It took nearly 18 hours on the clock to fight down to 18 players, and it took almost 6 hours to eliminate Brandon Steven on the bubble in 10th place. But, finally, the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event "November Nine" have been determined.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi played in his fearless and aggressive style to work his way up from 16th to 7th in chips. Hasan Habib started the day last in chips but his brilliant short-stack play allowed him to survive, finishing 14th after more than 9 hours.
Jonathan Duhamel leads with a massive 65.96 million chips, and Jason Senti trails with
7.63 million chips.

Bustouts came rapidly during the day, but play slowed down in the evening and early morning. And we might have arrived at the November Nine earlier had Filippo Candio not doubled up with 7-5 by cracking Joseph Cheong's aces in a horrendous bad beat. But it's poker. It happens.

We were there to photograph the action, and we congratulate the November Nine and wish them luck.

The November Nine and their stacks, courtesy of WSOP.com:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	65,975,000	Jonathan Duhamel
	2nd	46,250,000	John Dolan
	3rd	23,525,000	Joseph Cheong
	4th	19,050,000	John Racener
	5th	16,700,000	Matthew Jarvis
	6th	16,400,000	Filippo Candio
	7th	14,450,000	Michael Mizrachi
	8th	9,650,000	Soi Nguyen
	9th	7,625,000	Jason Senti

Miscellaneous notes:

- Jonathan Duhamel multiplied his stack by a factor of 6.27 on day 8 to end play as the chip leader.
- Average stack is 24.4 million, level 36 blinds are 50k/250k/500k, giving an average M of 20.3 or 48.8 big blinds.
- Only the top two stacks are above the chip average.
- Chip leader Jonathan Duhamel's stack of 65.975 million gives him an M of 55 or 132 big blinds.
- Short stack Jason Senti's stack of 7.625 million gives him an M of 6.35 or 15.25 big blinds.

Read our day 8 photo blog.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

The field lost 51 players in less than 12 hours on day 7, but Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi survived some wild swings and actually increased his stack by 800k. He ended the day below average in chips but not in immediate danger. Other former chip leaders were eliminated, including Theo Jorgensen who had led at the start of the day.

We were there to cover the action from the rail, and we will be there again on day 8 as the November Nine are decided.

The top ten chip leaders at the end of day 7 courtesy of WSOP.com:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	24,490,000	Joseph Cheong
	2nd	23,100,000	Cuong Nguyen
	3rd	15,780,000	Pascal LeFrancois
	4th	13,550,000	Jason Senti
	5th	13,300,000	Matthew Jarvis
	6th	12,515,000	Matt Affleck
	7th	10,520,000	Jonathan Duhamel
	8th	10,470,000	John Racener
	9th	10,020,000	Fillipo Candio
	10th	9,885,000	Benjamin Statz

Miscellaneous notes:

- Michael Mizrachi dropped from 2nd to 16th in rank despite increasing his stack by 800k.
- Theo Jorgensen started play on day 8 with the chip lead but was eliminated in 30th place.
- The average stack is now 8.132 million and level 30 blinds are 15k/60k/120k, giving an average M of 25.8.
- Chip leader Joseph Cheong's stack of 24.49 million gives him an M of 77.7.
- The shortest stack belongs to Hasan Habib with 1.51 million for an M of 4.79. (Good luck, Hasan!)

We will post the November Nine chip stacks after play has concluded for the day. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

Season nine of the World Poker Tour is underway, and there are several great changes for this season. First, the amazing Matt Savage has been hired on as Executive Tour Director. He has done a fantastic job as Tournament Director for many high-profile poker events, and the WPT stands to benefit with him on their management team.

Next, the Royal Flush Girls will grace each WPT event with their presence throughout the main event. Trust us - they're four of the hottest women we've ever seen, and they look great on camera too. And speaking of hotties, Kimberly Lansing has returned to the WPT as the new "anchor" for each WPT main event. She will be present for all days of WPT televised events to give her on-air interviews and updates more depth. We missed her, and we're sure many WPT fans did as well.

As for the tournament, Phil Ivey made a record 9th WPT final table appearance. Mr. Ivey has cashed 10 times and made the final table on 9 of those events, an incredible feat. But he didn't manage to win his second WPT title, finishing in third place.

