Editor
The 2025 World Series of Poker is less than a week old, with two bracelets awarded at the time of publication, and the poker world is just getting a barometer of the action to come over the next several weeks. There’s an alarming downward trend in the registration numbers, but is it too early to hit the panic button?
Phovieng Keokham is the first player to strap on a bracelet after winning the $500 Industry Employees event. He took home $64,369 from a field of 914 entrants, down from 2024’s 1,189 entrants and Jose Garcia’s $79,134. Then, David Shmuel won the second bracelet in Event 4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo for $205,333.
The $1,000 Mystery Millions is where the drop off is glaring. After four flights in 2024, the field expanded to 18,409 entrants, and in 2025, there were 11,536 entrants – a nearly 37.5% drop. There is a fifth Day 1 flight in 2025 to make up ground, while the 2024 version had only four.
Two events experienced an uptick in entries, with the first being the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event. The 2024 event drew 734 entrants, and this year, 757 entrants took their turn at mid-stakes, four-card poker, resulting in a 3% growth. The $1,500 Dealers’ Choice event grew by nearly 12.5%, with almost 600 entrants participating.
Inside Look at the Numbers
| Event | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| $500 Industry Event | 1,189 | 914 |
| $1,000 Mystery Millions 1A | 2,246 | 1,394 |
| $1,000 Mystery Millions 1B | 3,272 | 1,833 |
| $1,000 Mystery Millions 1C | 5,290 | 2,995 |
| $1,000 Mystery Millions 1D | 7,609 | 5,314 |
| $1,000 Mystery Millions Totals | 18,409 | 11,536 |
| $5,000 8 Max NLH | 1,041 | 693 |
| $1,500 Omaha HiLo | 1,277 | 910 |
| $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | 734 | 757 |
| $1,500 Seven Card Stud | 406 | 377 |
| $1,500 Dealers Choice | 530 | 596 |
Where Do We Go from Here?
Looking ahead to the next week of the 2025 WSOP schedule, it’s an interesting part of the schedule that doesn’t easily appeal to the low-stakes No Limit Hold’em crowd. Saturday sees the final Mystery Millions Day 1 flight that should help the event limp towards the numbers of 2024 and there’s a two day $600 Deepstack bracelet event.
Beyond that, over the next five days there are four events with buy-ins of $10,000 or more, a 2-7 Single Draw event, a Mixed Omaha poker event with three disciplines, a Badugi event and a Dealers Choice event that allows 21 variants of poker. With those events on the schedule, we’ll see a lot of Phil Hellmuth after previously stating he would boycott the Main Event.
