I didn’t think I cared too much about the forthcoming Season 7 of High Stakes Poker, kicking off later this month on GSN. I dunno, the show’s still gonna be good, I’m sure, technically, but it certainly hasn’t been the must-see-TV it was in the early days when people stayed home on Tuesday nights to see new episodes first-run. But now I’m thinking the latest from HSP might be more than something I may or may not catch part of on YouTube every so often by accident or read about on Twitter.

Saturday Night Live alum Norm MacDonald is replacing venerable sometimes-funnyman Gabe Kaplan as the show’s host. Gotta think it’s a good move because I’m kinda-sorta re-interested, suggesting others are too … Might even go outta my way to set the DVR.

Also changing things up this year … the show is being “presented by PokerStars” — meaning no usual cast of Full Tilt Pros. No Lederer, Matusow, Cunningham, or Harman? Please, they were like so 2006-2010. Supposedly the show’s gonna be airing in 3D, too (on GSN). Awesome. Can’t wait to see Doyle Brunson-HD in my living room … close enough to see his hole cards and imagine I’m bringing him a glass of water and some ointment.

(Go technology advances, but at the same time, keep thinking of the not-so-awe-inspiring Jaws 3-D and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience… not to mention PKR!)

Kevmath’s got the 411 over at Bluff, including the complete lineup and a breakdown of where the amateurs got their bankrolls. Also, if you want to know more about Norm and his path to poker and degenerate sports betting, check out Michael Kaplan’s profile on him from 2007.

Likewise, a reminder that Norm didn’t just come to Las Vegas outta nowhere … check out one of my early attempts at podcasting, from the 2006 WSOP: Norm Macdonald gives me personally very practical advice on how to take down single-table satellites — but not without an admission of recruiting minors to ghost on his PartyPoker account:

[audio:https://pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/normmac.mp3|titles=normmac]
Norm Macdonald WSOP Satellite Tip

Not the most action-filled episode of High Stakes Poker, but you can still watch it anyways, right?:

Valentine’s Day was the debut of season 6 of GSN’s most popular show, High Stakes Poker. AJ Benza is no longer on the show, replaced by Kara Scott to provide some player interviews, leaving Gabe Kaplan to provide commentary solo. This would have been up earlier if GSN decided to put the full episode on Youtube, but they decided to only put it up on their own site.

From GSN’s press release:

More…

In an interview Sunday on Mediocre Poker Radio from WJFK in Washington DC, AJ Benza said Kara Scott will be his replacement when taping resumes in November. Kara is best known in the US from her cashes in the past two World Series of Poker Main Events, gaining the affection of Norman Chad in the process. She was also the presenter of the European Poker Tour for the first five seasons, before moving over to Matchroom Sport to present in their made-for-TV tournaments in the UK. An article at Pokernewsdaily.com, which mentions the Benza interview, only confirms that Shana Hiatt will not take part in the show and that no contract has been signed in regards to AJ’s replacement.

More details to come…

On Dennis Phillips’ radio show on Tuesday, he broke the news that he was one of the first players invited to play on season 6 of High Stakes Poker. It was also revealed that PokerStars will be sponsoring the show, which could escalate the Vanessa Rousso co-hosting High Stakes Poker rumors At Fullcontactpoker.com, Daniel Negreanu mentions that Gabe Kaplan will handle the analysis/commentary solo, and the new addition to the crew will be someone that everyone knows and likes.

Audio of the announcement with Dennis, host Paul Harris and poker coach Joe McGowan:

[audio:https://pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/phillips-on-hsp.mp3]

An update on a story from last month, but AJ Benza confirmed earlier this morning on 2+2 that he has been replaced on High Stakes Poker (taping for season 6 starts in November) by a woman cohost.

Unconfirmed reports name Vanessa Rousso as his replacement.

AJ has more on the decision at his blog.

High Stakes Poker will begin taping for season 6 on November 11th, possibly without co-host A.J. Benza. He appeared on the Sept. 20 episode of the Miserable Men show on Sirius/XM Radio channel 101. During an interview on the show, Benza mentions that there are rumors that his role on the show will be replaced by a female cohost, as discussed in the audio below:

HT to sadler40 for the original post on 2+2.

The Main Event got underway today with Jack Link’s mascot Sasquatch grunting his way through the “Shuffle Up and Deal” with a field of 1,116 (down from last year’s 1,297) starting day 1a. Jeffrey Pollack’s vlog with Wicked Chops Poker, shown below, hopes to get 5,000 entrants, which would be about 25 precent below last year’s 6,844. The lower than expected numbers could also explain the decision to play only 4 two-hour levels on days 1 and 2.

At the moment, there’s about 4,000 registrants already signed up, most of which are on days 1c and 1d, so don’t be surprised if you hear rumors about Monday’s day 1d being “closed” for registrations to add some entrants to days 1b and 1c. Notables who have already been eliminated today include: Jerry Yang, Freddy Deeb, Orel Hershiser, John Phan, Gabe Kaplan, Davidi Kitai and 2009 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver. The unofficial chip leader is Dragan Galac at 110,000 in chips, followed by by 2006 EPT Grand Final winner Jeff Williams at 106,000.