Moritz Kranich of Germany was the eventual winner, but he caught lucky cards after all the chips were in the middle to win several key hands. Mr. Kranich faced the phenomenal Justin "BoostedJ" Smith in heads-up play, and frankly he was lucky to win some key all-in hands to defeat Mr. Smith. He takes the $8.75 million first place prize plus a Rolex, a WPT bracelet, and an entry into WPT Championship IX. Congratulations Moritz!

• WPT Bellagio Cup VI Live Updates
• Poker Listings Story on Kimberly Lansing's Return to the WPT

 

Day 6 saw a drastic drop in player count. Only 78 players remain, and each of them is guaranteed $94,942. The next pay jump, of $10k, happens at 72 players, but the pay jump at 63 players will be for $24k, so there might be a short-stack slidefest when the players reach that milestone.

Johnny Chan will need to wait until 2011 to take another shot at his 11th WSOP bracelet. He was eliminated in the afternoon after running big pairs into the biggest pair
(KK vs. AA then JJ vs. AA).

And, once again, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is the last of "Team Mizrachi" remaining in this year's World Series of Poker. Brother Robert was eliminated, but Michael ended the day 2nd in chips.

The top ten chip leaders at the end of day 6 courtesy of WSOP.com:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	9,295,000	Theo Jorgensen
	2nd	7,535,000	Michael Mizrachi
	3rd	7,200,000	John Racener
	4th	6,570,000	Jonathan Driscoll
	5th	6,525,000	William Thorson
	6th	6,125,000	Matthew Jarvis
	7th	5,950,000	Edward Ochana
	8th	5,715,000	Alexander Kostritsyn
	9th	5,650,000	Cuong Nguyen
	10th	5,555,000	Joseph Cheong

Miscellaneous notes:

- The average stack is now 2.815 million and level 21 blinds are 5k/20k/40k, giving an average M of 26.8.
- Chip leader Theo Jorgensen's stack of 9.925 million gives him an M of 94.5.
- The shortest stack belongs to Jeff Banghart with 645,000 for an M of 6.1.
- Jean-Robert Bellande has the fourth shortest stack with 700,000.

We will be posting daily news articles with top ten chip leaders until the November Nine have been decided. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

Just 205 players remain after day 5, in part because of the mad flurry of 37 bustouts in the last hour of play. Unfortunately for the Mizrachi family, Danny Mizrachi was one of the day's casualties. But Michael "The Grinder" and Robert "Who's Bad" are still in.

Johnny Chan moved up into ninth position with 2.559 million chips, and Theo Jorgensen and Matt Affleck remain in the top ten.

The top ten chip leaders at the end of day 5 courtesy of WSOP.com:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	3,564,000	Evan Lamprea
	2nd	3,527,000	Michael Skender
	3rd	3,357,000	Joseph Cheong
	4th	3,186,000	Duy Le
	5th	3,088,000	Theo Jorgensen
	6th	2,902,000	Bryn Kenney
	7th	2,896,000	Matt Affleck
	8th	2,564,000	Alexander Kostritsyn
	9th	2,559,000	Johnny Chan
	10th	2,442,000	Sebastian Panny

Miscellaneous notes:

- The average stack is now 1.07 million and level 21 blinds are 2k/8k/16k, giving an average M of 25.5.
- Chip leader Evan Lamprea's stack of 3.564 million gives him an M of 84.9.
- Johnny Chan's 2.559 million chips give him an M of 60.9.

We will be posting daily news articles with top ten chip leaders until the November Nine have been decided. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

Only 576 players are left standing at the end of day 4, and all of them are going to get paid. The money bubble burst when 747 of today's 1,203 players were left. Including all four of the Mizrachi brothers and the seemingly unstoppable Johnny Chan.

Chan remains among the chip leaders in 14th position with 1.16 million. And one of our favorite pros, Phil Galfond, is now fifth in chips.

