The World Series of Poker Main Event is the most popular (and arguably most prestigious) poker tournament in the world. Thousands of players pony up the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event each summer, with the hopes of winning the $10 million first-place prize.
A total of 10,112 entries registered for the 2024 edition of the Main Event (also known as the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Championship). Were all of those entries unique players, or does the Main Event allow rebuys or re-entry?
Let’s find out:
To be clear – there are no rebuys or re-entries allowed in the WSOP Main Event. The centerpiece event of the WSOP is a freezeout, meaning you can only enter once. If you get eliminated, your next chance to enter the Main Event comes the following year.
The Main Event’s freezeout status is one of the things that makes the tournament so prestigious. Many stories emerge each year of players making huge folds, laying down very strong hands for fear of losing their one shot at poker immortality.
The atmosphere at the Main Event is truly unlike anything else in poker, particularly when the tournament gets into the money. One incorrect call, ill-times bluff or tilt-induced punt sends you to the rail, and the finality of a Main Event elimination is profound.
Many of the other tournaments on the annual WSOP schedule allow re-entry up to a certain level. Some tournaments allow unlimited re-entry, while others cap the number of the times you can re-enter per day or per tournament.
For example, the 2024 WSOP Gladiators of Poker event allowed two re-entries per flight, with the cutoff for re-entry at the end of Level 11 of Day 1. The tournament plays through four different Day 1 flights, so a player could technically re-enter the tournament eight times if they played all four Day 1 flights.
The Main Event offers no such opportunity to re-enter, and very likely never will.
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