The official numbers are in for the 2012 World Series of Poker main event. A grand total of 6,598 players posted the $10,000 buy-in to create a $62,021,200 prize pool. As a result, the winner will walk away with $8,527,982 the sixth biggest prize ever awarded to a WSOP main event champion.
The overall turnout for the entire WSOP was also impressive with a total of 74,766 total entrants, the second most all-time. With the extra oomph provided by the $1 million buy-in ‘Big One for One Drop’, the total prize pool of $222,035,192 for the 2012 WSOP demolished the previous record of $192,008,868 set last year by just under $30 million. This was the eighth consecutive year that the WSOP generated a total prize pool well in excess of $100 million.
“We’re still in poker’s golden age, at least when WSOP gold bracelets are on the line,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “We can’t thank the players enough for their continued support of the WSOP and for once again putting a bad beat on market conditions.”
2012 saw the fifth largest turnout in main event history. Overall, the attendance for the main event dropped roughly 3.8% from 2011, but was 1.6% higher than the turnout in 2010.
Out of the 6,598 who entered, only 666 will see any return on their investment. A min-cash will be good for $19,227. Making the final table this year will guarantee a player $754,798 in earnings.
In addition to the championship bracelet and the more than $8.5 million first-place prize, the winner of this event will also earn 3,300 Card Player Player of the Year points, which would automatically move a player without any prior scores so far this year into third place in the overall standings as of the time this article was published. The current leader in the POY race, Kyle Julius, has 3,752 points.
Day 1C saw a massive turnout of 3,418 entrants, a single-day record for the main event. This huge surge of players accounted for more than half of the total entrants. While the main event had four starting days in recent years, the schedule was adjusted in 2012 to have only three.
Here is a look at the complete payouts to be awarded in the WSOP main event:
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $8,527,982 |
| 2nd | $5,292,889 |
| 3rd | $3,797,558 |
| 4th | $2,850,494 |
| 5th | $2,154,616 |
| 6th | $1,640,461 |
| 7th | $1,257,790 |
| 8th | $971,252 |
| 9th | $754,798 |
| 10th-12th | $590,442 |
| 13th-15th | $465,159 |
| 16th-18th | $369,026 |
| 19th-27th | $294,601 |
| 28th-36th | $236,921 |
| 37th-45th | $191,646 |
| 46th-54th | $156,293 |
| 55th-63rd | $128,384 |
| 64th-72nd | $106,056 |
| 73rd-81st | $88,070 |
| 82nd-90th | $73,805 |
| 91st-99th | $62,021 |
| 100th-162nd | $52,718 |
| 163rd-234th | $44,655 |
| 235th-306th | $38,453 |
| 307th-378th | $32,871 |
| 379th-450th | $28,530 |
| 451st-522nd | $24,808 |
| 523rd-594th | $21,707 |
| 595th-666th | $19,227 |