The top ten chip leaders at the end of day 4, courtesy of WSOP.com:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	1,546,000	Tony Dunst
	2nd	1,460,000	Duy Le
	3rd	1,440,000	Garrett Adelstein
	4th	1,395,000	Matt Affleck
	5th	1,392,000	Phil Galfond
	6th	1,373,000	Matt Jarvis
	7th	1,340,000	Theo Jorgensen
	8th	1,283,000	Ben Statz
	9th	1,240,000	Bryan Pellegrino
	10th	1,203,000	Matthew Brown

Miscellaneous notes:

- The top 18 players all have more than 1 million chips.
- The average stack is now 381k and level 17 blinds are 1k/3k/6k, giving an average M of 21.2.
- Chip leader Tony Dunst's stack of 1.546 million gives him an M of 85.9.
- Johnny Chan's 1.159 million chips give him an M of 64.4.
- Eric Mizrachi busted in the money, but his brothers Donny (437k), Robert (405k), and Michael (241k) are still in.
- Notable bustouts: Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Kathy Liebert, J.J. Liu, Matt Savage, Erica Schoenberg, Robert Varkonyi.

We will be posting daily news articles with top ten chip leaders until the November Nine have been decided. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

All 2,559 of this year's remaining hopefuls played in a single room for the first time on Monday. And one of today's biggest stories is that the "Orient Express" himself is making a run at a third Main Event win. Johnny "F***in'" Chan ended the day ninth in chips, putting him in great position to go all the way.

And believe it or not, all of the Mizrachi brothers are all still in. Michael, Robert, Eric, and rookie Donny will be playing day 4, with Michael and Robert both going after their second bracelets.

There will be no repeat Main Event win for Joe Cada, as he was eliminated on day 3. And two WPT stars are still in with a chance: Matt Savage and Vince Van Patten have both made it through to day 4.

The top ten chip leaders at the end of day 3:

	Rank	Chips	Name
	1st	803,000	James Carroll
	2nd	741,000	Imari Love
	3rd	733,700	Gerasimos Deres
	4th	687,200	Max Casal
	5th	669,000	Josh Brikis
	6th	666,200	Arie Kliper
	7th	657,700	Andrew Brown
	8th	656,400	Johnny Lodden
	9th	636,000	Johnny Chan
	10th	616,800	Rafal Michalowski

Miscellaneous notes:

- Average chip stack at the start of the day was 85,800, level 9 blinds were 100/500/1,000, for an average M of 35.8.
- Average chip stack at the end of the day is 177,000, level 13 blinds are 300/1200/2,400, for an average M of 28.1.
- Chip leader James Carroll's stack of 803,000 gives him an M of 127.
- Johnny Chan's 636,000 chips give him an M of 100.
- Notable bustouts: Bill Chen, Joe Cada, Jennifer Harman, Eugene Katchalov, Billy Kopp, Phil Laak, Chris Moneymaker,
   Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Erik Seidel, and David Williams.

We will be posting daily news articles with top ten chip leaders until the November Nine have been decided. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

This year's WSOP Main Event is already half over in terms of playing days. But the field hasn't even been together in one room yet. At the end of day 2b, roughly 2,600 of the 7,319 total players remain, and they'll take Sunday off. On Monday, day 3, they will finally play as a single group. And maybe even reach the money.

Here are the chip leaders at the end of each day of play so far:

Day	Rank	Chips	Name
1a	1st	228,200	Corwin Cole
	2nd	191,125	Dwyen Ringbauer
	3rd	142,650	Michael Mizrachi
1b	1st	201,050	James Danielson
	2nd	167,300	Filippo Candio
	3rd	155,225	Robert Miller
1c	1st	169,900	Mathieu Sauriol
	2nd	163,700	Johnny Chan
	3rd	155,350	Andrew Liporace
1d	1st	187,150	Steve Billirakis
	2nd	170,525	Khamsy Nuanmanee
	3rd	170,275	Steven Tabb
2a	1st	340,100	Boulos Estafanous
	2nd	337,000	Randy Dorfman
	3rd	316,200	Jesper Hougaard
2b	1st	387,800	David Assouline
	2nd	380,000	Ricardo Fasanaro
	3rd	337,800	Matt Reed

A few miscellaneous notes:

- First prize is $8,944,138, up only 4.7% from last year's $8,546,435 despite a 12.7% increase in field size (6,494 to 7,319).
- This year's Main Event field of 7,319 is the second largest in history. The record is 8,773 players in 2006.
- Phil Hellmuth busted on day 1c, so his WSOP bracelet record will remain at 11.
- Phil Ivey will neither win multiple bracelets this year nor repeat his November Nine appearance, having busted on day 2b.
- Doyle Brunson busted on day 2b, leaving only Johnny Chan with a chance to tie Hellmuth's bracelet record.

