The WSOP Main Event started just today at the Rio in Las Vegas. The $10,000 buy-in event is a no-limit Texas Hold’em game, with the amount of prize money varying according to number of entries.
The WSOP Main Event is played every day starting today through July 17, and then finishing with the final table on a yet-to-be-announced date in November. This is, with out doubt, poker’s biggest event, and, it will be televised on ESPN, the Main Event generates the largest interest in poker worldwide.
“After devoting earlier coverage in 2009 to other events in the WSOP, the ESPN programming was pegged to Main Event coverage with an all-time high of 24 hours of Main Event coverage,” wrote sports journalist Rachel Church-Sanders in iGaming Business’ Global Poker Report. “For ESPN coordinating producer Jami Horowitz, a decision to show more of the main event and less of other bracelet events … was based on fan interest.”
“Over 2 million people watched the 2008 WSOP Main Event Final after its 117-day break, a 52% increases over 2007 numbers,” the Global Poker Report states.
