Programming History
The first season of High Stakes Poker, taped at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, was first broadcast in January 16, 2006 and consisted of 13 episodes until April 10, 2006, hosted by A. J. Benza and comedian/actor-turned-poker pro Gabe Kaplan.
The second season, taped at The Palms and consisting of 16 episodes, premiered on June 5, 2006 and ended on September 18, 2006.
The third season, consisting of 13 episodes, was taped at the South Point Casino and premiered on January 15, 2007 and ended on April 9, 2007. New players for the third 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.
On April 2, 2007, GSN announced that High Stakes Poker would return for a fourth season, again taped at South Point. Still 9:00pm. Taping was completed in May, with the season premiering on August 27, 2007. Returning players included 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 Laliberté, Bob Safai, Antonio Salorio, and Haralabos Voulgaris. The later episodes of this season featured a $500,000 minimum buy-in (compared to the regular $100,000 minimum) and these games saw more than $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.
Season five, which ran from March 1, 2009 to May 24, 2009 at 9:00pm, was taped at the Golden Nugget on December 19–21, 2008 and featured a minimum cash buy-in of $200,000 – the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series. The format for season 5 differed slightly from its predecessors by having Kaplan and Benza not appear on camera until after the first commercial break in the show, rather than at the outset.
Season six premiered at 8:00pm on February 14, 2010 and ended on May 9, 2010, with Gabe Kaplan and Kara Scott. It was taped for a second straight season at the Golden Nugget. The sixth season aired with three different groups of players throughout 13 episodes. Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey bought in for $500,000. Other rotating players, including newcomers Jason Mercier, Dennis Phillips, Andrew Robl, and Lex Veldhuis, bought in for $200,000.
Season seven debuted on its new GSN Saturday night time slot from February 26, 2011 to May 21, 2011, Norm Macdonald replaced Gabe Kaplan as the host and Kara Scott conducted interviews from the poker room floor. The series was filmed in December 2010 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Sponsored Full Tilt Poker pros were required to boycott the show this time around, as rival site PokerStars became its official sponsors. Thus, “High Stakes Poker” Season 7 is devoid of such Full Tilt pros as Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Mike Matusow, and Eli Elezra. GSN later announced it would be scaling back its airings of High Stakes Poker after PokerStars pulled out of the U.S. market following the indictments in United States v. Scheinberg et al. crackdown on online gambling.
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