We will be posting daily news articles with chip leaders until the November Nine have been decided. And we will be tweeting and blogging from the rail at the Rio from day 5 onward.

Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

We've updated the list of the $10K and greater buy-in World Championship event winners in this year's WSOP. The only remaining Championship event is the Main Event, and we won't know the winner until November. So why wait?

We'll be tweeting and blogging from the Main Event rail as the field is reduced to the November Nine. Last year, Phil Ivey made the November Nine but just couldn't get anything going at the final table. Could he go all the way this year?

Event	Winner	Prize	Buyin & Title
#2	Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi	$1.5M	$50K Players Championship (8-game mix)
#10	Men "The Master" Nguyen	$395K	$10K Seven Card Stud
#15	Frank Kassela	$447K	$10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
#19	David "WhooooKidd" Baker	$294K	$10K 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit)
#25	Ihsan "Sammy" Farha	$488K	$10K Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
#29	Matt Keikoan	$426k	$10K Limit Hold-em
#35	Ayaz Mahmood	$626k	$10K Heads-Up No Limit Hold-em
#38	Valdemar Kwaysser	$617k	$10K Pot Limit Hold-em
#43	Ian Gordon	$612k	$10K HORSE
#52	Dan "djk123" Kelly	$1.3m	$25K 6-handed No Limit Hold-em
#55	Daniel Alaei	$780k	$10K Pot Limit Omaha

And Huck Seed took $500k for winning the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions invitational freeroll, which featured one of the toughest fields in history. Visit the official WSOP event results page for information on all 2010 WSOP events.
 

We're all about poker and Apple, so we've mashed up a some links to events in both of those worlds.

Some of our favorite players won their first WSOP bracelets, and another of our favorites picked up his 8th:

	CardPlayer	Phil Ivey wins his 8th WSOP bracelet
	Bluff Magazine	Gavin Smith wins his first WSOP bracelet
	PokerListings	Chris Bell talks about his first WSOP bracelet win

Apple released its feverishly anticipated iPhone 4 amid more than a little controversy surrounding signal strength and the "death grip":

	CNN	Apple sells 600k iPhones on first day of sales
	Apple	1.7 million iPhone 4s sold in first three days
	Anandtech	iPhone 4 reception tested and explained

Oh, and one more thing. Microsoft has killed off the Kin:

	CNET	The Kin is dead
	Engadget	Why did the Kin die?

 

He's perhaps the best all-around poker player in the world, he's won his 8th World Series of Poker event, and he's got the bracelet to prove it. Phil Ivey overcame a smallish but very tough field to win the $3K H.O.R.S.E. event. Poker math wizard Bill Chen put up a good fight in heads-up play, and at one time during 3-handed play he held roughly 75% of the chips in play.

The win puts Mr. Ivey in a tie with Erik Seidel for fifth place in WSOP bracelets. Only Phil Hellmuth (11), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), and Johnny Moss (9) have more. And Mr. Ivey is a relatively youthful 33, so he has decades to win even more bracelets.

Mr. Ivey is a legendary prop better, and he has stated publicly that he has quite a lot of side action on bracelet bets. Rumor has it that after he won, he asked "So how much is it for first place anyway?" (Answer: $329,840.) Congratulations Phil, and good luck during the remainder of the 2010 WSOP.

• WSOP News Story
• Official WSOP Results for Event #37

 

We've prepared a list of just the $10K and greater buy-in World Championship event winners at roughly the halfway point in this year's WSOP. So far there have been five World Championship events if you include the $50K Poker Players Championship.

There are still six more World Championship events including the Main Event. We'll be tweeting and blogging from the Main Event rail as the excitement and pressure build toward this year's November Nine.

Here they are, your 2010 Championship event winners to date:

Event	Winner	Prize	Buyin & Title
#2	Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi	$1.5M	$50K Players Championship (8-game mix)
#10	Men "The Master" Nguyen	$395K	$10K Seven Card Stud
#15	Frank Kassela	$447K	$10K Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
#19	David "WhooooKidd" Baker	$294K	$10K 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit)
#25	Ihsan "Sammy" Farha	$488K	$10K Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better

 

Steve Jobs officially revealed Apple's worst-kept secret this morning. Most of the impressive physical details of the widely leaked next-gen design were correct, but the software improvements have leapfrogged iPhone 4 a whole generation ahead of all competitors.

