WSOP

- July 27, 2008

Foreign players add to the growth of WSOP

In spite of a fall in number of players visiting Las Vegas, this year saw a change in numbers through the World Series of Poker tournament. The increase in number of players in WSOP is a result of the entry of many foreign players in the tournament.

Seth Palansky, spokesperson WSOP, mentioned that the sudden boost to World Series of Poker was a result of players that came from outside United States. Seth said that this year’s tournament pulled more foreign players as compared to any other year.

The series witnessed record number of players despite the fall in Las Vegas gambling revenues. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors authority confirmed a 3.7 percent downfall faced by Clark County consisting of Strip casino of Las Vegas.

According to WSOP officials this year’s registration was eight percent high as compared to previous year, whereas the pool prize was $180.7 million, a 13 percent high from last year’s $159.8 million. The series will also witness a final prize amount of $9.12 million to be given in November for the Main event.

The $10,000 buy-in main event saw a rush of 6,844 participants and majority of these players were from 72 different countries, while few belonging to United States. To which spokesperson Palansky admitted that growth in the number of entrants is because of major number of entries coming from countries out of United States.

Ex-champion Joe Hachem believes that the reason behind players from outside the America showing such interest in WSOP is the wide coverage by ESPN. Joe said that people outside watch the tournament and dream of beating players with their tricks and to earn a bracelet. Another champion Jerry Yang also admits that the growth of poker is now being noticed in other countries too; making players from different countries get interested and visit WSOP.
World Series of Poker 2007 witnessed a final table with players coming from nations like Canada, England, South Africa and Russia and more, beside those from United States.