From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973 a new event, Five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas hold 'em. Since then new events have been added and removed. In 2006 there were 45 events at the WSOP, covering the majority of poker variants. Currently, Texas hold 'Em, Omaha hold 'em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants (if any) are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, five card stud, and many others. Each event winner gets a coveted gold bracelet as well as the grand prize money, which by tradition is paid in cash brought in cardboard boxes.

Phil Hellmuth has the most bracelets with eleven. Runners-up Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan have each won ten bracelets. Doyle's son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a $2,500 Omaha Eight-or-better event in 2005, making them the first and only father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel, Jan Vang Sorensen and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998, 2002 and 2005 respectively.

The 2002 World Series of Poker in progress the number of participants in the WSOP has grown almost every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. In the main event alone, the number of participants grew from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006. This was known as the "Moneymaker Effect", named after unknown rookie Chris Moneymaker, who won the main event after having qualified for just $39 through a satellite tournament. Much of this growth can also be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker.

Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest; hence the prize money increases with more players. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with $7.5 million to first prize.