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The 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event will award its largest first-place prize ever, tournament officials announced on Saturday, July 8. With a record-setting field of 10,043 entrants in the 2023 WSOP Main Event, a prize pool of $93,399,900 was generated and the top 1,507 players will finish in the money. The 2023 World Champion will win a historic $12,100,000 first-place prize. 

On Thursday, July 6, WSOP officials announced that the 2023 WSOP Main Event had become the largest WSOP Main Event ever, surpassing the 2006 WSOP Main Event's 8,773-entry field that held the record for 17 years. That same day, the field surged past 9,000 entries and pushed over a whooping 10,000 players in the field before it was finalized late on Day 2d that a record-setting 10,043 would be the final attendance number in the 2023 WSOP Main Event.

With 10,043 entries, the 2023 WSOP Main Event became the 15th largest live poker tournament in history.

“This is an all-time summer for the WSOP,” said WSOP Senior Vice President and Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Week after week we saw record fields, so it’s only fitting that we break the biggest record of all. 10,000 players is historic for the industry and this year’s champion will be remembered as the one to conquer the richest event in poker history, well at least until 2024.”

Compared to the 2006 WSOP Main Event paid only 10% of the field - the final 873 players - the top 15% of the field will finish in the money in the 2023 WSOP Main Event. The final 1,507 players will all lock up $15,000 in prize money, while the first pay jump to $20,000 will come with 1,004 players remaining. The first six-figure payout will occur at 80th place, with everyone remaining guaranteed $109,400 in prize money. Reaching the final two tables of the 2023 WSOP Main Event will ensure players $229,000 in prize money, and the player that finishes in 10th place on the official final table bubble will take home $700,000.

2023 WSOP Main Event Final Table Payouts

Place Prize
1st $12,100,000
2nd $6,500,000
3rd $4,000,000
4th $3,000,000
5th $2,400,000
6th $1,850,000
7th $1,425,000
8th $1,125,000
9th $900,000

For the nine players that return on Sunday, July 16, to play Day 1 of the 2023 WSOP Main Event final table, they will all have locked up $900,000 in prize money and will play down to the final four. Those four will return the following day with a guaranteed $3,000,000 payday and will play until the 2023 World Champion is crowned. 

The biggest winner in the history of the WSOP Main Event will be awarded the $12,100,000 first-place prize and the coveted WSOP Main Event bracelet. This year’s bracelet also features a special horseshoe incorporated into the design as a tribute to the WSOP’s return to the newly rebranded Horseshoe Las Vegas and features approximately 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, 2,352 various precious gemstones, including 42 carats of round genuine diamonds, 425 black and red stones to accentuate the suits, and a removable golden poker chip that sits in the center of the bracelet. 

History of WSOP Main Event Prizes

Event Year Entrants Winner 1st Prize
First $1,000,000 Prize Pool? 1982 WSOP Main Event 104 Jack Staus $520,000
First $10,000,000 Prize Pool?  2004 WSOP Main Event 2,576 Greg Raymer $5,000,000
First $1,000,000 1st Place Prize? 1991 WSOP Main Event 215 Brad Daugherty $1,000,000
First 100-player Payouts? 2004 WSOP Main Event 2,576 Greg Raymer $5,000,000
First 1,000-player Payouts? 2015 WSOP Main Event 6,420 Joe McKeehen $7,683,346

With the 2023 WSOP Main Event prize pool and payouts official, it means that throughout the history of the WSOP, the Main Event has awarded $1,325,094,471 in prize money to 17,316 players that have finished in the money. Of that $1.3 billion in prize pools, a total of $194,127,850 has been awarded to the World Champions dating back to the first-ever champion Johnny Moss in 1970.

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WSOP, WSOP Main Event, 2023 WSOP, 2023 WSOP Main Event, WSOP 2023