Thousands of players jammed every available inch of space at the Rio in Las Vegas Thursday and Friday as registrations were extended to two starting flights to accommodate 7,862 entrants for the well-named Monster Stack NLHE competition, number 51 on the World Series of Poker schedule.
It was the biggest field since the 2006 Main Event, which recorded the all-time high mark of 8,773 runners, and the $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker NLHE earlier this year which generated a field of 7,977, but that included re-entries.
WSOP organisers had expected around 4,000 registrations, but very professionally adapted to the massive demand by adding an extra starting flight and implementing venue changes to maximise the number of tables available.
The big surge was attributed to the format of the $1,500 buy-in game, which gave players a 15,000 chip stack to start – almost three times that usually available in low buy-in events.
Monster Stack entries Thursday and Friday generated a prize pool of $10,613,700, which ensures that the winner will take home $1.32 million, and the nine final tablers will each earn a six-figure pay-day.
When we went to press late evening Friday Las Vegas time the huge field had breached the money bubble and was down to 792 players, led by Daniel Hirleman.