Headlining the new hardware features are a brand new industrial design with flat front and back glass panels, a new CPU, an ultra-high resolution display, a three-axis gyroscopic motion sensor, an improved main camera with built-in illumination and high definition video recording, and a secondary video chat camera. The new iOS4, formerly known as iPhone OS 4, supports iMovie for iPhone (a $4.99 app), and includes a new FaceTime video chat app, a new folder feature for organizing apps, and many other new user-facing features and new APIs for developers to use.

iPhone 4 also boasts vastly improved battery life and is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It will be available with front and back glass panels in black or white and with either 16GB or 32GB of flash RAM.

AT&T will continue to be the sole U.S. carrier for iPhone 4. U.S. prices will be the same as for the current 3GS: $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model. Pre-orders begin on June 15th and availability will begin on June 24th in the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., and Japan. Availability in increasing numbers of countries will begin in July and continue through September, by which time iPhone 4 will be available in 88 countries around the world.

• Apple's iPhone 4 design page
• Macworld Story
• The Unofficial Apple Weblog Story

 

This year's inaugural WSOP $50K Poker Players Championship featured the world's best players and added three more poker variants to last year's $50K H.O.R.S.E. mix. Mr. Mizrachi started the final table of 8 as chip leader, but suffered some serious swings before ultimately defeating Vladimir Schmelev heads-up. And he had to bust his brother Robert along the way.

It was an emotionally charged, grueling NLH match, with at least one brutal river card of doom, and we were there until the bittersweet end. We are extremely happy for Grinder, his family, friends, and fans. This is guaranteed be an awesome ESPN show, so don't miss it!

• World Series of Poker event summary
• World Series of Poker live blog
• Our photo blog of the day 4 action
• Our photo blog of the final table

 

The World Poker Tour main event in Barcelona attracted 326 players, generated a €1.3 million prize pool, and Ali Tekintamac took the lion's share (€421K) for the win. Congratulations to Ali and the WPT on yet another successful international event!

• World Poker Tour report

 

We have released FlopZoom 1.4.5, which resolves two specific HUD issues with Full Tilt tournaments: table changes on certain MTTs caused the HUD to intermittantly appear, and playing multiple tournaments sometimes caused the HUD to intermittantly appear. In addition, overall HUD stability has been improved for Full Tilt and Poker Stars. This update is recommended for all FlopZoom users, especially those who play on Full Tilt.

• Click to download FlopZoom 1.4.5
• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

Question - What could be better than Paris in the Spring?
Answer - Paris in the Spring plus lots of money.
And that's what Theo Jorgensen is enjoying right now (if he's still in Paris). He won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, outlasting the 247 player field and taking the €633,902 top prize. Mr. Jorgensen started as the big stack, took some hits, but came back with a vengeance. And once he had eliminated the medium stacks, it was as easy as a (very brief) stroll through the Jardin de Luxembourg. Congratulations Theo!

• World Poker Tour live report
• Poker News report

 

FlopTech Engineering (that's us again) has released FlopZoom 1.4.4, which resolves an issue on launch that occurred on some Mac OS X 10.4 systems and an issue that caused some Full Tilt hand history files to be ignored. This update is strongly recommended for all FlopZoom users, especially those who are using Mac OS X 10.4 systems and/or playing on Full Tilt.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

The European Poker Tour 2009-2010 season has ended on a high note in Monaco. Particularly for Nicolas Chouity, who crushed the final table like Godzilla crushed Tokyo. Except that Godzilla didn't take home €1.7 million when he was done. Chouity defeated the huge 848 runner field, each of whom paid €10K to experience said crushing.

The EPT in general had a great year, and we're looking forward to the 2010-2011 season. Congratulations to the EPT and Nicolas!

• Poker Listings Story

 

It's one thing to read about FlopZoom's features, and another thing entirely to see them in action. We've posted the first three in a series of video tips for your enjoyment, and there are many more to come.

We will also be creating a YouTube channel in the near future. Our promise to you: "No boring narration. Ever."

