Last year, this $10,000 buy-in event attracted 538 players, and awarded a first prize of over $1.8 million to Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. After a somewhat disappointing turnout for the recent WPT event down in Tunica, Mississippi, there were a lot of people looking to this event as an indicator of the current state of poker.


So how big is the field this year? 692 players.


That's certainly good news, and shows a healthy state of affairs for big buy-in tournament poker. The total prize pool is $6,643,200, and the top 45 players will finish in the money. (Most championship events these days pay deeper than that -- about 10% of the field.) Here is the complete payout structure:


1st: $2,391,550
2nd: $1,162,560

3rd: $571,315
4th: $338,803

5th: $265,728
6th: $199,296

7th: $166,080
8th: $132,864

9th: $99,648
10th-12th: $73,075

13th-15th: $59,789
16th-18th: $46,502

19th-27th: $39,859
28th-36th: $26,573

37th-45th: $19,930