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High Stakes Poker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 Hotel & 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] GSN is currently running episodes from these seasons on its prime time schedule.

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. The season will reportedly include 17 episodes.[2][3] The network cited the show's strong ratings performance in younger demographics.[4] As of the second quarter of 2007, High Stakes Poker was GSN's highest rated show.[5]

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. For part of the fourth season, the minimum buy-in is $500,000.[2][6] 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.[2][6]

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.[7] 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.[8]

Noteworthy hands
The largest pot was taken in Season 2, when Gus Hansen won $575,000 with four fives, beating Daniel Negreanu's full house.

The biggest successful bluff was in Season 3, when Brad Booth bluffed Phil Ivey off pocket kings with an inside straight draw. After Ivey raised $30,000 to make the pot $54,000, Booth re-raised another $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 $500.00 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 reraised on the turn.

Players

* Brandon Adams (Season 4)
* Daniel Alaei (Season 1–3)
* Patrik Antonius (Season 3-4)
* David Benyamine (Season 3-4)
* Mike Baxter (Season 4)
* Brad Booth (Season 2–3)
* Brian Brandon (Season 4)
* Doyle Brunson (Season 1–4)
* Todd Brunson (Season 1–4)
* Jerry Buss (Season 1)
* Fred Chamanara (Season 1–2)
* Johnny Chan (Season 1)
* William Chen (Season 3)
* John D'Agostino (Season 3)
* Freddy Deeb (Season 1)
* Eli Elezra (Season 1–4)
* Antonio Esfandiari (Season 1–4)
* Sam Farha (Season 1–4)



* Phil Galfond (Season 4)
* Chris Ferguson (Season 3)
* Amnon Filippi (Season 2)
* Ted Forrest (Season 1–2)
* Jamie Gold (Season 3-4)
* Barry Greenstein (Season 1–4)
* David Grey (Season 2)
* Gus Hansen (Season 2)
* Jennifer Harman (Season 1-4)
* Dan Harmetz (Season 3)
* Phil Hellmuth Jr. (Season 1 & 4)
* Phil Ivey (Season 3)
* John Juanda (Season 2)
* Gabe Kaplan (Season 3)
* Phil Laak (Season 2–4)
* Guy Laliberte (Season 4)
* Erick Lindgren (Season 2–3)
* Minh Ly (Season 2)



* Mike Matusow (Season 2–4)
* Michael Mizrachi (Season 2)
* Amir Nasseri (Season 1)
* Daniel Negreanu (Season 1–4)
* Victor Ramdin (Season 3)
* Bob Safai (Season 4)
* Antonio Salorio (Season 4)
* Daniel Shak (Season 3)
* Shahram Sheikhan (Season 1–3)
* Bob Stupak (Season 1)
* Brian Townsend (Season 3)
* Mimi Tran (Season 1)
* IIIya Trincher (Season 3)
* Haralabos Voulgaris (Season 4)
* Paul Wasicka (Season 3)
* David Williams (Season 3)
* Corey Zeidman (Season 2)

Other players in attendance, not playing

* Season 1: Marco Traniello, Minh Ly
* Season 2: Jennifer Tilly, Kathy Liebert, Gavin Smith, Hoyt Corkins, Carmel Petresco, Gloria Matusow (Mike Matusow's mother), Ana Negreanu (Daniel Negreanu's mother) and Marco Traniello
* Season 3: Carmel Petresco, Kaseem "Freddy" Deeb