Winners of the First 10 Events at the World Series of Poker and the Payout Structure

As we witnessed poker's growth this year, everyone wondered how big the World Series of Poker would be. The first event, $2,000 no-limit hold'em, drew 834 players. Englishman James Vogl beat out the close-to-record-breaking field (the championship event last year had more entrants). Then, Ted Forrest captured his fourth gold bracelet by winning the seven-card stud event. Past winners Chau Giang, Eli Balas, and Minh Nguyen took home another bracelet, as well. First-time winners were Cyndy Violette, Aaron Katz, Scott Fischman, Curtis Bibb, and Gerard Drehobl.

Drehobl won the $1,000 no-limit hold'em event, defeating some stiff competition. When there were five players left, he was up against Daniel Negreanu, Paul Phillips, Mike Matusow, and John Juanda. That is a lineup nobody wants to deal with, but he handled himself well and won the bracelet. It will be an exciting final table to watch when ESPN airs it.

The payout structure at this year's World Series of Poker has changed. With the exception of the championship event, the WSOP traditionally has paid a higher percentage to first-place winners than any tournament throughout the year. The championship pays so much money to the winner that the percentage has been about 25 percent to first place instead of the traditional 37 percent. Who really cares about the percentage when you are talking about millions of dollars?

The percentage paid to first place has changed this year because of the number of players who have been showing up. About 10 percent of the field is paid in all events. Thus, the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event that James Vogl won paid 81 places. Some of the old-time professionals are upset, because they believe too many players are getting paid and not enough money is going to first place. This group of players tends to forget how much more money is in the prize pools because of all of the new faces. They also forget that there are so many people who won satellites to get into these events, and these folks are thrilled to get in the money for a nice return on their investment.

Paying lots of places enables more players to win money and gives them an opportunity to play in more events than they otherwise would. And when they play in more events, the prize pools just keep getting larger. What is your opinion? Would you rather play for a larger first-place prize or have an opportunity to get paid when you otherwise wouldn't?