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High Stakes Poker
''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ran from March 1, 2009 to May 21, 2011, and was simulcast in 3DTV on N3D. The show was revived on December 16, 2020 on PokerGO. The show was hosted by A. J. Benza in the first five seasons, alongside Gabe Kaplan. In the sixth season, Kara Scott replaced Benza as Kaplan's co-host, with Scott conducting interviews from the poker room floor. In the seventh season, Norm Macdonald replaced Kaplan as Scott's co-host. Beginning with the eighth season, Benza and Kaplan returned as hosts. History The first season of ''High Stakes Poker'', taped at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, was first broadcast on January 16, 2006, at 9:00 p.m., and consisted of 13 episodes until April 10, 2006, hosted by A. J. Benza and comedian/actor-turned-poker pro Gabe Kapl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabe Kaplan
Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commentator for the series ''High Stakes Poker'' on PokerGO. Early life Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family. He was a student at New Utrecht High School but did not graduate. Acting career As a child, Kaplan had aspirations of being a Major League Baseball player. However, he was unable to make the roster of a minor league team and decided to pursue other interests. He began working as a bellman at a hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Touring comedians sometimes performed at the hotel, and Kaplan began to work toward his own career as a stand-up comedian. Gabe honed his standup routine in 1964 in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City. Kaplan's comedy was successful, and he toured the cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa (formerly South Coast) is a resort located along Las Vegas Boulevard in Enterprise, Nevada, south of the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, the founder of Coast Casinos. It includes a casino and a 25-story hotel with 2,163 rooms. Coast Casinos purchased the site in 2001, and announced the South Coast project in April 2003. Construction began one year later. Coast Casinos was subsequently merged with Boyd Gaming. The South Coast was built at a cost of $625 million. It opened on December 22, 2005, and included an casino and 652 rooms. A second hotel tower opened the following year. The resort struggled early on, and Gaughan took over ownership from Boyd in October 2006, renaming it the South Point. A third tower was opened in 2008, and further expansion took place in 2010, adding new restaurants and additional casino space. The resort has an equestrian and events center, and was the namesake for Gaughan's NASCAR team, So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Greenstein
Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his profit from tournament winnings to charities, primarily Children Incorporated, earning him the nickname "the Robin Hood of poker". He was elected into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2011. Personal life After graduating from Bogan High School, he earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studied for a PhD in mathematics without ever defending his completed dissertation. According to his book, ''Ace on the River'', Greenstein was doing well playing poker, but figured a more conventional job would improve his chances of adopting his stepchildren, so he went to work for the new startup company Symantec, where he worked on their first product Q&A. He left the company in 1991 at age 36 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer C. Harman (born November 29, 1964) is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so. Career Harman won her first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2000 at the No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball Event (at a final table that also included fellow professionals Lyle Berman and Steve Zolotow). She had never played that game prior to the event, but received a five-minute tutoring session from Howard Lederer before playing. She won her second WSOP bracelet in 2002 at the $5K Limit Texas hold 'em event (the field also included Mimi Tran, Humberto Brenes, and Allen Cunningham). She was the first woman to hold two bracelets in WSOP open events, joined by Vanessa Selbst in 2012, Loni Harwood in 2015, and Kristen Bicknell in 2020. In 2004, Harman took a year away from poker to have her second kidney transplant. Problems with her kidneys – shared by her sister and mother, who died from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Laak
Philip Courtney Laak (born September 8, 1972) is an Irish–American professional poker player and a poker commentator, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and has appeared on numerous nationally aired television shows. Early life Laak was born in Dublin, Ireland, raised on the East Coast of the United States, and now lives in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. His family moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, when he was four years old. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked in varying jobs prior to getting into open poker games in California. He is a former roommate of fellow professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari. Prior to moving to the west, Laak lived for several years in New York City where he honed his skills as a backgammon player before turning his focus to poker. Poker career Laak learned to play poker as a child. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Farha
