Help - what is the largest poker tournament in history?

pokerstars · #1 10-31-2002, 03:43 PM

I'm trying to find out what poker tournament (live only - we know what the
largest online tourney was) had the largest number of players. I seem to
remember that the opening event of the Gold Coast Open had just over 1,000
players a few years ago - if anyone has an online reference to this, I would
appreciate it. And if you know of any tournament that was larger than this,
I would appreciate knowing about that, as well - I remember events at the
Commerce in the 500-600 range but few larger.

Thanks in advance for the help!

...dan

#2 10-31-2002, 05:47 PM

Does size matter ?

A given tournament with a reasonable blinds structure and enough time to run could, in theory, stay a test of skill. However, at some point does size turn any tournament into a lottery due to the players it attracts ? (There is a distinction between a satellite sytem for tournies and a "mega-thousand player tourney") The issue seems more pronounced if the mega-tournament is a freeroll or low entry fee event.

If a 1500+ person tourney knocks out 1/2 its players in the first 3/4 hour, were those players really playing poker or simply taking part in a lottery, i.e. "win $10K for a $3 ticket" ?

If say 750 players were simply taking part in a lottery, don't the other 750 players take part too, depending upon the luck of their seating a tables with lottery losers ?

State lotteries offer millions for $3.00, same thing with Megabucks slot machines. Poker tournies dilute skills to the extent their size promotes "lottery" behaviors.

Can we get David Sklansky to comment on this ?

David · #3 10-31-2002, 06:03 PM

A tournament with over 1000 entrants that ends in a matter of hours is a lottery. But, hey I play the lotto every now and then. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Simon Diamond · #4 10-31-2002, 07:12 PM

I think Lorinda originally suggested the format to allow all players the opportunity to play in a huge event with the chance to win some serious $$$. Thats what happened in essence and can only be good to get players into big game poker. It may have been a lottery, but at least it was anybodies tournament to win. We all have to start somewhere. I don't think the more experienced 'better' players like the notion of beginners getting an easy ride, but it seems to be more and more the way these days, especially online.

I believe that the number of entrants doesn't dictate the 'size' of an event - the quality of the field and prize fund are much bigger factors.

Of the 1000 players in the $1 event on Poker Stars, how many were world class? I won't answer that, but I wouldn't imagine it was too many. As a rough guide I read one of Lorinda's posts saying something along the lines of, if she were to pick 100 players at the start who were capable of winning, 70 of them would make the last 200. (Lori I finished 186th - I'd be surprised if I was in your list of 100 [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] ). Same goes for the 1,250 who entered the $2,500 added 25 FPP NLHE.

Compare the field with the field for the $10,000 WSOP Main Event - no contest. Virtually every player in that event has to have some sort of credentials, and there are enough gold bracelets between them to start a jewellers.

Thats probably the most extreme comparison, but is an indication when considering the true 'size' of an event. And by the way I wasn't saying that there were no world class players in the two Poker Stars tournaments I mentioned, I haven't observed enough there to judge. There are many better qualified people to do that.

Simon Diamond

#5 10-31-2002, 07:35 PM

I don't know but The first event at The Orleans Open always gets a very large number of entrants. I don't know how many was in it this year but in past years there have been over a thousand.