More from HSP, after you read about the WPT airing on Fox Sports Net starting January 4.
I’ve never heard of Lee Russakoff until this morning, but apparently he’s sports editor over at Comcast.net. Lee was also at the High Stakes Poker tapings at the Golden Nugget this weekend, and has 5 posts on his blog about the various goings on that should make for interesting watching when GSN starts to air High Stakes Poker on March 1.
Caught up with Peter Eastgate, 23, as he scoped out the $400/$800 NLH action at the Golden Nugget yesterday … The reigning WSOP champ goes into today’s HSP game down $100k — if you consider the results of a warm-up session at Bellagio (against Daniel Alaei and Bryn Kenney) part of the same trip — and speaks about what it’s like to play with a freshly inflated bankroll against more experienced players in bigger games than you’re used to.
Curiously enough, the guy he really fears at this table is the only dude younger than he is — 22-year-old (Fort Worthian?) Tom Dwan, aka durrr.
Peter Eastgate, Las Vegas
12-20-2008
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I’m about to head over the the Golden Nugget (in an hour or so) … so then I’ll have an official count on who’s playing … but there were some last-minute swaps in play.
Yesterday, both Peter Eastgate and Barry Greenstein were hanging around waiting for an open seat. When Sam Simon decided to call it quits, Greenstein took it … seniority?
David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Ilari Sahamies, Eastgate, and Greenstein supposedly have their seats for today locked up. Eastgate was playing highest-stakes at the Bellagio on Friday in preparation, and lost $100k to Daniel Alaei and some player named “Brinn”. (My phonetical translation of what I heard from Eastgate’s heavy-accent recount.)
Phil Hellmuth was supposed to play today, but he backed out. Likewise for Phil Ivey. Ivan Demidov considered taking one of the empty seats, but ultimately declined. As of late yesterday, Chino Rheem was a probable, and Alaei was a possible.
UPDATE: Just got word from the set … players are late. Start delayed a half-hour.
CORRECTIONS: Tom Dwan took Sam Simon’s seat. Hellmuth was never officially on the sked. But somebody told me he might play. Perhaps he just felt the games on UB were better for him?
I’m on the set of High Stakes Poker, Season 5, blogging live … only thing is I promised not to do any “live blogging”. Holy smokes, worst beat ever! How could he call with Ace-5? Someone ship Doyle Brunson another mil!
So while I mill around the Golden Nugget over the next day and a half, I’m wondering … any weekend readers out there have anything specific they’d like me to try and find out? I’m making no promises that the answers will be accurate or true, of course … but regardless, I’m happy to consider asking.
I’m assuming Dan’s at the Golden Nugget watching the taping of day 1 of the latest season ofHigh Stakes Poker, but for those that want to know when it airs, Card Player is reporting that season 5 of HSP will air starting March 1 at 9pm ET on GSN. The network made a recent decision to make Sunday their “Poker Night”, with Season 6 of the World Poker Tour episodes at 6pm ET, and previous seasons of High Stakes Poker at 8pm ET. As mentioned before, the minimum buyin will be $200,000, with the blinds $400/$800 with a $200 ante. Last year’s taping of a $500,000 minimum buyin game last season appears to be gone, as it tightened up the play to the producers’ dismay.
The poker wire keeps on buzzing today: Shockingly, GSN has beat Wicked Chops to trademarking the phrase “High Stakes Pokerâ„¢” — as evidenced in the network’s announcement of filming plans at the Golden Nugget later this month. Apparently they’re letting (internet) media cover the 27 hours of play, sorta.
Still no mention of Gabe Kaplan and/or AJ Benza’s involvement. But I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about there. Seriously.
UPDATE: Since Kevin kinda scooped me on this, I’m deleting the repetitive parts of the press release:
CONFIRMED: GSN says AJ Benza and Gabe Kaplan will both be back.
*** The set is closed to the general public. PRESS INFO:
No television cameras, tape recorders or digital photographers will be allowed on set during the taping, however, they will be allowed in the press area near the taping. Reporters will be allowed in the press viewing area during taping with monitors and wi-fi internet access. There will also be a one-on-one area for scheduled on-camera interviews to take place during player breaks.
