World Series of Poker bracelet
The World Series of Poker bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. If the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". During the first years of the WSOP only a handful of bracelets were awarded each year. In 1990, there were only 14 bracelet events. By 2000, that number increased to 24; as the popularity of poker has increased during the 2000s, the number of events has increased. In 2011, 58 bracelets were awarded at the WSOP, seven at the World Series of Poker Europe, one to the WSOP National Circuit Champion; this brought the total number of bracelets awarded up to 959. Five additional bracelets were awarded for the first time in April 2013 at the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia.. In 2017, 74 for bracelets were awarded at the WSOP and an additional 11 will be awarded at the WSOPE in Czech Republic.
After the conclusion of the 2014 WSOP APAC, there have been 1083 bracelets awarded, 500 of which were won by 170 players who have won at least two bracelets, with all of the other bracelets being won by one-time winners. This includes 17 Main Event winners: Hal Fowler, Bill Smith, Mansour Matloubi, Brad Daugherty, Jim Bechtel, Russ Hamilton, Noel Furlong, Robert Varkonyi, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Peter Eastgate, Pius Heinz, Ryan Riess and Martin Jacobson. Since Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event, only three players have won and followed it up with a win in another bracelet event, Jonathan Duhamel, Joe Cada and Joe McKeehen; the 1976 bracelet looked "like gold nuggets kind of hammered flat". The bracelet in 1976 cost $500. In the 1980s, Las Vegas jeweler Mordechai Yerushalmi became the exclusive manufacturer of WSOP bracelets until Harrah's Entertainment bought the rights to the WSOP in 2004. According to 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker, the design of the bracelet remained unchanged under Yerushalmi.
In 2005, Gold and Diamond International based in Memphis, TN won the bid from Harrah's Entertainment to manufacture the 2005 World Series of Poker bracelets. The company manufactures the WSOP circuit rings. In 2006, Frederick Goldman, Inc. made the WSOP bracelets while luxury watch maker Corum introduced some commemorative watches as part of the prize package. In 2006, the Champion's bracelet had 259 stones including 7.2 carats of diamonds, 120 grams of white and yellow gold. It used rubies to represent the heart and diamond suits, a sapphire to represent the spade and three black diamonds to represent the clubs. In 2007, Corum became the official bracelet manufacturer for the WSOP; some of the 2007 World Series of Poker champions received both a bracelet from Corum. Corum designed four variations for the 2007 World Series of Poker Bracelets; the standard version, presented to 53 winners features 53 diamonds. The Ladies World Champion receives a bracelet, adorned with four black diamonds, two rubies and 87 blue sapphires.
The $50,000 HORSE Champion Bracelet has two rubies. The World Series of Poker Main Event Bracelet has 120 diamonds on 136 grams of 18 carat white gold; the value of the 2007 bracelets have not been released, but the typical price of a Corum watch ranges from $1,500–$30,000+. In 2008, the Main Event Bracelet had 291 diamonds, totalling 2.81 carats set in 168 grams of 18kt white gold. The other 54 event bracelets consisted of 55 diamonds, totalling 0.25 carats set in 80 grams of 14kt yellow gold. In 2010, an Australian-based company OnTilt Designs Pty Ltd won a multi-year contract to become the official bracelet manufacturer for the WSOP. OnTilt jewelers decided that the 2010 bracelet design would return to the tradition of the 1970s and 1980s where the bracelet was a heavy piece of unadorned metal. American jewelry designer Steve Soffa was chosen to design and manufacture the entire set of bracelets; the goal was to create a bracelet that somebody would want to wear every day. In 2011, OnTilt has been chosen to manufacture the WSOP Circuit rings.
