Thursday, April 06, 2006

Joining High Stakes Poker again are some of the best players in the world including, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreau and Sam Farha who each will risk hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars, to participate in television's only cash game series. Produced by Henry Orenstein's production company, HSOR, L.L.C., High Stakes Poker season two will be shot on location at the prestigious Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, April 10 and 11th.

"As the only poker cash game on television, this series lets fans learn how the poker legends play when risking huge amounts of their own money," said Rich Cronin, President and CEO of GSN. "High Stakes Poker has exceeded our expectations and we are looking forward to the second season for this exciting, one of a kind poker show."

Not only has High Stakes Poker received critical acclaim from the poker world, it has also delivered additional viewers to the network. High Stakes Poker has increased household ratings by 79% on Monday nights at 9 PM on GSN while doubling the Male 18-49 ratings and tripling the Male 25-54 ratings for the network.

The popular duo of co-host AJ Benza and actor turned poker player, Gabe Kaplan, will both return to call the second season of High Stakes Poker. The players, in addition to Brunson, Negreanu and Farha will be announced at a later date.

"Every week on Tuesday after the show, I get calls from my poker friends from all over the country telling me how much they enjoyed High Stakes Poker," said Henry Orenstein, Executive Producer and the inventor of the in-table camera for poker shows. They tell me that they love the show because this is real poker with real money and you can learn a lot from it."

Poker fans will find the finale of the original season of High Stakes Poker on Monday, April 10 at 10 PM ET. Daniel Negreanu attempts to recover his previous losses and Phil Hellmuth, who has also taken some bad beats in previous episodes, tries to walk away as a winner.

Also playing in this episode are Los Angeles Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, Jennifer Harman, Antonio Esfandiari, Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein and Todd Brunson.

GSN, the Network for Games, is the only U.S. television network dedicated to game-related programming and interactive game playing. The network features game shows, reality series, documentaries and casino games. As the industry leader in interactivity, GSN features over 133 hours per week of interactive programming, which allows viewers a chance to win prizes by playing along with GSN's televised games via GSN.com. Reaching nearly 60 million Nielsen homes, GSN is distributed in the U.S. through all major cable systems and satellite providers. The network is jointly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media Corporation.