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.

HeadsUp Entertainment , operators of the Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) and Canadian Poker Player Magazine have finalized an agreement with strategic partner World Poker Showdown and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to host a Poker Super Cruise on the “Freedom of the Seas” launching March 23, 2011 from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Based on the success of the previous poker cruise held in April of this year, the event is being expanded to 2 weeks sailing first to the Eastern Caribbean and subsequently to the Western Caribbean ports-of-call.

Sounds good to me.

By expanding to a 2 week series, profitability increases substantially as fixed costs of tournament infrastructure are covered in the first week and options for players to accommodate their vacation schedules are expanded.

Sponsorship revenue, tournament fees and cash game rake revenue is expected to exceed $2,000,000 USD over the 2 week period, with net earnings approaching $1,200,000 or $.018/share.

The Company also announces that a major television deal is currently being finalized that will allow for broadcast of the event and allow for sponsorship revenues to increase dramatically from previous events.

Now that sounds even better.

“The expansion of the poker vacation market has become a major focus for the Company as revenues are maximized in this event structure,” commented HeadsUp President and CEO Kelly B. Kellner. “The event earlier this year was testament to a growing demand in the Canadian and international marketplace.”

I love cruising, so if you do too (and love playing poker or watching high stakes poker tournaments), this might be just the thing for you.

You know how I HATE to run pure press releases on this page. I much prefer commenting on events, players, in the world of poker.

But we are talking about the WSOP tour here, folks.

The 6th stop of the WSOP Circuit begins this week when a 24-event schedule of poker tournaments rolls into Council Bluffs, Iowa, at the Horseshoe property on Thursday, February 18 through March 2.

There is plenty of variety and buy-in levels for players to choose from.

Buy-ins range from $235 to the $5,150 Main Event for the ring events. And plenty of other price points are available for daily non-ring events and cash games.

No-Limit Hold’em enthusiasts will find their share of tournaments available, including a 6-handed tournament and a special Ladies-only tournament.

Limit Hold’em, H.O.R.S.E., Omaha 8 or Better, Pot Limit Omaha, and Limit Omaha are all part of this year’s schedule at Horseshoe Council Bluffs.

We’ll keep our eyes out for the results.

Did you see the Final Table, World Series of Poker event on ESPN?

Pretty awesome stuff. Congratulations to Joe Cada, 21, who defeated Darvin Moon,  to become the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion in the tournament’s 40-year history.

Cada takes home $8,547,042 and the World Series of Poker Main Event world championship bracelet.

Joe Cada came into the final table with a decisive advantage over his opponent, however about an hour into the heads-up match, Moon’s aggressive play remedied his chip deficiency, even putting him in a commanding lead at one point with 149 million in chips to Cada’s 49 million.

“Well you got to take the man’s game away from him,” said Moon of his aggressive strategy.  “Use the man’s game and see where he goes.”

However all was not lost for the young poker pro from Shelby Township, MI.

A bit of light shone for Cada after a river gave him a straight and a hefty 20 million in chips.

Then, back in the driver’s seat, Cada never looked back.  The final hand saw the two remaining players all-in pre-flop with Cada’s pocket nines versus Moon’s Q-J suited.

The flop came 8c-2c-7s improving neither players’ hand, while a king on the turn and another 7 on the river ended Moon’s spectacular run and catapulted Joe Cada into poker superstardom.

While a lot has been said about Moon’s humility and indifference to the fame and fortune that comes with poker celebrity, he was adamant about his intentions on winning it all.

“Oh hell yeah, $3 million dollars, what do you mean what’s the difference?” replied Moon when asked if there was a big difference to him between first and second. “Am I sad about it? Am I depressed? Hell no.” For his second place finish, Moon earned $5,182,928.

A tearful Cada gave a nod to his opponent and addressed the crowd after WSOP commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack presented him with poker’s most coveted prize.

“I’ve dreamed of winning this tournament,” he said afterwards. “Aand to do it the first year out of the gate is unbelievable. This is just amazing.”

Until now.

While millions of online poker players take part in the game throughout the world, my segment of the market  has been frequently overlooked when it comes to online gaming.

No more.

Those of us who run Apple computers (I love my Mac) are left out of many of the activities found online. Especially poker.

Ultimate Bet, the online poker room is changing all that.

Ultimate Bet, the home of 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, among others, will be offering up a Mac version of its popular site called UB Mac, a completely compatible version of the full offerings of Ultimate Bet for the Mac OS, something that has been asked for repeatedly by many poker fans.

“Our company strives to make our poker room accessible to as many people as possible and we recognize that Apple computers have a growing market share in the personal computing industry. In response to this trend, we have developed an all-new download poker application specifically for the Mac Operating System,” said Tokwiro Chief Operating Officer Paul Leggett. “As a Mac user myself, the only real limitation I have found is that a lot of poker applications will not run on the Mac OS. With UB Mac, players will enjoy the same incredible user experience that PC users currently have, and we remain committed to ongoing development of our Mac online poker client to ensure it is the best in the business.”

The new software allows Mac players to have access to the most popular features and functionality that UB users playing on Windows-compatible computers have, including ring games, satellites, single and multi-table Hold’em tournaments, and single player blackjack.

Besides both Mac and Windows options, Ultimate Bet also has a no-download option for players who don’t want to bog down their systems with programs. Its sister site, Absolute Poker also has Mac option.

Other Mac-compatible online poker sites include Poker Stars and Full Tilt, both of which boast fully-functional clients for the Mac which can easily be downloaded and installed.

Now, I gotta run. Excuse me while I start playing. See you next week. Or sooner.

Hey, all you Mac people…let me know how things are working. Okay? If it sucks, let me know that too. And I’ll print your letters.