In 2012, Jason Arasheben, famed jewelry designer and owner of Jason of Beverly Hills was chosen as the official bracelet manufacturer of the WSOP. Arasheben had designed the championship rings for the 2009 and 2010 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2011 Green Bay Packers, among others; the Main Event bracelet will feature each suit in the deck in black diamonds. In terms of sheer mass, it weighs in at over 160 grams of 14 karat gold and over 35 carats of flawless diamonds. A special platinum bracelet was awarded at the 2012 WSOP to the winner of The Big One for One Drop, Antonio Esfandiari; the event was a $1 million buy-in tournament created as a fundraiser for the One Drop Foundation, a charity established by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté. At first, the bracelets did not have much prestige. Ten-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson said that his first bracelet "didn't mean anything" to him and that he did not pick up two of them; some professional poker players believe. Those who have belong to an exclusive club.
"It's impossible to overstate the value of a World Series of Poker gold bracelet to anyone who takes the game seriously," stated World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack during the 2006 bracelet unveiling. "It is the equivalent of winning the Stanley Cup in hockey or the Lombardi Trophy in American football."Many professional poker players desire the recognition, associated with the bracelet. Former Celebrit
Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov is a professional poker player from Moscow, Russia. Demidov is one of the original "November Nine", having made the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2008, he reached the heads-up stage along with Peter Eastgate. He lost to Eastgate and took second place for $5,809,595. Demidov stated that he would share his winnings with a Russian financial supporter who took him to some previous tournaments, with the backer getting more than Demidov. In October 2008, he reached the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in London, finishing in third place. In doing so, he became the first player in history to reach the final table of both WSOP Main Events in the same year; this feat was matched in 2009 by Antoine Saout. Earlier in 2008, he finished; as of 2009, Demidov's live poker tournament winnings exceed $6,550,000. His four cashes at the WSOP account for the majority of those winnings, totaling $6,468,381; the vast majority of his poker earnings come from his strong runner-up performance in the Main Event in 2008.
As of 2012, Demidov is the highest-ranking member of the WSOP All-Time Money List who does not have a bracelet. Demidov is a former Warcraft III player who played under the name SouL. Pokerstars.com profile ESPN interview
Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan is a Chinese-American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including the 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively. Chan moved with his family in 1962 from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in 1968 to Phoenix, in 1973 to Houston, where his family owned restaurants; when he was 21, Chan dropped out of the University of Houston, where he was majoring in hotel and restaurant management, moved to Las Vegas to become a professional gambler. Chan won the World Series of Poker in 1987 and 1988 becoming the first foreign national to win the main event. A videotape of the 1988 WSOP final heads-up match is featured in the movie Rounders, in which Chan makes a cameo appearance, he won a third consecutive title, but finished in 2nd place in 1989 to Phil Hellmuth. He is the last player to win back-to-back WSOP Main Events. Jerry Buss, an avid poker player and owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, promised Chan an NBA Championship ring if he could win three in a row.
In 2005, Chan became the first player to win ten World Series of Poker bracelets, defeating Phil Laak in a Texas hold'em event. He is tied with Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey for second place with 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, behind Phil Hellmuth, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2008, Chan cashed for the first time in the Main Event since 1992, earning $32,166 for his 329th-place finish. In 2010, Chan cashed in the Main Event taking 156th place for $57,102. Chan competed in the $400,000 Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament in February 2005, he came back from having $20,000 chips out of $3,200,000 in play to finish in second place to Gus Hansen. Chan competed in Poker Superstars II during the summer of 2005, he defeated 22 players to make it to the finals. He defeated. Chan appeared in Poker Superstars III where he made it as far as the semi finals but was defeated by Todd Brunson after three matches. On NBC's late-night show Poker After Dark, a six-person $20,000 buy-in winner-takes-all tournament, Johnny Chan has the most victories to date with four wins in six appearances.
He came in fifth when he did not win. His appearances in which he made it to heads-up were: WSOP Champions — aired Jan. 15–20, 2007 — Won heads-up against Chris Moneymaker Golden Men — aired June 11–16, 2007 — Lost heads-up against Joe Hachem World Champions — aired Feb. 11–16, 2008 — Won heads-up against Phil Hellmuth International — aired Feb. 25 – March 1, 2008 — Won heads-up against Patrik Antonius Dream Table III — aired Mar. 23–27, 2009 — Won heads-up against Jennifer Tilly Chan won Bob Stupak's 1981 American Cup poker tournament. He defeated all 9 other players at the final table in less than an hour; as a result, Stupak gave Chan the nickname "The Orient Express". Chan has never made a final table on the World Poker Tour. Chan played in the 2004 and 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions events and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in the same years; as of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,600,000. His 45 WSOP cashes account for $4,355,464 of those winnings.
