History Series / HighStakesPoker

* TheDeterminator: One of the things that made Tom Dwan so unique and fun. Most players, though willing to occasionally bluff, would give up after the initial attempt failed, unless given very compelling reason to believe it would work or they had some sort of strong draw. Dwan, however, was willing to continue to fire massive amounts of money with no hand and no potential, despite indicators of strength from opponents. In both the [[SignatureScene signature scenes]] of the show, Tom knows he has the worst hand, knows he has almost no opportunity to make the best hand on future streets, and has good reason to believe his opponents are strong, but manages to get them off their hands regardless using big bets and indicators of extreme strength.

* BadassGrandpa: Doyle Brunson, perhaps the most famous poker player of all time, frequently participated on the show, competing against players nearly a quarter his age who were bringing a new approach to the game. Over a period of time where these young players were beginning to take over and change the game, pushing the older players out, Doyle more than held his own. His profit of over half a million dollars on televised hands was fifth most of all players to ever appear on the show (although much of this margin can be attributed to one hand against billionaire amateur Guy Laliberte), seemingly enjoying himself the whole way.

In the mid 2000s, the poker boom was peaking. Thanks largely to the onset of the World Poker Tour and the Moneymaker Effect of 2003, the popularity of the game had never been higher. {{ESPN}} was broadcasting as many World Series of Poker events as they could, internet poker was exploding with new players, and the bright minds of the poker world were beginning to figure out the game on a higher level than had ever been done before. With plenty of tournaments being broadcast on television, there was an interest in getting cash games out to the public as well. '''High Stakes Poker''' was among the most well-known of the cash games that ended up being televised during this period, lasting seven seasons from 2006 to 2011, airing ninety-eight episodes over it's run. Comedian-turned-poker-professional Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza did commentary over the first five seasons, with Kaplan going solo in season six and Kara Scott conducting interviews of the players by the table. Season seven switched to comedian Norm Macdonald in the booth.

** One side bet that was actually a factor in gameplay was the occasional placing of the deuce-seven game. When active, any player who managed to win a hand holding a seven and a deuce (the worst hand in Holdem, due to it's immediate weak value combined with it's inability to make three-card straights), either by bluffing or making the best hand at showdown, was entitled to a bounty from all the other players, usually five hundred dollars. This wager would motivate all the players to play deuce seven as if it was aces or a flopped set, making for larger and entertaining pots. Players would risk tens of thousands in attempts to win the bounty which often totaled less than five thousand, proving that the players mostly considered the bragging rights of winning with deuce seven more compelling than the extra money.

* ForeShadowing: In the first episode of the show, most of the players bought in for between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars. Doyle Brunson bought in for half a million, but Daniel Negreanu would not be topped and bought in for a full million. He began to bully the table from the very beginning, raising and re-raising repeatedly to blow opponents off of their hands. He even raised all-in preflop on one occasion (although the gesture was somewhat muted, as he could only raise the amount of money his opponents had left, which was surely always much less than one million). The first episode actually went quite well for Daniel, with him pushing people around and making good hands to take nicely-sized pots...only for things to rapidly deteriorate as the session went on. By episode nine of the first season, Daniel was down below half a million, having shipped large amounts of money to the likes of Mimi Tran and Sammy Farha, and was very clearly beginning to tilt. Daniel probably should have taken that as a sign and never returned to the set, as his luck never turned, and his entire run on the show was largely similar to his run over this first season.

* AllStarCast: Pick just about any of the tables put together over the show's run. At least four of the seats will be filled by bona-fide poker superstars, often more. Take the eight players involved in the famous hand where Tom Dwan bluffs Peter Eastgate off trip deuces and Barry Greenstein off of pocket aces:
** Barry Greenstein, three-time World Series Of Poker bracelet winner, two-time World Poker Tour champion, and cash game legend of his time, with frequent visits to the famous 'Big Game' at Bobby's Room at the Bellagio.
** Tom Dwan, one of the original online poker wizards, and one of the poker minds most credited with changing the way players looked at the game, known to win and lose several million dollars in a matter of months multiple times in his career playing online, as well as also participating frequently in the 'Big Game'.
** David Benyamine, with one WSOP bracelet and WPT title to his name, as well as being a well-known, hugely successful cash-game player, both online and live, with many visits to Bobby's Room in his resume.
** Eli Elezra, at the time a one-time WSOP champion and one-time WPT champion (he has won two more WSOP bracelets since the show's run ended), with a long track record of play in nosebleed cash games as well, including, of course, the 'Big Game'.
** Ilari Sahamies, live and online cash game expert, with million dollar swings throughout his career.
** Daniel Negreanu, four-time WSOP bracelet winner (having added two more since the end of the show), two-time WPT champion, and one of the more recognizable ambassadors of the game. Also a common player in the 'Big Game', Negreanu was one of the best players in the world in his youth, then re-invented his game as the game changed, becoming one of the best players in the world in the modern era as well.
** Peter Eastgate, winner of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, one of the ten biggest prizes in tournament poker history.
** Doyle Brunson, perhaps the most well-known poker player of all-time. Ten WSOP bracelets, including two Main Event bracelets, a WPT title, and millions of dollars worth of success in cash games. Wrote the most influential poker book of all-time in Super/System.

