WSOP 2009 Soldout: Over 500 Players Turned Away
July 7, 2009 7:00 amMonday saw over 500 irate players told that they could not enter the WSOP 2009 tournament as its capacity had already been reached.
Players are given four opportunities to enter which is divided into day 1A, 1B, which were down on the previous year, but day 1C picked up momentum attracting over 1,700 players and culminating on Monday’s 1D receiving 2,089 entries which resulted in the sell out. It was a preference among many of the players to enter on 1D which caused the problem.
The total of players in this years Main Event now stands at 6,494.The Main Event had 6,844 last year and 6,358 entrants in 2007.The winner will receive roughly $8.5 million and had the late arrivals found places this years WSOP would likely have exceeded last years winner, Peter Eastgate’s $9.15 million payout.
Jeffrey Pollack, World Series of Poker commissioner, said,”We are sorry, and I am sorry.The last thing that we ever want to do is deny people entry into our events.We’re disappointed about this. I wish that we could accommodate you, but we can’t.”
Included among the hundred of poker players to miss out on this years competition were Patrik Antonius,Ted Forrest and T.J. Cloutier.Despite this many big names did manage to gain entry on day 1D including Erick Lindgren, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Ivey, Dutch Boyd, Kenny Tran, Michael Mizrachi, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, and Cyndy Violette.Bertrand “ElkY”
Grospellier also gained entry on 1D and said,”I registered earlier so I didn’t have any problem.I do think it’s a shame that they had to turn away players for the Main Event. I do think it’s strange that they have such a difference in the number of players each day.”
Tournament officials had already announced that Monday was likely to see an over subscription but this did not deter hundreds of hopefuls making the journey.
Tyler Meierotto, a 39-year-old jeweler from Kansas City,said “Doyle Brunson always said the saddest day of the year is getting knocked out of the main event of the world series.The saddest day of the year for me is not being able to play in the main event of the world series.You look so forward to it as a player and for them to say that you can’t play is just awful.”