WPT World Championship Sees a Surge in Participants After Years of Decline

The WPT World Championship tournament has been a staple in the poker world since 2003, with a buy-in of $25,000. The first tournament in 2003 attracted 111 participants, with notable finishes by Phil Ivey in 3rd place, Kirill Gerasimov in 2nd, and Alen Gering taking the win.

Over the years, the tournament's popularity has fluctuated. In 2004, the number of participants more than tripled to 343. The peak year was 2007, when Carlos Mortensen won $3,970,415 after defeating 638 players. The prize pool for that year was $15,495,750, second only to the main WSOP tournaments from 2004 to 2010.

However, participation declined in subsequent years: 545 in 2008, 338 in 2009, and 195 in 2010. There were concerns that the decline would continue in 2011, but the tournament saw a resurgence with 220 players, and the first-place prize was $1,618,344. Daniel Negreanu criticized the tournament structure, suggesting changes to the blind levels. Russian players participating in the tournament included Alexander Kuzmin, Dmitry Gromov, Alexander Dovzhenko, and Nikolai Evdakov. Alexei Repik, Alexander Kravchenko, and Dmitry Stelmak started the tournament from the second day.