Yes, the World Poker Tour at Bellagio was an awesome and satisfying event. But there was more going on around town, especially next door at the almost too massive City Center. Here are some random pix and observations...

A new WPT Champ was crowned at Bellagio after more than seven hours of great poker. He's won two WSOP bracelets, he's played on High Stakes Poker, and now he's won a WPT event!

"Fast and Furious" would be a drastic understatement of the day 5 action at Bellagio. "Gone in 60 Seconds" is more like it. Ten players busted in five hours as the field was reduced to the "TV 6".

They're way past the money bubble, and zeroing in on the "TV 6". Many well-known players busted out of the nightmarishly tough field today, and a new group of chip leaders has moved to the top of the leader board.

Day 3 play began with 130 players and ended with just 36. We're now half way through the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, which is the beginning of the end for the short stacks. And the grand opening of Aria at City Center might mark the end of more than one era in Las Vegas.

Day 2 started with a higher average chip stack but a lower average hair count than on day 1. Many players shaved their heads in support of fellow pro Thuy Doan, who is undergoing chemotherapy. And enough players bought in late to lift the total player count well over 300.

Back in Vegas, baby!   The WPT has new owners now, but they're sticking to their tried and true formula for season 8. Our intrepid CEO/railbird is there now, and he's got a few pix of the event and the new City Center mega-project.

The World Poker Tour may be going through ownership changes, and there are new overseas events on the schedule now, but you wouldn't know it sitting in the stands at the Bicycle Casino's WPT event. Most everyone seems to still be with the production crew, including Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten.

Our friend Jon over at MacPokerTools has put together an amazing site. And now he's created some custom Apple-themed table themes for FullTilt! We've tried them out, they rock, and we've got screencaps to prove it. The mods look pretty sweet with FlopZoom's HUD on top...

Here's a few more pix from the WSOP Main Event and elsewhere in Las Vegas. They didn't quite belong in the tournament blog, so here they are in their random glory. We'll try to make it out to the November Nine showdown, but in the meantime we'll be at several other major poker tournaments.

Lock it up for nine guys who are from different countries, represent different ethnic backgrounds, and reflect the extreme opposite ends of the amateur-to-pro spectrum. This is a dream come true for hardcore poker fans, for ESPN, and for the WSOP. Here's a few photos and words on how we got down to this year's November Nine.

More familiar names were added to the bustout list on action-packed day 7. Short stacks made moves, big stacks busted them, and now that the dust has settled, a star-studded final table is a possibility. There was plenty of action at the featured tables and we have pix to prove it!

Back in Vegas and back at the Rio with a Nikon and an iPhone! Rocket Boy got some decent pix at Main Event day 6, and there are still two more days before we get down to the November Nine. Would Peter Eastgate repeat? Would Joe Sebok finally break through? Would Phil Ivey win his 3rd bracelet of 2009? Read on...

Rocket Boy took quite a few pix on his first WSOP trip this year. Some of them weren't appropriate for the tournament blogs, so we'll just dump them into "random photos" bucket. You could almost call it the "Ladies of the WSOP" but not quite. (But that might be a topic for a future blog...)

OK, now we're Officially Tired. Final table play started at about 2:30pm on Tuesday and the winning hand ended at about 10:00am Wednesday, or roughly 19.5 hours later. Everyone except the incredible Rio WSOP staff and the players themselves started nodding off after the first 12 or 15 hours, including yours truly. But history was to be made, and we were there to cover it.

About one third fewer players entered the high-prestige $50K HORSE event this year than in previous years. Blame it on ESPN. They won't be airing this event as a separate WSOP episode. But Rocket Boy was there and he's got pix to share with you. Look for more coverage of the final table tomorrow, with photos and live tweets too!

We're back in Vegas! We railed the $1500 Limit Hold'em Shootout and got some pix of the action. Real poker history could have been made by several different players. The eventual winner had to overcome a serious, sustained period of cold-deck torture, but in the end skill and steely determination took it down.

Are you heading to Vegas for the WSOP this summer? Then you need to read this. We've put together a few travel tips for you to help you avoid some of the hassles and headaches you can run into. They're mostly driving do's and don'ts, but there are also a few general tips as well. Have fun!

Two of the final six players had a chance to make history. One could become the first player to win a WSOP main event, the WSOP $50K HORSE event, and the WPT World Championship. Another could overtake John Phan to be the 2009 WPT Player of the Year. "Rocket Boy" tells us what happened (and shows us with pix).

Attendance was down this year at the WPT Championship, but maybe not for the most obvious reasons. The net result? Fewer random guys, more established pros and a living legend had a chance to make the TV table at this year's World Poker Tour World Championship. Our now-Twittering CEO "Rocket Boy" tells us which of the final table ten made it past the TV bubble.

Recent poker movies have been dogs, plain and simple. And you haven't even seen some of the worst ones. Our resident webgrrrl relates why poker isn't enough, all by itself, to carry a movie. But don't get all angsty on us just yet. There's still hope. She's got the line on a few upcoming films that could re-animate poker on the silver screen.

It was local heroes vs. established veterans vs. young hotshots at the final table. Two of the toughest players in the world got down to heads-up play with deep stacks, which usually means a grueling endurance test. And that's what we got. It was a battle of poker willpower that lasted 319 hands, a new WPT record. But unlike the Commerce event, there was only one huge bad beat when all the chips were in the middle, and the loser of that hand never quite recovered...

