Its back! Actually its been back since December 2020 and I didn't realise...
Nearly 10 years since the last series, High Stakes Poker is literally what it says in the title. Super rich people playing poker for tens of thousands of dollars in each hand.
However its not just random people, there are famous poker players, businessmen, sports personalities and amateurs too.
Episodes have Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza commentating on the hands, to try and guide the viewer through the situations and explaining each player's thought processes.
The game itself is rather casual with players chatting about random things and shooting the shit. Most of the time they're not even talking about poker! Which is what makes it entertaining, as its not just all about the poker.
For any poker fan of the old series, they would remember the legendary moments of the previous seasons, Tom (Durrr) Dwan being insanely lucky, Daniel Negreanu being insanely unlucky... multiple times... in multiple seasons, Mike Matusaw running is mouth and needling other players and Phil Hellmuth complaining and being teased (most of the time by Matusaw).
So what of this season? I'm only in a few episodes so far and right now its a spoonful on nostalgia.
They brought back the 2 original commentators, as previous seasons only had Gabe by himself. The format has also been restored to its original version, same music, same casual music, mostly same branding. No awkward interviews on the side with a sexy lady anymore, just literally recording the action and keeping it all casual.
Didn't really like the graphics showing players and bet sizes and at first but now quite like it, and its nice that there's that added production value. Also finally they do a much better job of making the viewers know the stack sizes of each player in the hand and when there is a straddle too, which used to be quite confusing.
Personalised avatars and poker information look modern!
Of course not all things are same, times have moved on, and so has poker. The plays itself are agressive and you wont see a 7 way limped pot, there's plenty of raising and re-raising before you see the flop.
Bet sizings are interesting too, from the usual pot sizing to 1/2 or even 1/3 pot happening. I'm no cash game player but it seems that even the amateurs are able to understand how to extract value and they're not scared to bluff big as well.
So far really enjoying it, I think some would be disappointed with the lack of action, but for me that's what makes it great, it doesn't feel forced and I love the casualness of the table. It not reality tv, its kinda more like a documentary.
Tom Dwan is much more muted compared to his previous seasons, but still a strong winner.
Never heard of PokerGo before but they seem to be doing a good job. Understanding their audience and keeping in mind the fans that love the old show, but also updating what needs to be updated.
From the same channel it has created another series which is really interesting called the High Stakes Duel which is Heads Up (2 players only) cash game with 2 legendary poker players. The first season featured Antonius Esfandiari vs Phil Hellmuth, and next up is Daniel Negreanu vs Phil Hellmuth.
Hoping that High Stakes Poker will keep going on and have many other seasons to come!
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