For the 4th time in a row, GenCon's event management system has been of little use to me.  I am from western Canada and I go to GenCon for roleplaying games.  This year, as in previous years I spent 3 hours planning my schedule.  In addition to the 12 games I wanted to join, I also had 2nd and 3rd back-ups for each event.  (Total of 36 selections).  As soon as we were able to submit our wishlist, I did, and got skunked this time.  Not a single event.  This is pretty normal for me, but usually I get at least 2 of the events on my wishlist.

To save myself this aggravation, I would prefer to go to a convention where I am competing with less people for rpg events.  Can anyone recommend a convention in the US (or Canada) which has a large and diverse offering of roleplaying games?  I would prefer a convention where roleplaying games are a primary focus of the show.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.
 

http://garycon.com/

I don't play RPG's, so I don't really have a feel for whether the games there are better or worse than anywhere else, but I've never heard a bad thing about GaryCon in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  The majority of the events are RPG's, and a lot of the old-school players in the RPG world will be there running games.  

Since Lake Geneva is the birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons, a *ton* of the RPG industry's history goes through Lake Geneva - including Gen Con itself (It's where the "Gen" in "Gen Con" comes from).  Even if the games aren't 100% to your liking, it's worth attending just for the opportunity to play with the "old guard".

Plus, it's held in the same building that Gen Con 10 was held in.  

Well you have quite a few..  Charcon (charleston convention, Charleston west virgina) is held usually in oct/nov time frame.  You have Origins (nearly always in june) in columbus ohio, along with May's Marcon.
Cod con, Conclaive, Wolfcon..  There's quite a lot of other conventions out there, some just 2 day event, some 3..  Only Gencon and Origins are 4 day bashes...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaming_conventions

Has a good list, but i am not sure how up to date it is..

My recommendation is to look at the conventions in the cities near you and see what they're offering.  Local cons often have plenty of interesting events of all types, just less people.

FWIW, Con of the North (http://www.conofthenorth.org/) has a bunch of RPGs if you're up for a trip in winter.
 

Pax Unplugged is the new one this year.

http://unplugged.paxsite.com/

You may still be able to play in the RPG games of your choice. More events will open up as the Con approaches. Buy a bunch of general tickets and come to the games. People often cancel or are unable to attend their games.  https://www.gencon.com/events/103190

I can definitely vouch for GaryCon and Origins both being easy to game at.  But, as Borose said...there are so many ways to get into games at Gen-Con.  I cannot even tell you how many people I have seen talk their way into a full table with generic tickets (and not, like, maliciously--just like "hey, is there any way you could take a [7th?]" "Sure, pull up a chair!")

Mostly I can vouch for Gen-Con being so much more amazing an experience overall than any other convention that there is no comparison, so I would feel bad for you if you did not attend.

Hi all, I just wanted to thank everyone for their recommendations.  I am looking forward to start experimenting with different gaming con's each year now.

Thank you!