2009 WSOP Update: World Series of Poker is Dominated by American Players

After almost two weeks into the 40th annual World Series of Poker it seems quite evident that the WSOP is totally dominated by American players. Although some of the leading players in the world are European, the European poker community has a relatively minor representation in this World Series Event. Could it have anything to do with the location of the tourney? Is Las Vegas too far for European poker players? We will let the numbers speak for themselves.

The story starts with number of entrants: a little more than 9,200 of around the 10,000 entrants to the 2009 WSOP were Americans.  475 were Canadian. Only around 200 were Europeans. Of the total cashes of around 1,600 only around 60 (yes, 60) were European. Out of around $30M in cash prizes which were awarded in the tourney, a little under $25M went to US citizens.

Last but not least – golden bracelets. Of the 12 golden bracelets happy winners only two were Europeans: Russian Vitaly Lunkin, who won the Special 40th Annual $40,000 No Limit Hold’em event and Finland resident Ville Wahlbeck, who won the World Championship Mixed Event. All 10 other bracelets have been awarded to US residents.

I guess we should all wait for September, when the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe takes place in London, to see some European action.