* CrazyAwesome: The show did run during the period of time where aggression was becoming the name of the game in poker, so many of the participants were known for playing psychotically, which couldn't help but be more entertaining than the more passive styles of most of the players. Tom Dwan, who was crazy in a calculated, mathematical, carefully-constructed manner, made it work the best of anyone. Eli Elezra, who was aggressive in the fashion of a typical poker whale (a wealthy, inexperienced player), also had good success. Of course, the ultra-aggressive styles of Dario Minieri, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst, Lex Veldhuis and Ilari Sahamies all saw their attempts to copy Dwan's success fall flat, and Sammy Farha's strategy of playing like the loosest, nuttiest, most-desperate-to-lose-money whale possible also didn't work out.

* MemeticMutation: A frequent meme on twoplustwo, one of the world's biggest online poker forums, is using the term 'donkament' to describe a tournament where the quality of play is low and the format is such that players often get all-in on the first hand. Through the twoplustwo forums, a bet was offered to Barry Greenstein where ten thousand dollars would be donated to his charity if he said "lol donkaments" on the show. He did it.

** One side bet that was actually a factor in gameplay was the occasional placing of the deuce-seven game. When active, any player who managed to win a hand holding a seven and a deuce (the worst hand in Holdem, due to it's immediate weak value combined with it's inability to make three-card straights), either by bluffing or making the best hand at showdown, was entitled to a bounty from all the other players, usually five hundred dollars. This wager would motivate all the players to play deuce seven as if it was aces or a flopped set, making for larger and entertaining pots. Players would risk tens of thousands in attempts to win the bounty which often totaled less than five thousand, proving that the players mostly considered the bragging rights of winning with deuce seven more compelling than the extra money.

* SignatureScene: The final hand of an episode in season six between Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey is likely the most well-known hand in the show's run and is often considered one of the greatest televised hands in poker history. A season five hand is comparable in popularity and notoriety as well, featuring Dwan, Barry Greenstein, and Peter Eastgate.
** Tom Dwan VS Phil Ivey
*** Phil Laak raises to thirty-nine hundred with ace nine offsuit. Eli Elezra calls with ace seven of clubs, Phil Ivey calls with ace six of diamonds, Daniel Negreanu calls with jack three of clubs from the small blind. Tom Dwan, holding nine eight of spades, raises from the big blind to twenty-eight thousand nine hundred. Laak folds, Elezra folds, Ivey calls, and Negreanu folds. Pot: $70,700. Dwan started the hand with three-quarters of a million dollars in front of him, and is somehow the short-stack, with Ivey having over a million.
*** Flop is ten of diamonds, queen of clubs, king of diamonds. Ivey holds the nut flush draw, gutshot straight draw, and the current best hand with ace high. Dwan has nothing, except the low-end of a gutshot straight draw that will not be good if he makes it. Dwan bets forty-five thousand eight hundred. Ivey calls. Pot: $162,300.
*** Turn is the three of spades, changing nothing. Dwan bets one hundred and twenty-three thousand two hundred. Ivey calls. Pot: $408,700.
*** River is the six of clubs, giving Ivey a pair of sixes. Dwan bets two hundred and sixty-eight thousand two hundred with nine-high, creating a pot of six hundred and seventy-six thousand nine hundred dollars. Ivey takes about three minutes to think about what he wants to do, saying that nobody is going to believe what he has that he's thinking about calling with, and saying that it would be the sickest call of all-time, with Dwan doing his best to not look terrified on the other side of the table. Ivey finally folds.
** Tom Dwan VS Barry Greenstein VS Peter Eastgate
*** Greenstein opens from under the gun with pocket aces to twenty-five hundred. Dwan calls from under the gun plus one with queen ten of clubs. In a rarity, ''the entire table'' calls the initial raise, including Peter Eastgate, who is getting such fantastic pot odds from the small blind he calls with four deuce offsuit. The eight-player flop is notable in and of itself, building a pot of twenty-one thousand six hundred.
*** The flop comes deuce of clubs, ten of diamonds, deuce of spades. Eastgate flops best with trip deuces, Greenstein still has to feel reasonably good about his aces, and Dwan makes a pair of tens with a queen kicker. With action checking back to him, Greenstein makes a continuation bet of ten thousand dollars. Dwan thinks for a few moments, then raises to thirty-seven thousand three hundred. The rest of the table quickly folds their hands, as Gabe Kaplan expresses his confusion as to why Dwan would raise into the entire table with just top pair when it looks like Greenstein has an overpair and someone could have a deuce. Eastgate calls the raise when action gets back to him, and Greenstein calls as well. Pot stands at $133,500.
*** The turn is a seven of diamonds. Eastgate and Greenstein check to Dwan, who bets out one hundred and four thousand two hundred dollars. Kaplan realizes that Dwan isn't betting under the expectation that his hand is best, and that he's turning top pair into a bluff, knowing he can use the eight-way nature of the flop to represent extreme strength by raising. Eastgate, who has nearly half a million dollars in front of him, with Dwan seemingly poised to force him all-in on the river, folds. Greenstein thinks for a moment, then folds as well. Just to dispel any doubt that Dwan knew what was happening, during the conversation immediately following the hand, Dwan points over at Eastgate and says "he had the best hand", even making a ten thousand dollar wager on him having a deuce.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A season four episode, one of many that season with half-million dollar minimum buyin, nearly had the most expensive clash in televised poker history. Sammy Farha opens to forty-two hundred with ace three offsuit from the hijack, David Benyamine calls with ace eight of clubs on the button, Guy Laliberte calls with king five of clubs from the big blind. Fourteen thousand nine hundred up for grabs. King of clubs, three of diamonds, five of clubs hits the flop, giving Farha bottom pair, Benyamine the nut flush draw, and Laliberte top two pair. Guy checks, Sammy bets thirteen thousand, David raises to forty-three thousand. Guy re-raises to one hundred and sixty-eight thousand, Sammy folds, and David pushes all-in for six hundred thousand. Guy thinks for a moment before calling, creating a pot of ''one million, two hundred and twenty-seven thousand nine hundred'' dollars. This would have been, and would still stand today as the largest cash game pot in televised poker history, outpacing the actual record pot by over a hundred thousand dollars. However, David was possibly having money problems at this point in time and had actually borrowed his six hundred thousand dollar buyin from Patrick Antonius, and was uncomfortable playing out the pot as a nearly two-to-one underdog. Guy, an amateur billionaire mostly there to have fun and not wanting to put someone else in an uncomfortable situation, makes a deal where they pretend as if David had folded instead of going all-in, putting him only on the hook for the forty-three thousand he had initially raised. Despite the pleading of Antonio Esfandiari, Guy and David also refuse to show the turn and river to see what would have happened had the hand played out.

