Jeff Haney on why ‘sick’ might be the most accurate word to describe the upcoming season of ‘High Stakes Poker’

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.

The most vivid image in my mind from the taping of the latest go-round of "High Stakes Poker" in May at the South Point involved pro Phil Laak, relaxed nearly to the point of catatonia, watching a video feed of the world's biggest no-limit cash game after his stint at the table.

Laak, wearing his signature get - up of a hooded sweatshirt over a T-shirt, was tracking the action in a side room just off the stage set in the hotel's convention area, lying back in a chair and listening to the production's raw audio through headphones.

Up in the main game, with about $5 million in cash and live chips on the felt, world champion Jamie Gold was mixing it up with Finnish hotshot Patrik Antonius.

"Sick," Laak said, using the all-purpose term for bad beats, daring bluffs, heroic calls or dramatic showdowns in poker.

As the size of the pot grew, so did the jawing between Gold and Antonius as the hand played out. Laak was finally moved to sit up, remove his headphones and turn to me.

"Oh, that is so sick," he said. "Sick!"

That is as good a description as any for the fourth season of "High Stakes Poker," which premiere s at 9 p.m. Monday on GSN, the Network for Games (Cox cable channel 344).

"High Stakes Poker," which chronicles a big no-limit Texas hold 'em cash game rather than a tournament, has gained a following among professional players as well as fans since its debut in January 2006.

All four seasons were taped in Las Vegas, each time over several days on a closed set. Footage from the fourth game has been divided into 17 hour long episodes, up from 13 episodes in Season 3.

The final seven episodes of the fourth season will feature poker's richest cash game, which required each player to buy in for a minimum of $500,000. (Antonius bought in for $1 million.)

This part of the game also had a unique structure designed to generate action, with three "blinds" (instead of the standard two forced bets) of $300, $600 and $1,200. The players opted for a fourth blind bet, or "straddle," of $2,400 on many of the hands. The "sick" clash between Gold and Antonius, in which Gold got the best of it in a monster hand, took place during this segment of the game.

The first 10 episodes, including Monday's premiere, portray the part of the game that carried a minimum buy-in of "only" $100,000 per player.

Coordinating producer Mori Eskandani said invitations to participate in the game are extended based not only on poker skill or personality, but also on how much action a player is likely to give - how much "gamble" he has in him, in poker parlance. Big pots and fast action make good television, Eskandani said.

A preview copy of the first episode of Season 4 showed Eskandani's instincts were accurate. Before the no-limit hold 'em game even started, the players, itching for action already, played a quick $5,000-a-man showdown hand, just to warm up.

Then Laak, in a considerably more animated state than when I ran into him a couple of days later, proposed a rule variation by which any player who won a pot with a starting hand of a deuce and a 7 (the worst two-card combination in Texas hold 'em) would win an extra $500 from everyone at the table.

Soon enough, a hand developed that had Phil Hellmuth running a big bluff on the end against Mike Matusow's pocket kings while holding only - you guessed it - deuce-7.

And in the final hand of the first episode, Antonio Salorio decides to play his deuce-7 strongly against Brian Brandon's starting hand of two kings.

The flop, however, brings two more kings to give Brandon four of a kind, or "quads."

Now that's sick.

Premiere: 9 p.m. Monday , GSN (Cox cable channel 344)

New players this season: Brandon Adams, Mike Baxter, Brian Brandon, Phil Galfond, Guy Laliberte, Bob Safai, Antonio Salorio, Haralabos Voulgaris

Returning players: Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Farha, Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu

Announcers: Gabe Kaplan, A.J. Benza