Putting the 2016 WSOP into Perspective

If you play poker at any level, live or online, you'll have heard of the WSOP, but few of us are lucky enough to play a WSOP event. The sheer size of this annual event is breathtaking, and quite hard to imagine. Most of us here in Great Britain and Ireland have played a little live poker from time to time, but the WSOP is of a different scale altogether.

Consider a few stats from this year's renewal:

• It ran for 7 weeks, and most days there were at least 3 different events in play.
• In total, there were over 107,000 entries. For context, Wembley Stadium can accommodate 90,000, Twickenham 80,000, and Old Trafford 76,000.
• Players from 107 different nations played this year's WSOP. Think I'd struggle to even name 107 nations. 
• Prize money - every cent of which came from the players - totalled $221 million.  Note that WSOP events do not carry a guarantee, nor do sponsors or TV add anything to the prize pool.
• There were 69 events and the average field size per event was over 1,500. When was the last time there was a live event in Europe with more than 1,500 entries? And yet this year's WSOP had 69 events that averaged more than 1,500 entries.
• Five different WSOP 2016 events attracted field sizes in excess of 6,000 players.
• The Main Event costs $10,000 to enter. $10,000 is a lot of money to anyone, and yet it attracted no less than 6,737 entries.
• The $111,111 "One Drop" had a field of 183 entries. Let me repeat that - 183 entries for a poker tournament that cost $111,111 to enter. Might just be the most staggering stat of all. How many people do you know that could stump up that much money to play a poker tournament?

The WSOP is also a pretty accurate barometer of poker as a whole, so there were some other facts to consider:

• The average age of players was 41.  
• The Seniors Event (minimum age 50) had a field of 4,499, whilst the Super Seniors (minimum age 65) attracted a staggering 1,476. We read again and again that poker is a young person's game. I call that bluff.
• Male participants contributed 95% of the entries. From that we can reasonably assume that female entries amounted to just 5% of the total. (Not much gets past me). I have no idea why this is, Ladies have exactly the same attributes as men when it comes to poker, and yet only one entrant in twenty is female. This is surely one of the great mysteries of poker.
• The United Kingdom were represented by 4,388 players. Think of that another way - that equates to ten Jumbo Jets full of poker players.

So what can we deduce from all those numbers?

Well for starters, the merchants of doom who say poker is dying need to quit with the scaremongering. Poker is in rude health, there are no two ways about that.

Times are hard, nobody can afford to play poker these days. Well times are hard for some, always have been, and always will be, but we have to look at the wider picture, and there's more than enough money floating around to sustain the poker economy.

Poker is clearly a truly global game, too - can't be too many games that are played to identical rules in over 100 different countries.

Poker has lost its magic? Don't be silly. What this WSOP tells us is that if we look after our game, and continue to innovate, poker can resume its growth path, and will flourish in the years to come.

And if anyone tells you otherwise, feel free to bring out the trusty 5 bet and move all-in.