Last year's World Series of Poker main event top prize jackpot of $12 million was nothing short of extraordinary when compared to all previous professional poker circuit tournament jackpots. However, considering the massive growth of the online poker industry, the WSOP prize pool was not that much of a shocker. (The biggest shocker probably was the main event winner, Jamie Gold's "agreement" with an associate to share half of his $12 million jackpot, which was later put on hold by a judge).

Such a steady growth rate in the online casino gaming industry has had many players predicting this year's 2007 World Series of Poker main event would tally up an even larger prize pool than last year. Much of those predictions, however, were before the negative repercussions of the U.S. Internet Gambling Enforcement Act began to manifest. According to figures shared by WSOP organizers, the number of entrants this year is down from 8,773 in 2006 to 6,358 in 2007, which is a 27% decrease. And although the total prize pool is an impressive sum of $59.7 million, the $18.25 million top prize is a long way off from last year's cool $12 million.

A recent report in the Las Vegas Sun suggested there would have been approximately 4,000 more entrants in this year's WSOP if Harrah's had not made the decision to prohibit winners of sponsored online poker tournament from entering the tournament. Understandably, the call was made in response to the UIGEA, which has placed a hurdle in front of online gambling sites trying to do business with U.S. bettors. However, this has not stopped several online casinos and poker rooms from holding their own tournaments.

The only catch is that instead of awarding buy-ins and prize packages directly to the WSOP (as was the case in the past), the poker rooms are now awarding cash equivalents. What is happening is that many players are taking the money and running. Realizing how tough the competition is going to be at the main event, some of these satellite winners are apparently deciding to quit while they are still ahead. All in all, this year's WSOP has not fared any worse than last year. On the contrary, this season drew a record number of players (almost 54,300 entrants), and a total cash pool of practically $160 million.