Other notables with chips: Jason Alexander (84,500), Eli Elezra (84,300), Tom Schneider (57,000), Phil Laak (46,000) and Jimmy Fricke (45,000). Follow the last level of play at the WSOP site here. Chip counts should be available in the early morning hours, but if you want to see who decided to pay their $10,000 today, a list of Day 1a entrants can be found here. More stuff this weekend, so come back to Pokerati often.

Watch Jeffrey Pollack Vlog on Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP Main Event on RawVegas.tv

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.

That’s the word just in over the transom. And they have a new trademark symbol superscripted around their namesake phrase, too! (They musta learned that one from Wicked Chops.) A little disconcerting that they don’t make mention of Gabe Kaplan or AJ Benza, but whatever, I’m sure all is well — because everything is fine and dandy these days in poker, right? And nothing major happening behind the scenes:

For Immediate Release

GSN ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION DATES AND LOCATION FOR THE 5TH SEASON OF “HIGH STAKES POKER™”

Shoot Dates: December 19-21, 2008 HIGH STAKES POKER Returns To Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino With $200,000 Cash Buy-In

(SANTA MONICA, Calif.) Thursday, November 20, 2008- GSN announced today details on the highly-anticipated fifth season of the popular series HIGH STAKES POKER™ with a cash buy-in of $200,000 – the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series. Featuring some of today’s most prominent poker stars, production on the new season will take place Dec. 19-21, 2008 at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

More…

HSP was gone, and then back again, and then not really at all … but now Bluff Europe is reporting that GSN has picked up the option for a fifth season of High Stakes Poker. Apparently GSN just had to get rid of the WPT before they could renew? That seems plausible enough — that the new brass at GSN may have decided they had room for only one poker show, and they wanted to dance with the ones who brung them. Considering GSN’s extended dealings with the WPT before bidding them adieu, that might make sense with why they left Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza in the dark without letting them go.

Rumors that the new season will include Pot Limit Omaha are just that … rumors … but how cool would that be, though, if they did include that game?

UPDATE: AJ Benza confirms, “I’m back baby! Looks like we’ll start taping in early September. Cant wait.”

Wrapping up yesterday’s action, with a preview of today’s tournament (with a moment of silence for John Bonetti):

The $5,000 NL Holdem 6-handed event finally reached their final table at around 5:30am, now they have to attempt to get some rest before returning in front of the watchful eye of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm with this sextet:

Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker 2,345,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso 1,961,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz 1,493,000
Seat 1: Samuel Trickett 1,045,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana 928,000
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai 298,000

The $1,500 Stud Eight or Better stopped play with 13 players remaining as they play down to a winner starting at 3pm. Here’s the approximate chip counts of the baker’s dozen (chip counts and seats to be rearranged later):

(Table 14)
Seat 1: Ryan Hughes 73,000
Seat 4: Margaret Macre 173,000
Seat 5: James Richburg 274,000
Seat 6: Ron Long 33,000
Seat 7: David Brooker 45,000
Seat 8: Daniel Nicewander 41,000

(Table 15)
Seat 1: Mike Hefer 71,000
Seat 2: Tim D’Alessandro 82,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky 110,000
Seat 4: Thomas Hunt III 101,000
Seat 6: Alessio Isaia 172,000
Seat 7: Joshua Feldman 121,000
Seat 8: Jonas Klausen 346,000

Other tournament action (plus the final 24 in the $50k HORSE) on page 2:
More…

It seems that way. The show that pioneered Poker on TV 2.0 hasn’t filmed a new season for ’08 — they usually did so in March or April, I believe — and there seem to be no plans to do so any time soon. Reliable sources tell us:

Far as Gabe and I know….the show isnt coming back. Apparently…the network is going to go in a different direction and that aint good news for our show, especially since we skew a higher-aged audiuence. Never mind that we’re the network’s No. 1 show. Still and all, no one calls us from the network to say squat. Only Kevin Bellincoff checks in periodically, but it just don’t seem like good news. If you ask me…they’re treating us like shit. All we ever did was make them a bunch of money.

Wow, so there you have it. I also remember seeing promos for a cool new show where some pros crashed a home game, MTV-style, and covered the action with hole-card cams and presumably rawer HSP-style banter. Was looking forward to it — damn, can’t remember its name — but supposedly that show had inked a two-year deal with GSN. But haven’t seen that show pimped in weeks.

NOTE: GSN seems to have seriously downgraded the High Stakes Poker web presence, too.

Rating: A-

This is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time. I laughed myself to tears during several parts of the movie. I walked into the theater with low expectations and left thinking about seeing it again.

The casting was brilliant, as many of the actors are experienced improv comics and had no problem adding their own flavor and likely varying quite a bit from the original script. From Woody Harrelson to Ray Romano, from Richard Kind to Dennis Farina, and from David Cross to Chris Parnell, most everyone took their characters to the highest level. Even Cheryl Hines surprised me – only because I’m not terribly familiar with her work – in her deadpan scenes.

Numerous poker players were strewn throughout the film, like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari. Gabe Kaplan had a main role, which wasn’t tremendously impressive but an integral and sometimes funny role nonetheless. Phil Gordon played a recurring role throughout the movie as the tournament commentator, and he was fantastic. Some of his lines were the best of the movie.

More…