From an email from GSN:
GSN’S ‘HIGH STAKES POKER™’ HEADS BACK TO THE GOLDEN NUGGET HOTEL & CASINO WITH LARGEST EVER BUY-IN FOR ENTIRE RUN OF A TELEVISION SERIES
WHAT: GSN invites press to come watch the exclusive taping of the highly-anticipated fifth season of HIGH STAKES POKER™. The new season features the returns of poker stars Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Eli Elezra, along with players new to HIGH STAKES POKER such as Tom Dwan and reigning World Champion Peter Eastgate, and recreational players like “The Simpsons†creator Sam Simon, Bob Safai and film director Nick Cassavetes. The stakes have never been higher for the players as the minimum cash buy-in of $200,000 is the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series. The show returns to the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV where HIGH STAKES POKER SEASON ONE took place. Please see below for a preliminary list of players scheduled to appear.
More…
There are 50 poker rooms in Las Vegas, so we thought you might appreciate the assistance of fellow degenerates in narrowing down the possibilities of where to play when you come to town. The votes have been tallied … and four places stood out above the rest … In what may or may not become a recurring tradition around these parts, Pokeratizens say the Best Poker Rooms in Vegas are:
Gold Medal
The Venetian
Great regular tourneys, Deep Stack Extravaganzas, plenty of all-but-the-highest-stakes action, bottled Fiji water, and maybe the escalator that dumps off drunkenly clad party girls coming out of Tao right in front of The V’s poker room make it far and away the favorite of this website’s readers/players/dealers.
Silver MedalThe separate tournament room really is cool, if not the best in town, and the comfortable multi-tiered cash game area never seems short of action appealing to the masses of big little-stakes players. Great freerolls for regular cash players, too.
Bronze MedalStill home to the biggest games in Vegas (in terms of buy-ins), thereby drawing the most pros and the players who want to challenge/sit near them. Everything Bellagio is always luxe, of course, and their regular $500 and $1k tourneys makes the chance to play for baller money an in-town constant.
The PR people at Hard Rock are trying to keep a tight lid on the unveiling of their new “Poker Lounge”, which opens to the public tomorrow — they don’t want any bad pictures getting out that fail to capture the venue in all its glory, nor any inaccurate information being spread widely for many to misconstrue. Er … ok, but that’s kinda what we do, ya know?
I’ve heard two numbers about how costly this new construction was — $12 million and $30 million. While there’s a big difference between the two, and at least one of them is probably wrong, either way, you get the picture … it’s a really nice place — built from the ground up and the inside out. Brian from the Poker Atlas and I swung by yesterday, where they were busily at work in their final stages of preparation, and we got a little tour from the Director of Poker Operations, Houston Waldie, who was brought to HRH after his success turning the Golden Nugget’s rinky-dink room into arguably the best game downtown. No cameras allowed as he pointed out features he was most proud of, but I did manage to sneak a few pics from behind the ropes to give you a sense of the space we’re talking about here.
I gotta say … Fuckin’ A …
Go Hard Rock. (General info and future reviews here; official site here.)
The luxe tables, couches, chairs, flatscreens, etc. were all expected, maybe a tad nicer. But the art, the architecture, the vibe — all created specifically to be a poker room, the most well thought out and well funded since the Venetian — make me miss living on the east side of town, where the Hard Rock was the most convenient casino to my old pad. And though I suspect it may take some time to build up a player base (perhaps when the new hotel rooms at the Hard Rock open?) that should make it one of the premiere poker destinations in LV, at least the set-up for the action seems pretty sweet. Here are a few tidbits I picked up without the benefit of tape recorder or notepad:
Also from the barbecue/Phil Ivey charity thingy at Golden Nugget …
Ran into fellow blogger and WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack. His stylish pink enticed me to move in for a kiss, but like a 7th grader at a bar mitzvah party I could only bring myself to whistle in his ear.
From the Lederer/Zolotow World Series of Barbecue at the Golden Nugget … after tearing it up on Guitar Hero, Jef Madsen challenged Phil Ivey’s cousin “Smokey” to a freestyle-rap “cuttin’ contest”. The words are hard to understand on this video — too bad RawVegas wasn’t there — but Madsen impressively held his own before succumbing to the three-toothed Old-Dirty-Bastard lookalike that had some of us white folks at the party saying, “Who is that? He’s a real rapper, right?” Evelyn Ng and Matt Savage looking on:
Also, who knew J-Mad had such dope skillz?
Lo and behold he’s been getting practice while videoblogging for PokerRoad. Click here to see/hear the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year giving tourney reports in rhyme.
The WSOP party season has begun… I’ve hit two of the parties this week and plan for more as the week progresses, but I can’t see myself getting crazy with it. I must say that it’s a nice break from the daily grind of tournaments, though.
