Young bucks make jump to ‘major leagues’

By Jeff Haney (contact)

Monday, Dec. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

In the olden days of poker, when dinosaurs and Titanic Thompson roamed the earth, tournaments were viewed as sideshows, mere supporting acts for the nearby high-stakes cash games that served as the main event of any respectable poker gathering.

Although tournaments have captured — and held — the public’s imagination for the better part of this decade, thanks in part to the phenomenon of televised poker, it’s still possible to catch glimpses of the vintage value system of poker players.

One came at this year’s World Series of Poker at the Rio, just before Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov squared off head-to-head for the main event championship. During the pregame festivities, player of the year award winner Erick Lindgren took the microphone and passed along a message from Doyle Brunson to the two finalists: Congratulations ... oh, and after you’ve collected your prize money, come on down to the Strip. We’re saving you a seat in a big all-night cash game.

That traditional emphasis on cash poker games also drives the appeal of “High Stakes Poker,” the TV series on GSN (Cox cable channel 344) that chronicles a no-limit Texas hold ’em “ring game,” or old-fashioned cash poker game, rather than a tournament.

In fact, the long-anticipated fifth season of “High Stakes Poker,” scheduled to be taped this weekend on a closed-to-spectators set at the Golden Nugget, is expected to feature some mano a mano showdowns between young upstarts such as Eastgate and legends of the game such as Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein and Howard Lederer.

“The seasoned professionals love the show because they get to play with players who they consider weaker opponents,” said Mori Eskandani, executive producer of “High Stakes Poker.” “In their minds, the weaker players don’t stand a chance.

“If you’re a big cash game player in Las Vegas and you’ve been playing for 20 years or so, and somebody comes in off a big tournament win, in your mind you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got him.’ But then again, surprises happen all the time and some of the new players are very skilled.”

This weekend’s big game is the first taping of “High Stakes” since the fourth season was recorded in May 2007 at South Point. After postproduction work, it will air in weekly installments on GSN next year on dates yet to be determined.

Other established poker pros have returned to the roster for Season 5, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak and Patrik Antonius, though the addition of Eastgate and Demidov figures to generate the most attention.

Eastgate, of Denmark, and Demidov, of Russia, proved they can excel in tournaments. Eastgate won the top prize of $9.1 million and the unofficial title of the game’s world champion for the year by winning the World Series of Poker. Demidov collected $5.8 million for placing second.

But poker fans and potential opponents at the table want to know: How will they fare in a tough live cash game?

“You’re always interested to see what happens with an Olympic boxer who wins the gold medal when he turns pro,” Eskandani said. “Once he takes the protective headgear off and gets into the ring with a recognized professional, everyone is always anxious to see what happens next.

“To me, that’s a perfect analogy for Peter Eastgate coming into ‘High Stakes Poker.’ It really has a similar feeling. He’s coming off a big win, and he’s saying, ‘Here’s my money. Let’s sit down and play.’ He’s probably looking to take that $9 million and run it up to $90 million.”

“High Stakes Poker” returns to the Golden Nugget for the first time since its initial taping, for Season 1, in November 2005. The show moved to the Palms for Season 2 and to the South Point for the third and fourth seasons.

This weekend’s game is scheduled to last 27 hours, divided into three nine-hour days. Previous seasons have contained 13 to 17 one-hour episodes on GSN.

As in previous seasons, the game will feature well-known professional poker players along with a smattering of amateur poker enthusiasts from other lines of work. This weekend, for example, will feature the debuts of Sam Simon of “The Simpsons” fame and film director Nick Cassavetes.

Each player is required to bring at least $200,000 to the table, although some have opted to buy in for as much as $1 million in past seasons.

“When professional poker players talk about the show, they say the same thing over and over again,” Eskandani said. “They look at it as competing in a big-league arena. Playing in tournaments is nice, but when you play on ‘High Stakes Poker,’ it’s like getting called up to the major leagues.”