The 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) wrapped up on July 16, following two months of intense action over 100 bracelet events, one of which ended up not awarding a bracelet.
While the Main Event failed to break the attendance record for the third year in a row, a lot of other records were set, and the 2025 Series can be considered one of the greatest in the festival’s history.
We saw more players enter the events, more money paid out, and more total players paid than ever before, and the folks at the WSOP expect next year to be even bigger.
With the WSOP now behind us, we take a look at the numbers to see just how this Series stacks up with those of the past, and what this summer in poker will be remembered by.
The Biggest Tournament Series in the History of Poker
When the 2025 WSOP schedule was released, it featured a total of 100 bracelet events, one more than the 2024 Series.
The festival aimed to set its own record and award 100 bracelets for the first time ever, but unfortunately, that plan failed. After review, the Series decided not to award a bracelet to anyone for the $1,500 Millionaire Maker, following the potential collusion during the heads up match.
In the end, the 2025 WSOP ended up awarding the same number of bracelets it did in 2024, but quite a few other records were set.
For one, the WSOP saw a total of 245,960 total entries made across the 100 events, with 37,311 of those players paid a prize over the course of the summer.
A grand total of $529 million was collected in buyins, of which $482 million was paid out in prize money, while WSOP kept $47 million in rake and tournament fees.
All of these numbers amounted to a roughly 10% increase compared to the previous Series, which was already a record-breaking one. The new records will likely only hold for a year, as the WSOP management aims to make the 2026 festival even more attractive and even bigger.
Mid-Stakes Events Shatter Records
The 2025 WSOP Main Event brought together a total of 9,735 players, a decrease of just over 100 compared to 2024. However, while the Main Event numbers went down just a bit, attendance in many other tournaments skyrocketed.
Event #53 – $1,500 Millionaire Maker got 11,996 entries, which made it the biggest ever $1.5k tournament in live poker history. Despite the scandal surrounding the heads up match, the event was one of the best organized and most exciting this summer, with two players eventually walking away with million-dollar prizes.
Event #89 – $3,000 Mid Stakes Championship also shattered attendance records, as it became the biggest ever $3k tournament with 3,797 total entries.
Finally, PLO fans had a field day in Event #89 – $1,000 Mystery Bounty PLO, which saw 5,284 players show up to play, demonstrating the growing popularity of Omaha Poker.
More than $10,000,000 was paid out in prizes in nine separate events, while 57 events paid out more than $2,000,000. In total, 43 players walked away with a single prize worth over a million dollars, which signifies a truly historic number for the Series as a whole.
What Comes Next?
The 2025 WSOP festival in Las Vegas may be over, but there are plenty of other WSOP-branded events to play out before the year is over.
WSOP Circuit action continues with numerous festivals planned on both the US soil and internationally, while WSOP Europe and WSOP Paradise await us in September and December respectively.
WSOP Europe has been receiving record attendance in the post-Covid era, with the 2023 Main Event setting a record at 817 entrants, which was not broken last year.
This time around, however, we might see that number smashed, as the popularity of live poker continues rising in Europe, and the success of players like Benny Glaser and Martin Kabrhel in Las Vegas may entice more players to give the festival a shot this year.
On the other side of the world, WSOP will be hosting its novel Paradise series for the third time, and the newly launched GGPoker WSOP Express promises to send more players to Paradise than ever before.
With a little luck, the 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, which will have a $60 million guarantee, should smash last year’s incredible record of 1,978 runners, and potentially become the biggest $25k ever played.
Can Anything Stop the Growth of Live Poker?
The Covid-19 pandemic stopped the world in its tracks and halted the game of poker for well over a year. What happened since has been incredible, as live poker has experienced an unexpected boom on all continents.
Regardless of the larger economic picture, the game of poker has thrived in the last few years, with all major tournament series, including the WSOP, posting record numbers year after year.
With so much interest in live poker, and the WSOP investing new resources into its own growth, we can expect the remainder of the WSOP events this year to all be a massive success.
Beyond that, the real question is how far can the live poker expansion go and how long will it be before we see a decline or stagnation in the overall numbers.
The answer to that question will come in due time, but until then, we get to enjoy one of the finest eras of live tournament poker, with new stars rising every year and legends of the game like Michael Mizrachi continually showing us what it is that made them great in the first place.
