I used to be a bit of a poker nerd back in 2005. I modeled the WSOP Main Event. Here are the actual stats of how the tournament played out, level by level.

Players in the Tournament: 5619
2005 Main Event

Level players left in tourney at end of round (% left of field)
1 5,450 97%
2 5,001 89%
3 4,270 76%
4 3,596 64%
5 2,810 50%
6 2,248 40%
7 1,864 33%
8 1,573 28%
9 1,292 23%
10 1,011 18%
11 787 14%
12 571 10%
13 450 8%
14 337 6%
15 281 5%
16 225 4%
17 169 3%
18 129 2%
19 84 1%
20 72
21 55
22 43
23 37
24 28
25 25
26 18
27 12
28 10
29 9
30 7
31 5
32 4
33 3
34 1

by modeled you mean you simmed it? using historical results or what? would love to hear more about the process

was slightly surprised that after 8 hours half the field was out if that model or research is true. means they are losing off 40-75BBs stacks in the first 6 hours

Nah, nothing that sophisticated. I just took the actual tourney data, after the fact, and calculated stuff like: average stack size at the end of each level, M as measured by average stack per round, etc. Just basic stuff to figure out the speed of the tournament. I didn't even play NL back then. In 2005, I was still mainly a limit holdem player. But of course that didn't stop me from buying into the Main Event, LOL..... And cashing in it! LOLOLOLOL (Which is why the Main Event was, and still is, the greatest poker tournament of all time!).

2006 WSOP: https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-tou...e-updates/3040

Day 1A: Under 800 out of 2138
Day 1B: Under 900 of ??
Day 1C: 867 of ???
Day 1D: 900 of ???


Total: 3450 of 8773 = 39%

6 2 hour levels were played on Day 1 (12 hours of play + breaks), so your estimate based off of 2005 schedule (which remained unchanged at least for those 6 levels) is spot on at 40% remaining!

Still the only WSOP event I've played to this day. Gotta love the peak of unregulated online poker in the US with so much free money being thrown at US players.

Poker is fun.

From what I remember Day 1 in 2005 was ****ing grind to play. It was something like 12-13 hr day 1s. I remember every so often seeing the dealer deal and thinking the top of the card looking like a face card and get tripped out by it. This was the year of ZERO late entry, a few known pros got shut out because they waited when everything was sold out and they didn't budge on letting more people play.

Two hour blinds at 25-50 with no level skipping. Antes didn't kick in til 8 hours into it. Trust me it was slow as hell. Not to mention everyone had to start at the same time, no waiting for day 2 to enter. If you weren't there then your stack got blinded. That structure is probably better then most today. The only downside was it started 10 handed.

back then players would bet kk into trup qq as well
****ing morons

sabina gadecki

this isn't ebay sir

I would tell people about online poker while playing live back in the late 90's/early 2000s. They would have the most perplexed look on their face, shrug their shoulders, then mumble something under their breath.

That guy was legendary with his 1million hands at NL2 6max in 1 month

Does anyone remember the guy who would stream his sessions on Youtube, and have hilariously over-the-top reactions to wins and losses, particularly going "BULLLLLDOZERRRRRR!" and "SHIP 'EM!" when he won? My google-fu is failing me.

not sure if he ever streamed but it sounds like Hevad Khan.

I can't remember him ever streaming but RainKhan was the Bulldozer! guy.

yes, exactly. he was also a Starcraft professional before turning to poker, so him streaming doesn't seem all too farfetched.

I was watching the coverage of day 3 in the main event and boxer randomly got moved to the feature table, I was like omg!

wtf did i just watch?

the best paladin in the world

Great bumps - here's one that brings many fond memories for me...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPuqruOecEY

remove everything in the link before the equal (=) sign to embed YT.

Enjoyed luckboxing a 25k Sunday tourney win with K9 Vs KQ heads up. Proceeded to blow it all playing 25/50k nl cash games by Thursday. I was a 'pro' for 4 days.

Loved the live scene back then, run it up early or play the juicy side games. It was before the global credit crash so you had a lot of well off tradesmen looking to gamble.

I remember playing on I think Paradise Poker in a 1/2 game, and I kept getting huge hands like fullhouses and 4 of a kind beaten by even bigger hands. I had no idea what was going on...it was insane.

I then realized I was playing something called "Royal Poker" where the only cards in the deck were T+ ....only Broadway cards!

It took me like 15 minutes and 5 buy-ins to realize it...

rocks n rings