Hellmuth gets felted, Ivey gets richer, more Europeans in one place than the World Cup—High Stakes Poker is back on the Game Show Network (GSN).
Sunday marked the return of the richest game in televised poker history, with a field Gabe Kaplan justifiably refers to as “the Breeder’s Cup Classic field…everybody a star.” He later announces that Phil Ivey and Tom “durrr” Dwan will be in every episode this season, serving as catalysts for what will conceivably be some of the largest pots ever made, outside of the one I picked up at the Asian flea market that one time.
Kaplan’s announcing is still witty, cynical, educated, and on point. I have always enjoyed his approach to humor and he does not disappoint in the Season 6 opener. That being said, there is a notable absence in the announcing booth, as Kaplan’s one man show seems lonely in the void of an actual co-host. This is probably the first time anyone has ever said this, but I miss A.J. Benza.
The Kara Scott component of the show, as talented, beautiful, and savvy as she may be, seems like it was just stapled on. While they dubbed her a “co-host”, her roll couldn’t be further from one, as she’s more or less just an underused auxiliary to the show’s identity. I think GSN’s decision to put some tail on the program (a la broadcasts with Leeann Tweeden or Shana Hiatt) and reinforce its standing as an equal opportunity employer stripped what worked so well about the previous format, and Benza along with it.
New circus sideshow segments like “Did You Know?”, where Daniel Negreanu gives us a history lesson of the Dead Man’s Hand, or “30 Seconds With Kara Scott”, where she asks people to describe Phil Hellmuth in 10 words or less, tarnish the show’s pacing and purpose. With the addition of the pointless aforementioned, High Stakes Poker is slowly becoming what is bad about all the other poker shows on television, as they dumb down the product with hopes of marketing it to a more mainstream audience.
Even the players were joking about the new mandatory interview Scott gets to do after a player loses all their chips. Pretending he’s in front of the camera, Gus Hansen says to Negreanu in mocking tone, “I love High Stakes Poker!” It’s really the poker equivalent of losing a sports championship, and then that senseless reporter says to the coach or star player of the losing team, “You just got within inches of reaching your life long dreams and aspirations and all your hard work almost paid off. How does it feel to lose?”
But at the end of the day, no matter how hard the show hits the fan, I’ll waste an hour of my life at a time watching people better than me at poker spending money I’ll never have from playing it.
In what seems to be the current trend of the resurfacing poker pro, Paul Wasicka went on to capture the $5,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit Championship Event in Tunica, Mississippi. Wasicka was brought to notoriety in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing second to Jamie “Enjoyable as a Cold Sore” Gold. Staking his claim atop a mountain of 96 other players in the field, it is his first win and notable mention since the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, in which he beat pro Chad Brown 2-0 in the finals.
AWESOME UPDATE: in the past 12 months, CarbonPoker has paid out $2,833,938.01 to our Bad Beat Jackpot winners and losers.
Some of you may remember Jeff Madsen’s breakout onto the poker scene in 2006. His first year in the series at the ripe age of 21, he had an unprecedented four top three finishes: third in the $2000 
Ok – so Football Christmas is only days away and we’re going to see the Colts (-5) take on the Saints (+5). In all of this media hype and national attention, I’d like to ask “what about the poker?”
Feature time!
February is here! (Happy groundhog day).
You don’t need to go all the way to Vancouver this month for Olympic glory. At CarbonPoker, for the entire month of February, you can compete against the rest of the field in two Olympic-themed events for a chance to win tons of great prizes.
Another report from Shane down at the Aussie Millions with CarbonPoker Players
