Dreamstime/Skypixel Despite the challenges facing it this year, the World Series of Poker has been running fairly smoothly.
Before the series began there were worries about various logistical or emergent problems that could arise. Endless lineups, critical dealer shortages, event cancellations, controversial disqualifications or a massive COVID outbreak were among them.
With less than a month left to go in the series, none of those things has happened, at least not to the extent that some feared. True, there has been a bit of a dealer shortage, but its impact has been small. From the players’ perspective, it has meant a need to be patient with occasional ten-handed play and some less experienced dealers than usual.
That said, the unusual timing and vaccination requirements of this year’s series have produced one significant effect. Attendance, as expected, is well down this year. How much so has varied from event to event. For instance, attendance for the $1000 Super Turbo Bounty early in the series was almost unchanged from 2019, the last year it took place in person. Conversely, the field for the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship was cut nearly in half.
One week into the WSOP , I observed that it looked like the drop in overall attendance would be roughly one-third. That trend has continued.
But what about the Main Event? That’s the part of the series people care about the most. Its first starting flight will begin exactly one week from today, on Nov. 4. A one-third drop in attendance would mean a little over 5,700 entries. That, in turn, would be the smallest field since 2005. Searching for a Main Event bellwether
I’ve been wondering whether there’s a better way to predict Main Event attendance than just eyeballing the performance of the overall series, however.
The WSOP is a little bit hard to predict because the schedule changes every year. Generally speaking, it expands every year, but events get dropped as well as added. They also get moved around, which matters because the crowds aren’t consistent throughout the duration of the series.
There’s usually an early rush, a mid-series slump, and then […]
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