A third party can’t buy you in anymore. So instead of having to play the event, they can take the money and not play if they don’t want to. Also with the government cracking down on on-line players there have been fewer sites, so there has been less people who win there seats this way, and since most people don’t have big money to spend on the w.s.o.p the numbers are fewer. Over half the field last year in the main event won there seats on-line.

Yeah, but remember that except for “freerolls”, most poker sites have banned US players because of the new law. Since US players can’t pay money to enter the online satellites anymore, there are less of them, and therefore less people in the Main Event.

well, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act(UIGEA) has caused many online poker sites that did offer such satellites and qualifiers to discontinue service to united states customers, so that is limiting the number of players who get in through those means…that is really the main cause, but it’s certainly not the worst thing in the world, in that the final table may contain more “name” players…and it could have been worse, i heard estimates of the field dropping to around the size of when greg raymer won in 2004, which was 2,576

this is not going to hurt the main event in any way, it is still a huge tournament and 2,500 less players won’t really affect it because of how many people played anyway

Pokercoach has said it best. With the new online laws and Harrah’s not accepting the entries from the poker sites it did dimishish the field a bit. But 6300 is still alot and we can still possible see even more next year.

the sole reason for diminished entry was due to the fact that online poker rooms weren’t allowed to promote by putting players in directly through the online site. those that did win online seats more than likely took the $10k and bankrolled it or played in smaller events like i did.

It’s a smaller field this year for 2 reason:

1: The “new” law for online poker, even with so many online satellites at Full tilt, stars, absolute, ultimate bet….etc. It was still not enough. I mean having 8000 players is insane! But it will be that number again in the (future, even more)

2: When you win your satellite, the online site (full tilt for example) can’t give you your entry ( Harrah’s don’t accept it) What the site do, is credit your account with the money. And you’re the one who decide to go or not… And because of that, many players decide to keep the money, or to use it to play 2, 3, smaller Events (personal experience)

So this year, we have around 6300 players, I think it’s still a pretty good number. I predict that it should be more next year.

Like I said, this year was in the “cloud” because of the online law.

the smaller field is due to fewer players winning seats at the event through online play. it is harder to play online nowadays with the tighter regulations…btw you can still play rather easily as the online companies just route deposits and payouts through a secondary “non-gaming” entity.

I think that people realize that the state of poker is one that is full of people who play recklessly, and that the field in recent tourneys is so large that it’s difficult to feel like it is a good investment for the savvy player. The creme rises to the top, but usually only if you don’t douse it with a bucket of donk.