While there are 55 events in the 2008 World Series of Poker, the one everyone looks towards with the most anticipation is of course, the main event. The $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship is the event that each year crowns poker’s world champion. This player is skyrocketed to instant poker fame in addition to instant multi-millionaire status. You can qualify for the tournament by playing online texas holdem, in satellites.

The 2008 WSOP Main Event Schedule

The WSOP main event in 2008 will take place over two full weeks of competition. The event starts on July 3, with the first of four “day ones.” These will reduce the field into two “day twos” after which the field will merge and play on until a final table and an eventual World Series champion. You don’t have to be an expert at poker odds to figure out that it will be tough to win the tournament, but on the other hand the reward will be enormous if you do.

The 2008 WSOP Main Event Player Pool

For the first 35 years of the WSOP main event, the number of players competing rose exponentially, from six players in the first main event, to over 8,700 in the 2006 event. In 2007, for the first time ever, the number of players in the main event declined. This was due to the U.S. Congress passing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This act sent many online poker sites into confusion about the legality of accommodating U.S. players and severely restricted the number of texas holdem online satellite players in the event. Even with this issue, over 6,000 players turned up to play, and as many or more should show up for the 2008 event.

The 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion

There is always speculation over who might be the next champion. Conventional wisdom is that it is unlikely that a known, ranked pro will win the event due to the incredible volume of amateurs who play. The closest a pro has come to winning the event in recent years was in 2006 when Allen Cunningham managed to hang on for fourth place. Whether anyone will be able to better that mark in 2008 remains to be seen.