We're considering changing Rocket Boy's nickname to Railbird. Our railbirding CEO headed to San Jose for "Bubble Day" at the WPT event at Bay 101. Would Kathy Liebert be the third woman in three years to make the final table at this event? Would local hero Chau Vu come back from the felt to make the final table? Read on...

Our roving CEO "Rocket Boy" has fixed his railbirding jones yet again. At the worlds biggest cardroom: the Commerce Casino in SoCal. Would it be a Chris vs. Chris (Ferguson vs. Karagulleyan) fight to the finish? We wouldn't want to spoil the fun by telling you here. But be advised: the TV table was a grueling 303 hand torture session of bad beats...

There's no tipping online, but there's still that pesky rake. It's skimmed off the top of every pot you win and added to every tournament buy-in you pay. But you can and should get some of your rake back...

This is a guest blog by Oliver MacLennan of Poker Junkie, one of our fave sites. He relates some good solid advice on how to play online sit-n-go tournaments, which are quite different from multi-table tournaments. Hint: try less sitting and more going...

If anyone in the world is a Mac fanatic, it's Maniac. So, like a salmon swimming upstream, he always headed to SF for Macworld. But will he still go to Macworld 2010 without Apple? Not likely...

He hates snow but he loves poker. So Rocket Boy was thrilled to visit a snow-free Lake Tahoe and sweat the WSOPC main event final table. The local talent got very deep but a big-name pro took it down...

Rocket Boy finally railed the WSOP one time, and he says it won't be the last time. Only one event could get him to go to Vegas in the summer. That's right, baby, it was the $50K HORSE event...

FlopTech's Chief Executive Nit, Rocket Boy, took time out from his "busy schedule" to rail the main event of the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event. Again. Like he's some kind of WPT fanboi already...

Rocket Boy rolls into Vegas and what does he do? He rails the Bellagio Five Diamond WPT event again. Well, somebody's gotta do it. At least he got some good pix...

Our Chief Technology Maniac gets his face up outta the code to ship us the buzz on some Tahoe cardrooms: Montbleu and Harvey's. If this guy could play as well as he programs, he could quit and go full-time pro. (Hint, hint...)

How much luck is there in poker? How much skill? Should poker be lumped together with other card games like blackjack, pai-gow, and baccarat? "Rocket Boy" gives us his thoughts...

Vegas, baby! "Maniac" gives us the lowdown on three incredibly different cardrooms. The Sahara: old school and on the way out. Palms: off-strip so it has to be good. Wynn: weird and wonderful with a great cardroom...

Three hands that our intrepid bloggers actually played or witnessed in which aces went down in flames for big pots. Ya gotta remember: pocket aces are only the nuts preflop...

The first in a series of brick 'n mortar cardroom reviews by our Chief Technology Officer, "Maniac". He kicks it off with California casinos in the south (Hustler) and north (Lucky Chances)...

Come on, admit it. You guys at FlopTech are spooked by little ole me, Webmistress "Troi". "Dont'cha wish your reading was hot like mine?"

Our CEO, "Rocket Boy" drove to Bay 101 and got in a whole lotta quality seat time in the WPT grandstands. The thing ended way after last call, so Sexton and the gang toasted the winner with apple juice...

Everyone says poker is a people game, and in this blog "Rocket Boy" explains how you should play, not how he does play. He'd be so much better if he practiced what he preached...

Resident chip-slinger and CTO "Maniac" just lets it all hang out. And he's such a mild-mannered guy at work. It's always the quiet ones you need to watch out for...

"Rocket Boy" teeters right on the edge of whininess in this one. "Oh, woe is me! If only I hadn't changed seats I would have been a big winner." Been there, done that too, buddy. Some seats can just be hotter than others...

"Rocket Boy" gets all cosmic as he ponders the checks and balances, the yin and yang, the light and dark, "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC." Well, OK. Not quite that cosmic...

Our roving CEO "Rocket Boy" busts his WPT cherry (but only as a spectator, not a playah.) If he were as good an executive as he is a photographer, he could, uh, well maybe I won't say anything career-limiting right here...

Maybe I'm extra sensitive. Maybe my eyebrow barbells help me channel people's vibes. Whatever. Yes, I can read people pretty well, but it's not because I have an extra big brain or anything. Call me now for your free readin'...

Uber-geek "Maniac" tries to explain the math behind the madness. Why would you call 20% of your stack if you know you're at best 50/50? (Hint: it's not because you're pretending to be a maniac...)

"Rocket Boy" doesn't get to play all that much any more, but he does vaguely remember the good old days with juicy, exploitable games. He tries to explain it all for us...

Yours truly has fended off more than one aggressive move in her time. And she didn't do it by being weak-passive, let me tell you. But she will admit that she wants weak-passive opponents to be her BFFs on the felt...

Some players don't know when to quit, and others don't care about winning. It's important to be able to pick a good time to get up and leave but above all, play to win...

Ouch. Our CEO, "Rocket Boy", saw a pretty nasty river card come out up in the high country. At least the dreaded words "I'll gamble with you" gave advance warning...