WSOP Main Event 2015 - $8 million for first place, more places paid

Caesars Entertainment announced that they have changed the payout structure of the 2015 WSOP Main Event after they evaluated the feedback from the players. The winner will receive $8 million instead of $10 million but there will be 1,000 paying spots in the tournament.

As we have previously reported, Caesars Entertainment has officially announced in December that the 2015 World Series of Poker will run between May 27 - July 14. The full tournament schedule is not available yet but they have released the schedule for the Main Event, which will run between July 5 - 14.

Originally the WSOP also announced a $10 million guarantee for first place because they felt that the huge guarantee for the winner drew in lots of recreational players. Their decision was a success, the number of entrants increased by 5% from 2013 (6,352) to 2014 (6,683), but lots of players have stated that the increase likely has other reasons and that the payout structure should be altered.

Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu talked about the issue in one of his new blog entries, he believes that the increase in the number of entrants can be attributed to the fact that many players received their Full Tilt balances and because the economy is better. 

He also stated that he believes that paying more entrants would be a much bigger draw for recreational players.

Caesars Entertainment listened to the players and on January 27 they announced the new payout structure which aims to increase the attendance number and give more players a winning experience. The winner will receive $8 million instead of last years $10 million, but the number of paid spots will increase from 693 to 1,000.

The new payout structure:

1. $8.000.000

2. $4.663.527
3. $3.500.000
4. $2.750.000
5. $2.000.000
6. $1.500.000
7. $1.250.000
8. $1.100.000
9. $1.000.000
10-12. $550.000
50. $142.500
100. $50.000
500. $20.850
693. $16.750 
694 - 1000. $15,000