Buoyed by the availability of late registration on Day 2, the 2019 WSOP Main Event came close to breaking the record for entrants, but fell short and had to settle for 2nd biggest ever.
A total of 8,569 players paid the $10,000 entry fee, that is, if they didn't win a seat via satellite. That's 204 less than the 8,773 players in 2006, the year that Jamie Gold won the title and $12 million in prize money.
Poker's popularity was peaking back in 2006, the poker boom coming into play just a few years earlier. Then the economy took a hit starting in 2008.
The breakdown on entrants for this year's Main Event is as follows:
| Day 1A: | 1,334 |
| Day 1B: | 1,914 |
| Day 1C: | 4,877 |
| Day 2A: | 100 |
| Day 2B: | 344 |
One Main Event record was broken, however. Day 1C had the largest number of entrants in a single day.
The WSOP released payout figures for the 50th annual Main Event. The prizepool is $80,548,600 and the champion will collect $10 million of that.
Paydays will be had by the top 1,286 players with a min-cash of $15,000 reserved for slots 1,063 to 1,286. Here are the final table payouts:
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $10,000,000 |
| 2 | $6,000,000 |
| 3 | $4,000,000 |
| 4 | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | $2,200,000 |
| 6 | $1,850,000 |
| 7 | $1,525,000 |
| 8 | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | $1,000,000 |
Good luck to the players still alive in the Main Event, nine of whom will become millionaires - if they aren't already!