Every year, poker players look forward to the World Series of Poker. Each year, the series seems to get better and better with larger guarantees, more events and players competing. This year, the series enjoyed a record-breaking year with 65 bracelet events which saw 82,360 players competing. This was better than last year by almost 4%.
The series saw an increase in competitors but also in prize money. The total amount of prize money given away in 2014 was just over $225 million which is an amazing amount and a new record for the series. To put things into perspective, the series had just 33 bracelet events ten years ago, so the sires only continues to add more events each and every year.
Ty Stewart, the Executive Director of the WSOP, stated that there is only one World Series of Poker and the group is humbled to have seen the response for the 10th series at the Rio Casino. Stewart stated that this years series had some of the biggest events every organized and it is clear that poker remains strong and the best days of the series are ahead. The WSOP officials cannot wait to begin planning for 2015.
Two events of the series helped to pull this year’s events above the rest. The Monster Stack and the Millionaire Maker both drew amazing fields, with over 7,000 players competing in each event. These numbers helped to push the 2014 series above the rest.
According to the figures by the WSOP, the average first place prize was just under $800,000 with the average age of competitor at 38.93. Just over 94% were male participants average and just over 5% were female. The Main Event is still ongoing so it will be interesting to see who makes the final table of the final event of the series.