• Check out our FlopZoom video tips

 

We've released FlopZoom 1.4.3, which resolves an issue on launch caused by some Full Tilt sessions and an issue that caused some Full Tilt hand history files to be skipped. This update is strongly recommended for all FlopZoom users, especially those who play on Full Tilt.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

David Williams has changed a lot since 2004. He's got more hair, more experience, and he takes more time to think things through before he acts. And now he's got a WPT Championship bracelet. He beat 194 other runners to take the $1.5 million top prize at Bellagio, and our man was there.

Every year, the Poker Gods crank up the drama for this particular event. There were shocking river cards and monster vs. monster bustouts to keep things lively. And in the end, Mr. Williams beat the odds and all of his opponents. Congratulations David!

• World Poker Tour Story

 

You might not have seen her in the WC in Maxim (we certainly have), but you'll be seeing her in all the poker magazines very soon. Liv Boeree, one of our favorite women, has won the European Poker Tour San Remo event. She adds a cool €1.25 million to her roll, courtesy of the record field of 1,238 other players, each of whom donated €5,300 to her fund.

The ladies are on a roll of late, with Vanessa Selbst picking up her first WPT victory, Vanessa Rousso narrowly missing the WPT Mohegan Sun final table, and J.J. Liu and Heather Sue Mercer going deep in the WPT Championship. Congratulations Liv, and good luck at the EPT Grand Final in Monaco!

• Poker Listings Story

 

FlopTech Engineering (yours truly) has released FlopZoom 1.4.2, which resolves an issue causing certain Full Tilt hand history files to be ignored. This update is strongly recommended for all FlopZoom users, especially those who play on Full Tilt.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

She's already won a WSOP bracelet and you've seen her win a WPT Ladies' event on TV. And soon you can see her win first North American Poker Tour main event. 715 other players anted up $5k each for the privilege of being defeated by Ms. Selbst, whose aggressive style helped her take down yet another top prize. It was almost an all-Vanessa final table, but Vanessa Rousso was eliminated in 10th place. Congratulations to Vanessa S. and the NAPT!

• Bluff Magazine Story

 

The WPT has added a little more "World" to their circuit with their newest event in Bucharest, Romania. 161 players started, and only Guillaume Darcourt was left standing at the end. Mr. Darcourt won the €125,846 top prize plus the $25,000 entry to the WPT Championship to be held later this month at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Congratulations Guillaume!

• World Poker Tour Story

 

We have added four new statistics to FlopZoom 1.4: C-bets, 2-bets, 3-bets, and 4+bets. The statistics pane shows per-street data for these statistics, and features a new menu-driven interface. FlopZoom's HUD also can show these new statistics as either text or graphs.

In addition, the HUD player data panel can now be expanded to show per-street statistics as well as the average statistics. There are many other improvements and resolved issues in FlopZoom 1.4, so this is a strongly recommended upgrade.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

Carlos "El Matador" Mortensen hasn't been in the spotlight recently, but he's broken through again. He has become the all-time WPT money winner and now shares the record for most WPT wins with Gus Hansen, at three wins each. Mr. Mortensen took the relatively small $393k top prize plus $25k entry fee to the WPT Championship to be held at Bellagio next month. We'll be there to see if Mr. Mortensen can win his second WPT Championship. Congratulations Carlos!

• World Poker Tour Live Coverage
• Poker Listings Story on Mortensen

 

The World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Stars event seems to always end up with an awesome final table. This year was no exception, and although it seemed like last year's marathon session could be broken, it wasn't. McLean Karr and Andy Seth outlasted veterans Phil Hellmuth and Hasan Habib and fought aggressively until the end. Mr. Karr ended up taking the $879k top prize, but it could have easily gone either way. Congratulations McLean!

• World Poker Tour Story
• Poker Listings Story

 

This FlopZoom release resolves several issues that can cause problems on launch: handling unsupported game types in hand history files, and cancelled or truncated hands on Full Tilt. In addition, players using the Italian version of PokerStars (PokerStars.it) will see improved support. Many other stability and cosmetic improvements are rolled into this release as well. This release is strongly recommended for all FlopZoom users.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

It's been a while since we've seen Annie Duke in the winner's circle, so we're glad to see that she's taken down the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Championship. There has been criticism of the player selection process, but there is no doubt in our minds that Annie is a deserving champion. And she had to get past none other than Erik Seidel in the final match. Congratulations Annie!

