Columnist Jeff Haney: On a new GSN show, the $100,000 lost in one hand by one player and a million-dollar buy in for another

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 | 8:37 a.m.

Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Monday, Friday (gaming) and Wednesday (poker). Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or haney@lasvegassun.com.

When GSN was filming "High Stakes Poker" -- a big no-limit Texas hold 'em cash game -- at the Golden Nugget in November, several developments had a handful of onlookers buzzing.

Among themselves, that is.

Neither observers nor the players in the game, which featured light-hearted banter amid moments of excruciating intensity, were permitted to publicly discuss the action before the show premiered.

On Monday night, "High Stakes Poker" debuted on GSN (Cox cable channel 344), giving viewers nationwide a look at some of the not-so-simple twists of fate inherent in any sizable no-limit poker game.

They saw:

Forrest was the victim of what poker players deplore as a "set over set" dilemma. Forrest started the hand with a pair of deuces in the pocket while Nasseri began with a pair of fives. When the flop -- or first three community cards -- revealed a deuce and a five, both players made a "set," or three of a kind.

When that happens in a no-limit game, the player with the smaller set often loses all OF the money he has on the table. In poker lingo, he "gets broke."

Forrest calmly bought back into the game for another $50,000, pulling out two $25,000 chips. Casino chips and actual currency were in play in the game, which differs from most televised poker in that it portrays a genuine cash game rather than a tournament.

The opportunity to play at such high stakes was what drew the big-name pros to the project, coordinating producer Mori Eskandani said.

"It was easy to get it together," Eskandani said. "We just told them it was the biggest game in town, and right away they wanted in."

In fact, "The Biggest Game in Town" was an early contender for the show's title, Eskandani said.

The minimum buy-in for the game was $100,000, with no cap.

Negreanu won a couple of small pots on stone-cold bluffs with hands made up of pure junk, and later caught his opponents off guard when he had a real hand, pocket kings.

Negreanu also provided the first episode with its signature image -- literally a money shot -- when he went all-in for $1 million by tossing two bricks of $500,000 in cash into the center of the table.

Some of his opponents, their egos stung by Negreanu's ultra-aggressive play, tried to fight back with reraises, but to no avail.

"There definitely is a lot of ego in poker," Eskandani said. "With tournaments, there are titles to win and endorsement possibilities ... but they wanted to be involved in this so they could say they're the best player at the biggest stakes."

Another of the "amateurs," Buss employed a deliberate style of play. In one of the few hands he became involved in, Buss played pocket 10s conservatively, folding when no 10s came on the flop.

It was a wise move.

That was the hand where Negreanu had his kings.

The Station Casinos Jumbo Hold 'em Poker Progressive set a state record for a bad beat jackpot when it hit late last month for $418,870, with 265 players receiving a piece of the jackpot.

The progressive bad beat jackpot is awarded when a hand of four 10s or better is beaten by a hand of four of a kind or better.

The record jackpot came at Boulder Station when a player with a 5-high straight flush was beaten by a player with a 7-high straight flush. The player with the smaller straight flush collected $36,373; the player with the larger straight flush won $21,373.

The other 263 people who were playing poker at the time at all Station properties each won $1,373 as consolation prizes.

Jeff Haney can be reached at 259-4041 or at haney@lasvegassun.com.