You think people aren’t in to the World Series of Poker (season began in May)?

Forgettaboutit. As Tony Soprano might say.

Bad economy or no, people are still going to the WSOP’s main event this week in Vegas.

This year’s Main Event drew 7,319 entries, second most in the 41-year history of a tournament that began with seven players in 1970.

Of course, this is how it works. The higher the number of entries, the bigger the prize pool. That’s because of the $10,000 buy ins.

This year’s winner will pocket more than $8.9 milion, the second biggest top prize ever.

he Main Event is the last of 57 tournaments that make up the World Series. Begun in late May, those 57 events drew a record 72,966 overall entries.

“It’s certainly the high water mark for the poker industry, but it’s become more of a pop culture happening,” said WSOP v.p. Ty Stewart“I’ve heard it said that it’s like a bucket list item (things to do before I die). It’s a bucket list badge of honor. People say they want to run with the bulls in Pamplona and swim with the poker sharks in Vegas.”

The 72,966 total entries this year is a 20% increase over the previous record of 60,875 set in 57 events last year

Celebrities love to play. Athletes love to play. And the American public, the worldwide public, loves to play.

The leader going into Friday with 228,200 chips is Corwin Cole, 25, of Las Vegas (pictured above) . He is followed by James Danielsonof LaPlata, Md., with 201,050 and Dwyne Ringbauer of Henderson, Nev., with 191,125. Johnny Chan, two-time Main Event champion, is 10th with 163,700.

Suber’s recent post on how to pick a poker table got me thinking about the finer side of poker. When you think about it, you could have a lot of fun selecting nice poker chips and ornate poker tables. Rather than going for cheap plastic all the time, why not go for high aesthetic taste?

Well, to be honest, it was only a day later that I was approached by the company Card Room Supply to do a review of their site. This was a no brainer. My mind has been on Poker accessories for a couple days, so I bit at the opportunity.

Wouldn’t you know it, but I found the Poker Table that I want. The table is not only exquisite, with a beautiful light oak finish, but it also fits 8 people and can be used for chess and backgammon playing. There are also accompanying chairs with a high-quality leather seat. Living it up, eh?

While I did find this great poker table, I was a bit disappointed with the available poker chips. I was hoping to match the beautiful table and chair with some unique high-quality, custom chips. However, the available chips are pretty standard.

Still, the important thing is that I’ve found the table and chair that I want and I know what I’ll be asking for, for Christmas!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

According to a recent article at PhysOrg, Americans gambled away over 4 billion dollars last year. How much you wanna bet that a large part of that money was spent on a few games of poker;-)

Introducting Ben our Senior Designer, and Steve our poker blogger. Ahh. I think we played a good hand.