions have been relaxed across the world after COVID, poker continues to remain popular and more US states are offering legal online poker.

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In the end, the 2022 World Series of Poker main event ended with the second largest attendance of all time, as 8,663 turned out to play in the main event.

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Will next year be the year when the record finally falls?

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Filed Under: The World Series of Poker