In addition to playing poker, Chan owns a fast-food franchise in the Las Vegas Stratosphere Hotel and is a consultant for casinos and game makers. Chan has written for Card Player magazine, he appeared in 2011 seasons of the GSN series High Stakes Poker. In 2005, Chan collaborated with Mark Karowe to release Play Poker Like Johnny Chan, an instructional book on several different types of poker. On November 28, 2006, the follow-up titled: Million Dollar Hold'em: Winning Big in Limit Cash Games, which focuses on limit hold'em strategy, was released. In 2007, Chan launched ChanPokerOnline.com. It closed in August 2008. Chan wrote a regular article in the bi-monthly magazine Trader Monthly. Johnny Chan portrayed himself in the 1998 film Rounders. In a flashback scene, Chan is bluffed out of a pot by the main character Mike McDermott, he appeared in the 2009 Hong Kong movie Poker King as himself. Goldsea article and interview PokerListings.com profile
2008 World Series of Poker
The 2008 World Series of Poker was the 39th annual World Series of Poker. Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the series began on May 30, 2008, featured 55 poker championships in several variants. All events but the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas hold'em Main Event, the most prestigious of the WSOP events, ended by July 15; as has been the WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners received a championship bracelet in addition to that event's prize money, which ranged from $87,929 to $9,119,517. Highlights of the 2008 series include the selection of Erick Lindgren, who won a bracelet and made three final tables, as recipient of the "Player of the Year Award". Nikolay Evdakov led all players with a record 10 money finishes, Phil Hellmuth set a WSOP record of 41 career final tables; the Main Event, which began with 6,844 participants, was suspended once the event was down to the nine players needed for the final table. This year was the first in which the Main Event was suspended in this fashion, a change introduced at ESPN's request to allow the television network to do a same-day Main Event broadcast.
In a stunning statistical improbability, Justin Phillips knocked out Motoyuki Mabuchi in the Main Event. Phillips held a Royal Flush and Mabuchi held quad aces. One of the broadcasters, Lon McEachern, mentioned on air that the chances of such a showdown occurring were 1:2.7 billion. Ray Romano had just sat down at the table. Nikolay Evdakov set a WSOP record for most cashes at a single World Series with 10; the previous record of eight was held by five players: Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Humberto Brenes, Michael Binger, Chad Brown. Evdakov's achievement represents the most cashes by a player at one WSOP without reaching a single final table. Hellmuth, who made two final tables, established a new WSOP career record of 41 final tables, two more than T. J. Cloutier. Scotty Nguyen became the first player to hold both a Main Event and a $50,000 H. O. R. S. E World Championship bracelet. Several nationals were the first from their country to win bracelets. Brazilian Alexandre Gomes won Event 48 to become the first South American player to win a WSOP bracelet since Ecuadorian-born Carlos Mortensen won the 2001 Main Event.
Rob Hollink won Event 30, becoming the first Dutch WSOP bracelet winner, Davidi Kitai won Event 38, becoming the first Belgian player to win a bracelet. The 2008 Main Event final table took 15 hours and 28 minutes to play, beating the previous record of 14 hours and 2 minutes in 2005; the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold'em Main Event began on July 3 with the first of four starting days. After reaching the final table of nine players on July 14, the final table was delayed until November 9; this change in schedule was made to allow ESPN to broadcast the final table on November 11, shortly after it was played. All final table players were paid ninth place prize money in July, with the remaining prize pool distributed in November. Instead of the Amazon Room, aka "the Poker Room," where all of the events were held, the final table would be held in the Penn and Teller Theatre. On November 9, players played down from nine to two and the winner was decided the next night; the final table consisted of 274 hands in total.
