After casinos re-opened following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, poker players showed just how much pent-up enthusiasm they had for the game by flocking back to the tables. Poker rooms and tournaments around the world set records, including last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, which was the first to eclipse 10,000 entrants. And it has done it again. For the second straight year, the WSOP Main Event has attracted a record field, drawing 10,112 players.

Days 1A-1C were a little bit slower than expected, but that’s just because people were waiting. They blew down the doors for Day 1D, making it the largest-ever Main Event starting flight with 5,014 entries and putting the tournament close to last year’s pace. With registration open through the first two levels of all four Day 2 flights, there was a chance history could be made yet again.

Day 2ABC – three Day 2 flights were played simultaneously, yet separately – saw another 206 players register, putting the 2024 WSOP Main Event just 550 players shy of 2023’s record number of 10,043.

a matter of when the record would be broken, not if it would be

About an hour and a half into Monday’s Day 2D, the WSOP announced that 10,000 players had registered. Now it was just a matter of when the record would be broken, not if it would be. Once the WSOP announced that registration was officially closed, poker players and fans waited eagerly for the final tally.

And at about 7:30pm Las Vegas time, there it was: 10,112 players. The prize pool is $94,041,600, with $10m going to the winner. The top 1,517 players will make the money and everyone at the nine-handed final table will cash for at least $1m.

The previous record before 2023 was the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which drew 8,773 players and generated an $82.5m prize pool. It was won by Jamie Gold, who pocketed a then-record $12m first prize.