High Stakes Poker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High Stakes Poker

High Stakes Poker logo
Format Poker series
Starring Gabe Kaplan
A. J. Benza
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 56
Production
Producer(s) Henry Orenstein
Location(s) Flag of Nevada Nevada
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel GSN
Original run January 1, 2006 – Present
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

High Stakes Poker is a cash game poker television program broadcast by the cable television network GSN in the United States. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em.

Contents

[edit] Programming history

The first season of High Stakes Poker, taped at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, began broadcast in January 2006 and consisted of 13 episodes. The second season, taped at The Palms and consisting of 16 episodes, premiered on Monday, June 5, 2006. The third season, consisting of 13 episodes, was taped at the South Point Casino and premiered on Monday, January 15, 2007. New players for this season included Jamie Gold, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius, Paul Wasicka, David Benyamine, Brian Townsend and others. Returning players from previous seasons included Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha, Phil Laak, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Brad Booth and others.[1]

On April 2, 2007 GSN announced that High Stakes Poker was returning for a fourth season. As with the third season, the episodes were taped at the South Point Hotel & Casino. Taping was completed in May 2007, and the season premiered on August 27, 2007. Returning players include Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Sam Farha, Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Jennifer Harman and Daniel Negreanu. Newcomers for the fourth season include Brandon Adams, Mike Baxter, Brian Brandon, Phil Galfond, Guy Laliberte, Bob Safai, Antonio Salorio and Haralabos Voulgaris. This season was unique from previous High Stakes Poker seasons because the later episodes featured a $500,000 minimum buy-in (compared to the regular $100,000 minimum) game which saw over $5 million in play on the table at one time. Season four finished airing on December 17, 2007 and featured 17 episodes. The network cited the show's strong ratings performance in younger demographics. In May 2008, Mori Eskandani, President of Poker PROductions, indicated that GSN had not contacted Poker PROductions to make any more episodes of the show. According to Eskandani, it appears that the network wants to lean away from casino and card games. [2]

[edit] Format

When it first aired, High Stakes Poker was unique among televised poker series because it did not take place in a tournament setting. Instead, the program showed a high stakes ring game. The minimum buy-in to the game is US$100,000, but players have bought in for as much as $1,000,000, such as Daniel Negreanu in Season 1 and Brad Booth in Season 3. For part of the fourth season, the minimum buy-in is $500,000.[3][4] The first episode with the minimum $500,000 buy-in was broadcast on November 5, 2007.

Unlike tournament poker, the chips involved represent real money. If a player loses his initial buy-in, that player may rebuy a minimum of $50,000. In addition, players may bring in and use cash instead of casino chips. Cash plays and stays as cash in the pot; it does not have to be converted into casino chips. Unlike tournament poker, blinds and antes are constant, instead of increasing as time goes on. High Stakes Poker has $300/$600 blinds with a $100 ante. The fourth season features three forced blinds of $300, $600 and $1,200, with a "straddle" or optional fourth blind of $2,400.[3][4]

The host is A.J. Benza alongside analyst, poker pro, and former star of Welcome Back, Kotter, Gabe Kaplan. The players include poker professionals along with amateurs such as Jerry Buss and Fred Chamanara. The show was created by executive producer Henry Orenstein. In season one, Daniel Negreanu confirmed in a post on his website's forums that all players were paid $1,250 per hour for taking part and that 13 episodes were edited down from 24 hours of actual play.[5] 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold commented that players were paid for participating, though they had to put much more money at risk to get into the game. Gold also spoke about his interactions with other players, particularly Mike Matusow.[6]

[edit] Noteworthy hands

In Season 2 Gus Hansen won $575,000 with four fives, beating Daniel Negreanu's full house. This was the largest pot before the 500K minimum buy-in game during the fourth season and remains the largest as a multiple of the big blind. A $743,800 pot developed between Patrik Antonius and Jamie Gold in the November 12, 2007 episode of the fourth season. Antonius held A♠ J♦ and Gold had pocket kings. After the 3♠ Q♦ T♥ flop and K♥ turn, Antonius was a 3-to-1 favorite with his straight vs. Gold's three kings. Gold moved all-in and Antonius called to create the 743.8K pot. With such a large amount at stake the players agreed to run the river three times. The first two river cards, Q♥ and 3♦, both paired the board and gave the win to Gold with a full house. The third river card 8♠ kept Antonius' straight in front. As a result, Gold took two-thirds of the pot and Antonius one-third. Antonius' calm demeanor after the hand prompted host A.J. Benza to comment: "I'll tell you one thing: Patrik can take a punch. Imagine if that was Phil Hellmuth."[7]

An even bigger $998,800 pot developed in the November 26, 2007 episode between Antonius and Sammy Farha. Antonius went all-in after the flop with a pair of nines; Farha called with a king-high flush draw. The odds were roughly even, and the players agreed to run the turn and river four times. Antonius won three of the runs to take three-fourths of the pot. A previous hand in the episode saw Doyle Brunson win a $818,100 pot against Guy Laliberte. Brunson held A♦ T♦ and Laliberte had A♥ 5♥. The flop came A♣ J♠ 4♦ and the turn fell 2♦. Brunson bet the turn, and Labiberte moved all-in and was called to make the 818.1K pot. The players agreed to run the river twice. Brunson was a 75% favorite with his better kicker and flush draw, and he won both river cards to take the entire pot. After the hand Brunson said, "When you don't make a pair for eight hours, you go crazy."[8]

The biggest successful bluff was in Season 3, when Brad Booth bluffed Phil Ivey off pocket kings with an inside straight draw. After Ivey bet $23,000 on the flop to make the pot $54,100, Booth raised to $300,000. The hands were K♥ K♦ vs 4♠ 2♠, with the board 3♦ 6♦ 7♠.

At the beginning of the fourth season, the players agreed that anyone who won a pot while holding the weakest possible hold 'em hand (2-7) would be paid $500 by every other player at the table. This led to several five-figure bluff bets that were calculated to pick up the $3,500 bonus (and the respect of the table) and Phil Hellmuth won the 7-2 bonus in the second televised hand of the season, making a $40,000 bet on the river that caused Mike Matusow to lay down pocket kings.[9]

The biggest unsuccessful bluff occurred as a result of this rule. Amateurs Antonio Salorio and Brian Brandon went to a raised flop with 72o and KK respectively. When Brandon flopped the nuts with K4K, Salorio continued to bet, eventually losing more than $100,000 before giving up when Brandon raised on the turn.

[edit] Players

[edit] Other people in attendance, not playing

[edit] References

  1. ^ High Stakes Poker Returns for Third Season Tonight. Card Player (2007-01-12). Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
  2. ^ GSN Has Yet To Order More High Stakes Poker Episodes. Card Player (2008-05-15). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  3. ^ a b Jeff Haney (2007-05-16). Jeff Haney on how 'High Stakes Poker' is a good bet to become poker's most popular television program. Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
  4. ^ a b Steve Horton (2007-08-11). The PokerNews Interview: Mori Eskandani. PokerNews. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  5. ^ Daniel Negreanu (2006-01-30). are the players in "high stakes" on gsn comp'd?. Fullcontactpoker.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
  6. ^ Jamie Gold Goes Heads-Up With Wicked Chops Poker. WickedChopsPoker.com (2007-03). Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
  7. ^ Erik Sylven (2007-11-13). High Stakes Poker: Sickest pot ever. PokerListings.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  8. ^ Erik Sylven (2007-11-27). High Stakes Poker: record win for Doyle. PokerListings.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  9. ^ Barry Carter (2007-08-28). High Stakes Poker is back for Season 4. Poker News. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.

[edit] External links