After a large decrease in Main Event participants in 2007 compared to 2006, the number increased in 2008 but was still far from the 2006 number. As in 2007, the payout structure is flatter than in 2006 and before, with the lowest payouts at $21,230, as compared to $10,616 in 2006; the "last woman standing" in the 2008 Main Event was Tiffany Michelle. Celebrities best known from television and professional sports, among other areas participated, with two placing in the money; the list includes: Out in Day 1: Jason Alexander, Nick Cannon, José Canseco, Jeff Fenech, Larry Flynt, Forrest Griffin, Orel Hershiser, Chuck Liddell, Brad May, Mekhi Phifer, Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, David Wells. Out in Day 2: Paul Azinger, Bruce Buffer, Shannon Elizabeth, Sully Erna, Ray Romano. Out in Day 3: Andy Griggs, Shane Warne. Out in Day 4: Steve Davis. Out in Day 5: Kara Scott. *Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2008 Main Event At the age of 22, Peter Eastgate became the youngest Main Event winner, surpassing Phil Hellmuth, 24 when he won in 1989 and became the first European to capture the title since Carlos Mortensen won in 2001.
His winning hand was a five high straight known as a "wheel", made from his hole cards A♦ 5♠ and three of the community cards which were 2♦ K♠ 3♥ 4♣ 7♠, while his opponent Ivan Demidov lost with 4♥ 2♥ for two pair. NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry. Twenty past WSOP Main Event champions, representing 22 bracelets, participated in the 2008 Main Event. Two champions from the late 1980s finished in the money: Johnny Chan placed 329th for $32,166, Phil Hellmuth finished 45th for $154,400
Joe Cada
Joseph Cada is an American professional poker player from Shelby Charter Township, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. By winning the 6,494-entrant Main Event at the age of 21, Cada surpassed Peter Eastgate as the youngest champion ever. Cada had two previous WSOP in the money finishes, both in 2009. Cada had been a regular online poker player for several years prior to winning the live WSOP event, he is an online poker player, with more than $500,000 in online tournament winnings at present. As of October 2016, his total live tournament winnings exceed $10,460,000. Cada became a representative of Team PokerStars in 2009 in the weeks prior to becoming World Champion. On June 18, 2012, he lost heads up in the 2,811-entrant $1,500 No Limit Texas hold'em event at the 2012 World Series of Poker. Cada is from a family of card enthusiasts, although his parents disapproved of his chosen profession, his agent dubbed him "The Kid", he has taken on the role as a statesman of the profession in the media and political circles, where he is a proponent of legalization of gambling.
Cada started playing online poker at about the age of 16. He twice staked accounts, but lost all the money in the accounts that he shared with his brother Jerome, his first online account was with PartyPoker. Although he was not able to play in casinos prior to age 21 in the United States, he could play in Canada at age 19 and play online. After a brief sabbatical from the game subsequent to losing his money, he began to play at a casino in Windsor, Ontario across the Canada–US border from his Detroit-area home, he earned enough to enter contests in the Bahamas and Costa Rica. At the time of his WSOP success, he was playing 2,000 hands per day online at PokerStars under the User ID jcada99. Cada had been a professional poker player for six years at the time of his world championship. Between the end of 2008 and the 2009 November Nine, Cada had earned $551,788 online. Prior to the tournament, he had a $150,000 downswing that necessitated him finding a financial backer for the WSOP. Professional poker financiers Eric Haber and Cliff Josephy paid his entry fee in exchange for half of his winnings.