On June 30th, I attended the All In party at the Palms pool. The place was packed with more people than I expected. On the other hand, the door was completely disorganized. Some people got right in, while others who were supposed to be on the list were held up for quite awhile. I was supposed to be on the media list, but no one ever checked or even seemed to have a list, so I finally just got in on my word. And when I attempted to get a VIP pass through a friend, they had run out of them and looked a little panicked about it.
The Venetian was on to something when they created their Deep Stack Extravaganza series of tournaments. Not so shockingly, the low-stakes masses flocked to these events where you could compete against sizable fields will skill-rewarding starting stacks for hundreds, as opposed to thousands, of dollars.
This year, several casinos with an obvious love for poker tried something similar … but not all have found the same results. In fact, the Venetian itself was apparently struggling to fill their tables earlier this WSOP. A sign that, damn, poker really is waning? Not exactly …
The Caesar’s Palace MegaStack tournament series was giving more chips per dollar-buy-in than the Venetian … and lo and behold they took all their players. So the Venetian has reportedly responded by adding 2,500 more chips to their own Deep Stacks … and lo and behold, the players returned.
Meanwhile, downtown, the two big tournament series (they apparently call a series of tourneys “festivals” in Europe … I like that!) are the Grand Series of Poker at the Golden Nugget, and the Binion’s Poker Classic. Upon a quick spot-check at Binion’s $110 Seniors event yesterday, they seem to be doing fine. They are in their second year of doing this, of course, whereas the Golden Nugget is in their first … and struggling (with or without Montel Williams). Apparently several of their megasatellites have had less than two tables worth of runners, and don’t make … and a far cry from true “sit n gos” … even the single-table satellites are taking upwards of three hours to fill.
I don’t have full numbers on any of these events … but that’s the basic gist on summertime mini-WSOP’s:
Caesar’s — kick-ass according to all reports
Venetian — maybe not as good as before, but still pretty sweet
Binion’s — Binion’s is Binion’s; there’s always good tournament action even if some players steer clear of the high likelihood of an opponent spitting on the floor
Golden Nugget — tiny fields=tiny payouts; better luck next year?
2+2 has a great thread running down the daily Las Vegas tourney schedule all summer long.
Despite previous reports suggesting the possibility of otherwise …
High Stakes Poker is not moving to the Golden Nugget — and it hasn’t yet been renewed for a new season. At least not for now on paper in any way. This comes from a well-informed higher-up involved with Poker PROductions — the company that produces both High Stakes Poker and Poker after Dark.
To be clear, HSP has not been canceled … it just hasn’t been renewed yet. You know, fine line, kinda like “collateral damage”/”mass slaughter”. However, hold your breaths, HSP fans … because supposedly a more official announcement about the show’s renewal or lack thereof is coming, in about a week-and-a-half. From whom — GSN, NBC, HSP, Poker PROductions — we’re not so sure.
Where GSN’s relationship with the World Poker Tour fits into all this also is unclear — but obviously a relevant component.
But for now, Poker after Dark is definitely back on … rumored to have a cash game component, too … and will be moving from South Point Casino to the Golden Nugget. But that’s the least surprising, since this show is really a Full Tilt time-buy/infomercial with no reason to go away.
Related:
Rebuy! High Stakes Poker Back in Action? (6/8/08)
High Stakes Poker Canceled? (5/13/08)
Yesterday was supposed to be the day we learned the future of the World Poker Tour. No such luck. However, WSOP stalwart monopodder Steve Hall hears from Eric Drache, who was playing in Day 1 of the $10,000 7-stud World Championship, that High Stakes Poker will be back. The word is that HSP, along with Poker after Dark, will be moving from the South Point Casino back to the Golden Nugget. High Stakes will reportedly begin filming new episodes in August.
No info yet on time-buys or even what network will be airing the show(s) — but all indications point toward NBC. Drache is one of those important poker people who few of us have heard of — his last cash coming in 1991, where he finished 5th in a 7-stud event in Laughlin. But since then he’s gone on to manage all sorts of card rooms — including the Golden Nugget — and most recently has served as a consultant for NBC.
Drache is also the guy credited with creating the concept of tournament satellites and the “must move” table, according to Wikipedia.
UPDATE: It’s possible but not likely we are wrong on this. Less traceable thirdhand sources are saying no way this is happening at the Golden Nugget.
Watched Game of Thrones, now I am playing Sensible Soccer on the 360, for some reason. #Monday
Great crAAKKer post by @Grange95: http://t.co/KcaobMfP) I wish I could write like Michael. Maybe someday. #poker #onlinegaming