Ihsan "Sam" Farha ( ar, إحسان فرحة; born 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2003. He has won three bracelets at the WSOP in his career. Private life When the civil war erupted in Lebanon in 1975, the Farha family moved to the United States in search of a better life. The young Ihsan “Sammy” Farha went on to earn a degree in business administration from the University of Kansas. While completing his studies, he also learned to play pool, ping ball, and the video game Pac Man so well that he earned substantial money by playing these games against others for cash. After graduating from college, he moved to Houston, Texas. That is where he had his first encounter with poker, in the eighties. Shortly after, he made a trip to Las Vegas. His winnings at the poker tables made him realize he could make a living playing cards. Farha then decided t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu (; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index recognized Negreanu as the best poker player of the decade. As of 2019, he is the third-biggest live tournament poker winner of all time (behind Justin Bonomo and Bryn Kenney, both of whom have won a special multimillion-dollar charity tournament), having won over $42,000,000 in prize money. He was named the WSOP Player of the Year in 2004 and 2013, making him the only player to receive the accolade more than once. He was also the 2004–2005 WPT Player of the Year. He is the first player to make a final table at each of the three WSOP bracelet-awarding locations (Las Vegas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific), and the first to win a bracelet at each. In 2014, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early life Negreanu was born in Toront ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker. Brunson was the first player to win $1 million in poker tournaments. He has won ten WSOP bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey for second all-time, behind Phil Hellmuth's sixteen bracelets. He is also one of only four players to have won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker multiple times, which he did in 1976 and 1977. He is also one of only three players, along with Bill Boyd and Loren Klein, to have won WSOP tournaments in four consecutive years. In addition, he is the first of six players to win both the WSOP Main Event and a World Poker Tour title. In January 2006, ''Bluff Magazine'' voted Brunson the most influential force in the world of poker. On June 11, 2018, Brunson announ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Townsend (poker Player)
Brian Townsend (born 1982) is an American professional poker player. He graduated from the UC Santa Barbara and played Lock for UCSB's 2005 league championship Rugby union, rugby team. Biography Townsend is largely known for his success playing Texas Hold 'em, no limit hold 'em and Omaha Hold 'em, pot-limit omaha at Full Tilt Poker, playing under the nickname 'sbrugby.' Townsend began playing online poker at $0.50/$1.00 blinds but gradually moved up in stakes, eventually becoming a regular player in some of the highest stakes games online. By the mid to late 2000s, Townsend was among the most highly respected professional online poker players in the world. Townsend appeared on season 3 of Game Show Network, GSN's High Stakes Poker. He also appeared on NBC's Poker After Dark and won $120,000 by beating Doyle Brunson heads up. After considerable success in playing high-stakes games, he was featured on the front cover of the August/September 2007 issue of Card Player (magazine), Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Benyamine
David Benyamine (born July 5, 1972 in Paris, France) is a French professional poker player with a World Poker Tour title. Benyamine was a professional tennis player in his early career but had to retire because of shoulder pain. He was also a successful top ten billiards player in France. He learned poker at the age of 12 and plays high-stakes cash games on a regular basis. Benyamine is a Omaha hold 'em, Pot-Limit Omaha specialist. Poker career Benyamine started his career playing No Limit Hold’em cash in Aviation Club de France. He is a regular in the world’s most famous high stakes cash room at the Bellagio (resort), Bellagio, Bobby’s Room (now renamed Legend’s Room). World Poker Tour Benyamine has made four final tables in World Poker Tour (WPT) open events: the 2003 Grand Prix de Paris (World Poker Tour season 2 results, second season) - 1st place (€357,200); the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic (second season) - 6th place ($132,355); the 2008 Bellagio Cup IV (World Poke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Wasicka
Paul J. Wasicka (born February 17, 1981 in Dallas, Texas) is a professional poker player, based in Denver, Colorado who was the runner-up at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and the winner of the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Paul attended college in Madison, WI. World Series of Poker Wasicka finished as runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, winning over $6,000,000. Other poker events NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Wasicka's tournament accomplishments since that World Series of Poker finish include winning the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship by defeating Eli Elezra, Joe Hachem, T. J. Cloutier, Nam Le, Shannon Elizabeth, and finally Chad Brown in the finals 2-0. He won $500,000 for his victory in the tournament. World Poker Tour At the World Poker Tour (WPT) $9,900 No Limit Hold'em held at the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic, Wasicka made the final table which also included poker players J. C. Tran a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrik Antonius
} Patrik Antonius (born 13 December 1980) is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo. Antonius was mentored by poker pro Marcel Lüske as a member of Luske's "Circle of Outlaws" and later advised by Jennifer Harman. Antonius has two children. Poker career Antonius began making a name for himself on the poker tournament circuit with two finishes near the final table of a European Poker Tour (EPT) event and a World Poker Tour (WPT) event, 12th at the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, then 15th at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event two months later, in early 2005. He went on to finish in the money in three events of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP). In September 2005 he made the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event final table, finishing 3rd in Barcelona. The next month, Antonius won the EPT event in Baden bei Wien, taking home the €288,180 first prize when in the final hand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
