The World Series of Poker buzz is all about the attendance for Event 2, which shattered the attendance records of last year (non-main event) when 3,151 was the big number; 3,929 signed up to play over the two day start of Event 2. Considering the back and forth worry over attendance last year (which, despite having the new record in attendance for a non-main event tournament, did have a dip in the main event attendance) the organizers couldn't be happier over the big early ramp up in the first No Limit Texas Holdem game of the season.
And this is a trend we figure will continue. There are going to be highs and lows in attendance, with the middle of the tournament showing some of the bigger lows, due mainly to a lot of players who can only afford an event here or there playing early, and those players happy to turn early wins into seats at other events playing late.
There are a lot more records to be broken: first of all, the attendance record may not stand. We can forecast all we want - and you can be sure the WSOP organizers have been trying to forecast ever since the end of last year's WSOP with Jerry Yang's win - but really who knows what will happen in terms of attendance? It will be surprising in one fashion or another.
But there are other records as well, such as record number of cashes (once held by T.J. Cloutier, now held by Phil Hellmuth) and of course record number of bracelets. Hellmuth is leading the pack with 11, staying ahead of his closest competition in Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. There are also record number of final tables, both over all and in a single year, a record Michael Binger nearly broke last year. Watch for him to appear at a lot of final tables again this year.
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