Specialists say the new U.S. law against online gambling is going to lower the number of participants in the WSoP. Part of its great success was that a lot of players won their seats at satellite tournaments, but now, almost the only way to get in is paying the $10,000 Buy-in.

839 players won their seats at satellite tournaments in 2003, including that year’s champion, Chris Moneymaker, who won $2,5M on a $40 buy-in. For this year’s tournament, 8,773 players are expected, and more than a half won their seats in Internet.

Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance (a 130,000-member group that is fighting the law), said: “It’s going to affect the average player most dramatically. And those players are the ones that have kind of filled the ranks.”

According to Bolcerek, prohibitions drive things underground, but don’t stop them. “The hard-core ones will find action somewhere; they won’t care whether is regulated.”

Las Vegas also has seen a growth on poker, from 142 poker tables in 2003 to 405 in 2006, there’s no doubt internet has benefited poker. A WSoP spokesperson said they are expecting a large number of players for next year, but whether or not they’ll have it, nobody really knows.