There's no doubt that the World Series of Poker Main Event is the world's greatest poker tournament, but with greatness comes great responsibility, and oftentimes immense scrutiny. It's the event that sparked the poker boom with the fairytale emergence of Chris Moneymaker, and we've been dissecting every bit of it every year since.
While we can arguably gauge how poker's ecosystem fares by analyzing events throughout the year, it's never until the results of the WSOP Main Event are realized that final determination is made. If the field size increases, then poker is in a great place and thriving.