• Poker Listings Story

 

This FlopZoom release addresses several issues, including incorrect handling of Full Tilt MTT table changes, intermittent HUD operation, and incorrect long-term interval data display in the HUD. This release also resolves several stability issues and contains many other improvements.

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee has won the €1 million top prize at the Berlin stop of the European Poker Tour. An EPT record 945 players from 48 countries entered, making EPT Berlin the largest live poker tournament in German history. MacPhee, a 29 year old American, is a well-known online player, and seems to have successfully made the transition from online to live play. Congratulations to Kevin, the EPT, and the Grand Hyatt Berlin!

• Poker News Report

 

Most importantly, it appears that nobody was seriously hurt. Five or six armed men entered the Berlin Grand Hyatt Hotel and tried to take the prize money, which apparently was on display. The main event continued, but several side events were cancelled because many of the tables were overturned and chips dumped onto the floor.

But really. As fine a hotel as the Grand Hyatt Berlin undoubtedly is, hotel security simply isn't trained to protect bricks of Euros piled up on a table. And the bad guys know that. A heroic effort by the Grand Hyatt's security staff seems to have foiled the attempt.

• Poker News Report
• YouTube clip of live TV showing robbery

 

The World Poker Tour keeps roaring on, and the Los Angeles Poker Classic at the Commerce has created two new poker-made millionaires to prove it. Winner Andras Koroknai took the big prize, $1.7 million, and runner-up Raymond Dolan also cleared the cool million mark. 745 hopefuls contributed a total of nearly $7.2 million to the prize pool this year. That's 50 more players than last year, and just a few dozen short of 2007's Commerce record of 791. Congratulations to Andras!

• World Poker Tour Live Report

 

We've done a lot of work on FlopZoom, and the new features in FlopZoom 1.3 are just the tip of the iceberg. The statistics pane now shows per-street numbers plus an overall average for Aggression Factor (AF), All-In Percentage (AIP), and Uncalled Bet Percentage (UBP). And the HUD now has an option to show many of its statistics as bar graphs, like miniature versions of the statistics pane's graphs.

The HUD can now be positioned correctly over Full Tilt 8-max tables, the AF (Aggression Factor) graphs in the statistics pane and HUD are now scaled better, and there are many other improvements as well.

FlopZoom 1.3 requires a database rebuild on first launch, and it also starts a new 30-day evaluation period for all earlier versions that have expired. And, of course, it's free!

• Learn more about FlopZoom

 

Hoyt Corkins, one of the coolest guys you could imagine, is the latest WPT Champion. His win at the Southern Poker Championship gives him his second WPT title, and although he was by far the best-known player in the "TV six", he had quite a battle on his hands. He had less than 2x the stacks of two other players at the start of the TV taping, and at one point became the short stack during 3-handed play.

Mr. Corkins bested the field of 208, scored nearly $740k for the win, and can now wear a WPT bracelet on each wrist if he wants to up his intimidation factor. Congratulations Hoyt! Next time, we'll give you that cigar we promised, brother. Got there too late on day 3 at Bellagio.

• World Poker Tour story
• Follow the World Poker Tour on Twitter

 

Mr. Jobs and company have outdone themselves this time. They have re-imagined the tired old tablet computer concept and advanced it into the 21st century. The all-new iPad is easy to use, gets great battery life, and in many ways is like a giant iPod Touch with a 9.7 inch screen. It runs games, plays movies, surfs the web, handles your email, runs all 140,000+ apps now available on the App Store, and can even run special multi-touch versions of iWork apps. There is also a new "iBooks" e-reader app and a new iBook Store through which you can purchase current book titles.

iPad syncs with iTunes just like an iPhone or iPod, all models include WiFi as a standard feature, and some models will be available with unlocked GSM SIM cards for 3G connectivity through the carrier of your choice. Two new AT&T 3G monthly data plans are available for the 3G-enabled models, if you choose to use AT&T as your carrier: $15/month for up to 250MB or $30/month unlimited. No contract is necessary with either plan, so you can cancel at any time.

iPad will be available in six models with different memory and wireless configurations, from the basic 16GB WiFi-only model for $499 to the deluxe 64GB WiFi + 3G model for $829. WiFi-only models will begin shipping in late March, and 3G-enabled models will begin shipping in late April.

• Learn More at Apple's iPad Site
• Engadget's keynote liveblog
• Gizmodo's first hands-on impressions