High Stakes Poker Season V to Film at Golden Nugget

Poker News Daily has learned that the fifth season of the popular cash game television series “High Stakes Poker” will be filmed at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from December 19th to 21st. The minimum buy-in will be $200,000 and the show will once again air on cable station GSN, which also owns the rights to air the sixth season of the World Poker Tour. The $200,000 price tag is the “largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series,” according to a press release distributed by GSN on Thursday.

The Executive Producers of High Stakes Poker are two of the top names in the poker business, Henry Orenstein and Mori Eskandani. Orenstein was just inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame alongside poker legend Dewey Tomko during the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Orenstein, according to WSOP officials, holds over 100 patents, including ones related to Sesame Street toys, Snoopy toys, and Transformers. He famously holds patent number 5,451,054, the rights to the hole card camera in poker. Now embedded either in the ring of a table or beneath a glass window, the hole card camera helped propel poker into a true spectator sport.

In the press release sent out to the media by GSN, Orenstein commented, “High Stakes Poker, by a wide margin, has become a must-see on GSN for poker players and poker fans all over the world. We are happy to bring back the top amateurs and professionals risking hundreds of thousands of their money in the new season.” GSN recently moved its poker programming, which consists of High Stakes Poker and the World Poker Tour, to Sunday nights. Coincidentally, Fox Sports Net, which owns the rights to air the seventh season of the WPT, will also air its poker programming on Sunday nights. The first five seasons of the WPT aired on The Travel Channel.

Orenstein is a Holocaust survivor and also the proud owner of a World Series of Poker Bracelet. He took down a $5,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud tournament in 1996 for $130,000, defeating a competitive final table that also included PokerStars pro Humberto Brenes, Cyndy Violette, T.J. Cloutier, and WPT Host and Poker News Daily columnist Mike Sexton. Orenstein finished eighth in the 1995 WSOP Main Event for $51,900, the year that Dan Harrington won, and placed 12th in poker’s biggest tournament two years prior.

On the fifth season of High Stakes Poker, Eskandani commented, “I am very excited about the mix of players that we will bring together for this next season of High Stakes Poker. Viewers are in for a thrill.” GSN officials told Poker News Daily that the cast for the show is still being finalized. More details will be released in the beginning of December after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

High Stakes Poker pits some of the world’s top poker pros against each other in a televised cash game. It is hosted by “Welcome Back Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza. Past seasons have featured poker pros Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Phil Ivey, and CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend. Barry Greenstein famously uttered “lol donkaments” and raised $10,000 for charity on one episode of the show, which has become a part of many poker fans’ weekly schedule.

Season V will be filmed at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas. Past seasons have included stops at the South Point Casino and The Palms. Justin McVay, Public Relations Manager for the Golden Nugget, told Poker News Daily, “We are thrilled to be partnering with the Game Show Network in filming the fifth season of High Stakes Poker. The Golden Nugget is known for exciting poker events and we feel it just makes sense to bring a program like High Stakes Poker to our property. It’s a perfect fit for the players, the fans, and the Golden Nugget.”