2025 WSOP Main Event Will Not Be a Record Breaker
The 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event has fallen short of an entry record, but a $10m winner’s prize will likely be on the line. Most big names are still in contention.
Phil Ivey (right) was eliminated from the WSOP Main Event on Day 1. Former champion Phil Hellmuth (left) did progress into Day 2. © WPT on Flickr
Key Facts:
- Numbers down for the 56th World Series of Poker Main Event.
- Numerically, the competition will still list in the all-time top three.
- Defending champion Jonathan Tamayo is in contention. 2024’s second and third have bit the dust.
The prospect of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event breaking its 10,112-player entry record can be considered slim-to-none. Four days of Day 1 action have seen 8,694 players pay $10,000 to participate in the world’s biggest poker tournament.
Registration will remain open through the first two levels of Day 2. However, with no re-entries allowed in this freezeout competition, the likelihood of the event ultimately bettering the 10,000 entry mark is implausible.
Nevertheless, 2025 will enter the record books as the third biggest WSOP Main Event in history, provided it attracts the additional 79 players needed to surpass 2006’s 8,773 field size. Last year, over 800 players bought in on Day 2.
$10 Million to the WSOP Winner?
Six thousand four hundred eighty-seven players survived Day 1 and booked their place into Day 2. Those who played on Days 1A/B/C were pooled to play Day 2A on Sunday. The 3,776 players that successfully navigated Day 1D will attempt to survive another gruelling day on Monday (Day 2B).
2025 WSOP Play Day Entry Breakdown
- Day 1A: 923 players
- Day 1B: 1,096 players
- Day 1C: 1,678 players
- Day 1D: 4,997 players
Only on Tuesday will the remaining WSOP Main Event players be merged to contest Day 3 of this fabled tournament. Exact details of the competition’s prize-money breakdown will be released beforehand. On completion of Day 1D, the prize pool stood at $83,564,370.
Despite the shortfall in entry numbers compared to 2024 and 2023 WSOP Main Event, it would be a shock if organisers reduced the first prize from $10 million. None of the previous Main Events that attracted 8,000-plus players paid its winner less than $10 million.
However, whereas 125 players collected a prize of $100,000 or more (and 44 received $250,000-plus) 12 months ago, 2025 will likely see players finishing in the top 100 collecting marginally less.
Dodging all of the bullets in the Main Event today.
I ran KK into AA & AA preflop. Thankfully I folded without much damage. pic.twitter.com/UaOlMbFlmC
— Jesse Tinsley (@JesseTinsley) July 6, 2025
Two Previous WSOP Main Event Winners KO’d
The competition has already taken its toll on some of poker’s biggest names. Notable players who will not earn any part of the enormous prize pool include 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker and 2009 winner Joe Cada. Both were eliminated on Day 1A.
Niklas Astedt, a legend within online poker circles, saw his pocket Kings run into a rival’s pocket-Aces towards the end of Day 1B. As a result, the Swede will not repeat his 2024 third-place heroics. He is out of the competition.
Eleven-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey, 2006 Main Event winner Jamie Gold, and 2014 winner Martin Jacobson hit the rail on Day 1D. Last year’s second-place finisher, Jordan Griff, also took an early bath.
