WSOP Introduces New Payout Structure for the Upcoming Series
3 minutes
Last Updated: May 22, 2024
The distribution of the prize money in World Series of Poker tournaments has been an ongoing issue for a long time. This is particularly true for the pinnacle of the series, the Main Event, which saw many changes to its payout structure over the years.
While it’s impossible to make everyone happy, WSOP organizers have listened to the voices coming from the poker world, and yesterday, they announced a new payout calculator.
The calculator is available on the official WSOP page, and it features every event on the schedule. Calculations are based on the number of entrants, so players can see what kind of prizes they can expect if an event reaches a certain number of players.
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What Does the WSOP Payout Calculator Tell Us?
The WSOP payout calculator is a very simple but quite useful tool, especially for those planning to play multiple events. Players can input different numbers of entries for events to see how payouts break down and what they can expect from every tournament.
The calculator provides the full payout sheet, from the number of players in the money and the min-cash, increases for every pay jump, and, of course, payouts for the final table.
One of the biggest changes for this year is that most events will feature a 2x min-cash. So, those who manage to get past the bubble will at least double their buy-in money.
This will influence payouts for other spots, but it will make min-cashes more valuable, which is likely to influence bubble dynamics, especially in higher buy-in tournaments.
Prize Pool Distribution for the Main Event
As mentioned, most complaints regarding payouts were directed at how organizers handled last year’s Main Event. Namely, the 2023 Main Event was the largest in history in terms of entries, breaching the 10,000 mark.
Despite finally breaking the attendance record, the Main Event winner was not going to win more than Jamie Gold did back in 2006. WSOP has moved away from the more top-heavy structure since then, usually paying 15% of the field instead of 10%.
So, the WSOP decided to change the payout structure for the Main, awarding $12.1 to the winner. This watered down other final table payouts and didn’t sit well with a large part of the poker community. It seems the organizers took this criticism to heart, and the 2024 Main Event payouts are much more balanced.
Looking at the calculator, if the tournament reaches 11,000 players, which would be almost 1,000 more than the last year, the winner will still take home “just” $11 million. The runner up would take home $6.5 million, while everyone making it to the nine-handed final table will walk away millionaires.
What’s interesting is that even if the Main gets 9,000 entries, all players making it to the final table will still be guaranteed at least $1,000,000. To accomplish this, the prize for the winner was reduced to $10,000,000.
More Money for the Poker Ecosystem
The latest payout changes for the World Series of Poker will be welcomed by a large chunk of the poker community. The organizer is trying to be more balanced, spreading the prize money better among participants.
In the long run, this stands to be a positive move by the WSOP. More players will walk away with decent cashes, allowing them to enter other tournaments and keep playing. This should help increase the overall attendance numbers and give casual players a better experience.
It goes without saying that it’s impossible to make everyone happy, and there will certainly be some who aren’t happy about these changes. On the overall, though, the new payout structure should be a good thing for the game we all love.
