WSOP entry fee and inflation

[Jimbo]

The first WSOP was held in 1970. If you take $10,000 from 1976 and adjust it for inflation you will have the equivalent of about $2,000 today. many suggest this entry fee is too small and for many different reasons.

My question is do you think it (the WSOP $10K event entry fee) is now too small and why?

Jimbo

[daryn]

i think that the $10K buyin is too small. i think that not because i think the event has too many players and we want to keep the riff-raff out, but i just think that there are too many other $10K tourneys around, so it's just not special. i say make it $50K.

[Jimbo]

I'd like to add some additional perspective. Doyle Brunson won his first $10K championship in 1976 and took home $220K, a mere 22 times the entry fee. This years winner will take home 500 times his entry fee. Even with inflation taken into account isn't this a much better deal for the winner?

Jimbo

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]
The first WSOP was held in 1970. If you take $10,000 from 1976 and adjust it for inflation you will have the equivalent of about $2,000 today. many suggest this entry fee is too small and for many different reasons.

My question is do you think it (the WSOP $10K event entry fee) is now too small and why?

Jimbo

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to be pedantic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $10k today is roughly equivalent to $3k in 1976; conversely, a $10k fee in 1976 is equivalent to $33k today. In that sense, a $10k entry fee is not as significant today as it was ~30 years ago and you could argue it needs to be increased as a result.

More importantly, the WSOP is no longer the most exclusive high-dollar poker event. Many of the WPT events have $10k buy-ins and the championship is $25k. The WSOP should be at least $25k, maybe even $50k, if it wishes to remain the premier event.

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd like to add some additional perspective. Doyle Brunson won his first $10K championship in 1976 and took home $220K, a mere 22 times the entry fee. This years winner will take home 500 times his entry fee. Even with inflation taken into account isn't this a much better deal for the winner?

Jimbo

[/ QUOTE ]

Inflation isn't the culprit here, it's really just a factor of the huge number of entrants compared to earlier years. Unless you substantially flatten and/or extend the payout schedule, more entrants means a relatively bigger payday for the champion.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
The WSOP should be at least $25k, maybe even $50k, if it wishes to remain the premier event.

[/ QUOTE ]

People seemed obsessed with this entry fee non-issue. I think we've had more threads about this than about Greg. You guys are all missing something. The entry fee has very little impact on how the "premier" poker tournament is decided.

The year's "premier" poker tournament only needs a minimum entry fee which is substantial. After that, much more important factors come into play such as the # of entries and the publicity the tournament receives in the mainstream press. In those last two areas, the main event of the WSOP is unchallenged and remain so for the forseeable future.

Increasing the entry fee won't add any prestige to the tournament.