Cada enjoys playing the "Sunday Major" tournaments at various online sites and says he honed his skill pursuing the knowledge and experience of better players at online training sites. He hosts many poker playing friends on Sundays to keep each other company while going through the grueling Sundays of playing the various majors. On Sundays, Cada hosts about fifteen friends to play online at his house. According to his CardPlayer magazine profile, Cada used several similar aliases to play with various online poker hosts: jcada99 and Joe Cada on the Full Tilt Poker website, jcada99 on PokerStars, JCADA99 on Absolute Poker. At the 2009 World Series of Poker, he had three in the money finishes: 64th in the 1,088-entrant June 5–7 Event 13, $2,500 No Limit Hold'em, which earned him $6,681. Prior to his final table victory, Cada earned a $1 million contract with PokerStars that pays for all his hotels and some of his buy-ins, his signing with Pokerstars resulted from an interview on ESPN with Phil Gordon where he expressed an interest in signing with that specific company.
His agent had procured him offers from UltimateBet and PokerHost as a result of his November Nine qualification. Cada was represented by agent Dan Frank. In the main event, Cada was the tournament chip leader after day 1C, the third of the four opening day sessions, but he began the final table with the fifth largest chipstack. In the 122nd final table hand Cada's stack was reduced to 2,275,000—enough for only four big blinds and about 1.2% of the combined total stack at play—due to calling Jeff Shulman's "all in" pre-flop with A♦ J♣ against A♣ K♥. No community cards hit either player, Shulman was rewarded by his better high card. Cada went all in twice pre-flop with small pocket pairs and was dominated by higher pocket pairs on both occasions, once with 3♥ 3♣ vs. J♦ J♣ and the other with 2♠ 2♣ vs Q♠ Q♥. Both times Cada flopped the winning three of a kind. By the time the field was reduced to two players he had 135 million chips to 58 million for Darvin Moon. During the final heads-up duel, Cada surrendered the chip lead, but he climbed back to 120.1 million before the last hand of the heads-up with Moon.
He regained the chip lead on the 80th hand. His winning hand was 9♣ 9♦, which he got all-in pre-flop against Moon's Q♦ J♦, a classic race situation prior to the flop; the board ran 8♣ 2♣ 7♠ K♥ 7♣. This hand was the 88th hand of heads-up play between Moon; these three events account. With the November 2009 victory, which occurred just over a week before his 22nd birthday, Cada supplanted Peter Eastgate, who won at age 22, as the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion, he was 340 days. In the week following the WSOP win, Cada made numerous publicity appearances as a poker ambassador, his media events included appearances on CNN, CBS News, CNBC, Late Show with David Letterman, numerous ESPN outlets including First Take, The Scott Van Pelt Show, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Inside Deal, ESPN.com as well as a taping for SportsCenter, never aired plus a visit to WWE Raw. During the publi
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school with a strong emphasis on academic learning, providing advanced secondary education in some parts of Europe comparable to British grammar schools, sixth form colleges and US preparatory high schools. In its current meaning, it refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study. Before the 20th century, the system of gymnasiums was a widespread feature of educational system throughout many countries of central, north and south Europe; the word "γυμνάσιον" was first used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men. The latter meaning of a place of intellectual education persisted in many European languages, whereas in English the meaning of a place for physical education was retained instead, more familiarly in the shortened form gym; the gymnasium is a secondary school. They are thus meant for the more academically minded students, who are sifted out at about the age of 10–13.
In addition to the usual curriculum, students of a gymnasium study Latin and Ancient Greek. Some gymnasiums provide general education; the four traditional branches are: humanities education modern languages mathematical-scientific education economical and social-scientific education Curricula differ from school to school but include language, informatics, chemistry, geography, music, philosophy, civics/citizenship, social sciences, several foreign languages. Schools concentrate not only on academic subjects, but on producing well-rounded individuals, so physical education and religion or ethics are compulsory in non-denominational schools which are prevalent. For example, the German constitution guarantees the separation of church and state, so although religion or ethics classes are compulsory, students may choose to study a specific religion or none at all. Today, a number of other areas of specialization exist, such as gymnasiums specializing in economics, technology or domestic sciences.
