The 2012 World Series of Poker main event final table has already made history.
Three-handed play was still ongoing as of 3:40 a.m. local time in Las Vegas. The number of hands Greg Merson, Jesse Sylvia and Jacob Balsiger had logged just as a threesome was 222 — out of 357 total since nine-handed action began Monday.
And the event was still far from over.
For comparison: The entire 2007 WSOP main event final table had 205 hands. Jerry Yang won that year in speedy fashion.
Here’s a look at the number of hands played at the past seven final tables:
(Note: all of these are from the summer main event)
2012: TBD
2011: 301 hands
2010: 262 hands
2009: 364 hands
2008: 274 hands
2007: 205 hands
2006: 236 hands
2005: 232 hands
The all-time record for a WSOP no-limit hold’em championship event belongs partly to John Juanda and Stanislav Alekhin, who battled heads up as part of a 484-hand marathon at the 2008 WSOP Europe main event final table.
The legendary $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E event in 2006, which played a final table of only no-limit hold’em, had 354 hands.
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