* AnnouncerChatter: The announcer team of Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza talked constantly throughout the show and offered commentary on virtually everything that happened. Contrasted with NBC's Poker After Dark, where commentator Oliver Nejad was mostly silent, with most of his comments simply describing what happened with very few opinions offered. Benza mostly stuck to describing the actions of the players and the cards that came, whereas Kaplan would analyze the play, make guesses on what players might be thinking, and try to figure out what players were trying to accomplish with their actions, as well as give opinions on how good or bad particular decisions were.

* Main/Foreshadowing: In the first episode of the show, most of the players bought in for between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars. Doyle Brunson bought in for half a million, but Daniel Negreanu would not be topped and bought in for a full million. He began to bully the table from the very beginning, raising and re-raising repeatedly to blow opponents off of their hands. He even raised all-in preflop on one occasion (although the gesture was somewhat muted, as he could only raise the amount of money his opponents had left, which was surely always much less than one million). The first episode actually went quite well for Daniel, with him pushing people around and making good hands to take nicely-sized pots...only for things to rapidly deteriorate as the session went on. By episode nine of the first season, Daniel was down below half a million, having shipped large amounts of money to the likes of Mimi Tran and Sammy Farha, and was very clearly beginning to tilt. Daniel probably should have taken that as a sign and never returned to the set, as his luck never turned, and his entire run on the show was largely similar to his run over this first season.

* Foreshadowing: In the first episode of the show, most of the players bought in for between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars. Doyle Brunson bought in for half a million, but Daniel Negreanu would not be topped and bought in for a full million. He began to bully the table from the very beginning, raising and re-raising repeatedly to blow opponents off of their hands. He even raised all-in preflop on one occasion (although the gesture was somewhat muted, as he could only raise the amount of money his opponents had left, which was surely always much less than one million). The first episode actually went quite well for Daniel, with him pushing people around and making good hands to take nicely-sized pots...only for things to rapidly deteriorate as the session went on. By episode nine of the first season, Daniel was down below half a million, having shipped large amounts of money to the likes of Mimi Tran and Sammy Farha, and was very clearly beginning to tilt. Daniel probably should have taken that as a sign and never returned to the set, as his luck never turned, and his entire run on the show was largely similar to his run over this first season.