In some countries, there is a notion of progymnasium, equivalent to beginning classes of the full gymnasium, with the rights to continue education in a gymnasium. Here, the prefix pro- is equivalent to pre-, indicating that this curriculum precedes normal gymnasium studies. In the German-speaking, the Central-European, the Nordic, the Benelux and the Baltic countries, this meaning for "gymnasium", a secondary school preparing the student for higher education at a university, has been the same at least since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century; the term was derived from the classical Greek word "gymnasion", applied to an exercising ground in ancient Athens. Here teachers gathered and gave instruction between the hours devoted to physical exercises and sports, thus the term became associated with and came to mean an institution of learning; this use of the term did not prevail among the Romans, but was revived during the Renaissance in Italy, from there passed into the Netherlands and Germany during the 15th century.
In 1538, Johannes Sturm founded at Strasbourg the school which became the model of the modern German gymnasium. In 1812, a Prussian regulation ordered that all schools which had the right to send their students to the university should bear the name of gymnasia. By the 20th century, this practice was followed in the entire Austrian-Hungarian and Russian Empires. In the modern era, many countries which have gymnasiums were once part of these three empires. In Albania a gymnasium education takes three years following a compulsory nine-year elementary education and ending with a final aptitude test called Albanian: Matura Shtetërore; the final test is standardized at the state level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities. These can be either private; the subjects taught are mathematics, Albanian language, one to three foreign languages, geography, computer science, the natural sciences, history of art, philosophy, physical education and the social sciences. The gymnasium is viewed as a destination for the best performing students and as the type of school that serves to prepare students for university, while other students go to technical/vocational schools.
Therefore, gymnasiums base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, elementary school grades or some combination of the two. In Austria the Gymnasium has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, from 15 to 18, concluding with Matura. Three types existed; the Humanistisches Gymnasium focuses on Latin. The Neusprachliches Gymnasium puts its focus on spoken languages; the usual combination is English and Latin. The Realgymnasium puts its focus on science. In the last couple of decades more autonomy was granted to schools and various types were developed, focusing on sports, music or economics, for example. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, gymnázium is a typ
High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker is a cash game poker television program, broadcast by the cable television network GSN in the United States. The poker variant played on the show is no limit, it premiered on January 16, 2006 and ended on December 17, 2007 for the first 4 seasons and the last 3 seasons ran from March 1, 2009 to May 21, 2011 and was simulcast in 3DTV on N3D. The participants on the show include amateur players; the show was hosted alongside Gabe Kaplan. Starting with the sixth season, Kara Scott replaced Benza as Kaplan's co-host, with Scott conducting interviews from the poker room floor. Starting with the seventh season, Norm Macdonald replaced Gabe Kaplan as Scott's co-host; the first season of High Stakes Poker, taped at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, was first broadcast in 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 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 at 9:00 p.m. and premiered on January 15, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. 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. Taping was completed in May, with the season premiering on August 27, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. Returning players included Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Sam Farha, Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth Jr. Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu. Newcomers for the fourth season include Brandon Adams, Mike Baxter, Brian Brandon, Phil Galfond, Guy Laliberté, Bob Safai, Antonio Salorio, Haralabos Voulgaris.
The episodes of this season featured a $500,000 minimum buy-in 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 ran from March 1, 2009 to May 24, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. was taped at the Golden Nugget on December 19–21, 2008 and featured a minimum cash buy-in of $200,000. The format for season 5 differed 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 8:00 p.m. 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, Lex Veldhuis, bought in for $200,000.
Season seven debuted on its new GSN Saturday night time slot at 8:00 p.m. 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, Eli Elezra. GSN 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. 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 cash game; the minimum buy-in to the game is US$100,000, but players have bought in for as much as $1,000,000, such as Daniel Negreanu in Season 1 and Brad Booth in Season 3.
For part of the fourth season, the minimum buy-in was $500,000. The first episode with the minimum $500,000 buy-in was broadcast on November 5, 2007; the minimum cash buy-in for the fifth season increased to $200,000 - the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series. Unlike in poker tournaments, 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 use cash instead of casino chips. Cash stays as cash in the pot. Unlike tournament poker 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, $1,200, with a "straddle" or optional fourth blind of $2,400. The players include poker professionals along with amateurs such as 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.
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 to play the game. Gold spoke about his interactions with other playe
