The top finishers in WSOP events will be paid less than they would have with last year’s payout structure. [Image: PokerGO.com]

The World Series of Poker has announced that tournaments in this year’s WSOP will have new payout structures, highlighted by a min-cash of two times the buy-in for “most” events. This serves to flatten the payouts, taking money away from the top finishers while allowing those toward the bottom of the pay scale to enjoy a more monetarily rewarding experience.

min-cash for the 2024 Main Event will be $15,000, exactly the same as in 2023

The biggest exception to the two times the buy-in rule is the $10,000 Main Event. The min-cash for the 2024 Main Event will be $15,000, exactly the same as in 2023. Where things will change drastically, though, is at the top.

According to the WSOP’s payout calculator, the first prize for a 10,000-entrant Main Event (very close to last year’s record of 10,043) will be $10m, a steep drop from the $12.1m first prize in 2024. Second place will be $6m, half a million lower than last year. The third and fourth place prizes will be the same, while the rest of the final table payouts will be higher than in 2023.

A fortuitous knock-on effect of the payout smoothing is that everyone at the final table will become a millionaire, which, beyond the benefit of the increased payouts for fifth through ninth, makes for good promotional opportunities for the WSOP.

The World Series of Poker begins Tuesday, May 28. The Main Event runs July 3 through July 17.