Poker News in Brief: Feb. 8-14, 2010

Paul Wasicka's performance at WSOPC Tunica, the start of FTOPS XV and Cole South crushing online were the biggest poker stories of the second week of February.

However, there were several stories that almost fell through the cracks here at PokerListings.com and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we’ve compiled a list of them below.

This week we’ll look at a former world champion returning to Full Tilt, the PokerStars Macau Poker Cup and more.

Mortensen Returns to Full Tilt

The enigmatic Carlos Mortensen has apparently returned to Full Tilt Poker as a red pro.

Mortensen, who is the only player in history win both the WSOP Main Event and the WPT World Championship, disappeared from the Full Tilt roster after the 2008 WSOP.

Although Full Tilt has yet to officially confirm that Mortensen has returned, he is once again listed as a red pro on the company’s website.

Despite his impressive tournament results, which include more than $8.8 million in lifetime earnings, Mortensen has stayed out of the limelight and limits the number of live tournaments he plays every year.

Record Prizepool at PokerStars.net ANZPT Adelaide

PokerStars kicked off the second season of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour with a tournament in Adelaide this week that drew a record number of players.

A total of 236 players bought into the event to create a prize pool of AUD$644,280, which beat last year’s tournament by AUD$57,330.

The final table of ANZPT Adelaide is scheduled to take place later today. The next event on the ANZPT schedule will take place in Perth on March 17-21.

World Poker Tour to Reach Landmark Episode

The World Poker Tour's eighth season will climax with the 178^th episode of the show, putting it ahead of long-running U.S. TV stalwarts like L.A. Law (171 episodes), The Flintstones (166 episodes) and Magnum P.I. (162 episodes).

“WPT’s production team is no stranger to making history - their show propelled the game into the thriving global industry it is today,” said George Greenberg, executive vice president of programming and production Fox Sports.

“The WPT production team broke new ground in translating the game of poker to audiences worldwide through innovative formats and high-quality production.”

After the conclusion of the eighth season the WPT will be right behind classics like Seinfeld, which ran for 179 episodes and I Love Lucy, which went 179.

Songwriter Offers Half WSOP Winnings

Jason Mershon, a professional poker pro and songwriter, has come up with an unusual plan to promote his new song “Playin’ Poker for a Livin’.”

If Mershon makes the final table of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, he has agreed to give 50% of his winnings to the first 15,000 fans that purchase the song from his website.

“It’s just my way of saying ‘thank you’ to those fans who really like my new song,” said Mershon.

Mershon plans on updating his progress at the 2010 WSOP via Twitter so fans can sweat their horse.

Macau Poker Cup Coming in March

PokerStars released the schedule for an upcoming Macau Poker Cup this week.

The tournament series will run March 3-7 with six events including the $1 million Hong Kong dollar guaranteed Red Dragon event.

The series will also include a HKD$3,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event, a Knockout Bounty event, a charity event and a Rebuy tournament.

All the events take place in the PokerStars Macau poker room in the Lisboa Hotel and Casino.

PokerStars-sponsored player Kitty Kuo outlasted 246 players to win HKD$557,230 in the last Macau Poker Cup event, which took place in October.

All results in Macau Poker Cup events count towards the Asia Player of the Year and this year PokerStars will award a one-year sponsorship deal to the APOY winner.