Daily 3-Bet: Phil Ivey MIA, Main Event Booms, 15% Female Players?

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is the perfectly executed croquet jump shot that clears the mid-afternoon poker news wicket.

You can always make suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Phil Ivey taking a pass on the WSOP, some incredible Main Event numbers and a potential boost of female participation in the Main Event.

Ivey Skips 2017 WSOP

Registration for the 2017 Main Event is complete and we can officially say that 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey has skipped the entire WSOP this time around.

Phil Ivey 1234

Miss you, bud.

It’s kind of astounding that a player who has has many WSOP bracelets as Ivey continues to pass on the venerable series. Perhaps the cash games in Macau/Manila are just that good?

Ivey’s absence is especially conspicuous considering nominations for this year’s Poker Hall of Fame were just announced and Ivey, having just turned 40, is now eligible. Could his disappearing act potentially delay his inclusion?

That seems unlikely considering just how much Ivey has achieved in this game but it’s tough to say.

In the meantime poker fans looking for some fresh Ivey news might want to check out the upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 podcast “Queen of Sorts”.

The podcast explores how Ivey was able to win tens of millions playing baccarat with partner “Kelly” Cheung Yin Sun using that infamous edge-sorting technique.

The episode debuts next Tuesday, July 18. We’ll be listening.

2017 Main Event Ascends All-Time Charts

You just can’t keep the Main Event down.

Despite some plateauing of poker over the last few years the Main Event continues to be a phenomenon in the poker world.

Registration came to a close yesterday and the final numbers are good. Really, really good, in fact.

WSOP Main Event

It’s a big one.

The 2017 WSOP Main Event attracted a total of 7,221 players, which makes it the third biggest tournament in history trailing only the insane Jamie Gold year in 2006 and the Jonathan Duhamel win in 2010.

It’s a tremendous feat no matter how you slice it with $8.15m up top for first place.

Here’s a look at the 10 biggest Main Events in history to give you an idea of where this year’s edition ranks:

1. 2006 Main Event — 8,773 entries
2. 2010 Main Event — 7,319 entries
3. 2017 Main Event — 7,221 entries
4. 2011 Main Event — 6,865 entries
5. 2008 Main Event — 6,844 entries
6. 2016 Main Event — 6,737 entries
7. 2014 Main Event — 6,683 entries
8. 2012 Main Event — 6,598 entries
9. 2009 Main Event — 6,494 entries
10. 2015 Main Event — 6,420 entries

3) Female WSOP Participation Poised for a Bump?

One Main Event stat that we still don’t know is how many female players took part this year.

Usually that number hovers around 5% but just from an eye test we’ve seen quite a few female players on the tournament floor over the course of the summer.

Female poker pro Xuan Liu Tweeted over the weekend that she was a notable uptick in female players in the Main Event.

Of course that immediately brought out a detractor who said that even approaching 15% female players in the Main Event would never happen.

Liu had an insightful response:

It will happen in my lifetime. 10-25% of online poker players are female, & we make up ~half of PC gamers. Smaller gap already in Asia. https://t.co/FmpeGUavIx

— Xuan Liu (@xxl23) July 11, 2022

The 50% of PC gamers is a particularly interesting stat as there is obviously a ton of crossover between video games and online poker.

So will the Main Event hit 15% female participation in the next 50 years or so? Seems like a good bet.

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