Stats and Tournament Updates at the Halfway Point of the World Series of Poker

The 48th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) has reached the halfway point with 37 of 74 events completed and a record 61,616 entries have been tabulated, up slightly from 60,677 entries in a record-breaking 2016.

The event schedule and dates change annually, but the 48th annual WSOP is up 1.5% tracking entries thus far, based on number of events.

With 37 official WSOP gold bracelet events remaining, this year's WSOP is on pace to potentially surpass last year as the largest in terms of participation (107,883) in the series' storied 48-year history.

"Players continue to respond favorably to our diverse offerings and industry-leading prize pools," said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. "We believe we've found the right mix of price points and game variants to make a trip to the Rio in Las Vegas a must annually for anyone who loves the game of poker. There's still plenty of time this year too, as we still have a month of World Series of Poker play remaining with bracelet event buy-ins as low as $365."

This year's WSOP offered 8 new events including 'The Giant', a $365 No-Limit Hold 'em event with Friday night flights. Day 2 has a cumulative re-start on July 7. 'The Giant' was born out of the success of the Colossus event, with the most affordable live buy-in event ever offered at the World Series of Poker. The idea was to provide more players to experience the WSOP and for recreational players, weekend warriors and those working other jobs during the week to be able to play in 'The Giant' on Friday nights. The event plays down to the money (top 15%) every Friday night into Saturday morning, with those qualifying for Day 2 returning on Friday, July 7. The final table and 'The Giant' gold bracelet champion are crowned on July 8. Two more 'Giant' starting days remain on June 23 and June 30.

The other newly-offered remaining events include:
June 26 Event #51 - $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8 or Better.
June 30 Event #59 - $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event – NLHE, PLO, 2-7NL, NL 5 Card Draw, Big O, PLO Hi-Lo, 2-7 Pot-Limit Triple Draw.
July 1 Event #61 - $3,333 High Roller WSOP.com No-Limit Hold'em - Online.

The game of poker continues to grow globally. Players from 97 countries have already participated in events at the 2017 World Series of Poker. Many of those players are playing online poker, and they travel to Las Vegas for the WSOP online tournaments as well. The WSOP has two more online tournaments July 1 and July 7. Both are No-Limit Hold 'em events with entry fees of $3,333 and $1,000.

A record 9,254 participants have received prize money this year (through 37 events), and the WSOP's changes to awarding 15% of entrants a payout is receiving favorable reviews and succeeding.

The average age of entrants in the 2017 WSOP is 43. Males have accounted for just over 95% of entries.

July 7 is Event #70 - $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'em Ladies Championship.

A couple of tournament records have fallen this year.

Event #18, the $565 Pot-Limit Omaha event, became the largest field size by entries for any non-Hold'em live event in poker history. 3,186 entered this event.

This year's Seniors Event, Event #31, open to anyone aged 50 years or older, also set two records. Both the most unique number of entries, 4,542 who entered this event, and the total entry number of 5,389 were the most ever in this long-running WSOP event.

In addition to tournament play, live action game activity has been going round the clock with as many as 80 tables running simultaneously, including plenty of high stakes action in the new King's Lounge.

Some of the highlights remaining on the WSOP tournament event schedule include:

June 24-25    Event #47 - $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold 'em
July 1-2          Event #60 - $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em
July 2             Event #62 - $50,000 Poker Players' Championship 6-Handed
July 7             Event #19E - $365 'The Giant' No-Limit Hold 'em (finals)
July 8-10        Event #73 - $10,000 buy-in Main Event Championship (3 starting flights)
July 11-13      Event #74 - $1000 buy-in Little One for ONE DROP

Late-breaking news Wednesday night saw 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe McKeehan capture his 2nd gold bracelet by winning Event #38 – The $10,000 Limit Hold 'em Championship and a first-place prize of $311,817.

You can stay connected to the World Series of Poker at wsop.com, and socially on Twitter: @WSOP and @PokerCentral

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