kara scott > norm mcdonald

and im a big norm mcdonald fan.

he seemed way too stiff in his opening. the commentary during the hand wasnt that bad tho.

im sure hell end up relaxing.


this season looks really horrible on paper but i think its going to surprise us and be better and more entertaining than we all think

For those who are interested, here are bullet point bios on the six amateur players:

Croak, Robert:

• Is a businessman/amateur poker player who resides in Toledo, OH and Las Vegas
• Is the creator of SillyBandz, the hottest fashion accessory/toy in the world, sales of which exceeded $200 million in 2010
• SillyBandz have been put into the iconic category along with Hula Hoops, Beanie Babies, and Cabbage Patch Dolls
• Is also involved in Marcos Pizza stores in Denver, CO, a design and product development business in Toledo named BCP Imports, and as a concert promoter under the name of Verso Group Enterprises
• Has been playing poker for ten years, regularly at the Bellagio, Wynn, and Aria, and describes himself as a loose/aggressive player who likes to gently needle his opponents

Klein, Bill:

• Is a retired businessman/amateur poker player from Laguna Hills, CA
• Sold a grout and thinset mortar manufacturing business and retired after being diagnosed with throat cancer, but has been cancer free for the past seven years
• Now plays 200 rounds of golf a year, and spends 120-140 days a year in Las Vegas where he plays high-limit blackjack and poker despite having to live on a liquid diet as radiation treatment for his cancer destroyed his salivary glands
• Donates any winnings from blackjack or poker tournaments to charity, and if he doesn’t cash, donates the amount of the buy in for each tournament he enters
• His favorite charities are the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Shea Riding Center, an organization that offers a unique form of physical therapy for physically and mentally challenged children

Ruffin, Phil:

• Is a businessman/amateur poker player who formerly owned the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, selling it for $1.24 billion in 2007, and currently owns the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino
• Ranks #182 on the Forbes 400 list with net worth of $2 billion
• Also owns 12 hotels around the country, two greyhound race tracks in the Wichita, KS area, Harper Trucks, Inc., which makes one out of every three hand trucks sold in the United States, and is involved in many other ventures
• Is partners with Donald Trump in the Las Vegas Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Trump served as his best man at his wedding to a former Miss Ukraine, with whom he has an infant son
• Also owns a 12 acre island in the Bahamas called Crystal Cay, and 12,000 acres of land in Belize

Movsesian, Julian:

• Is a businessman/amateur poker player who was born of Armenian parents in Cairo, Egypt, but now lives in Newport Beach, CA
• Is the President and founder of Capital Management Strategies, Inc., and the President and CEO of Succession Capital Alliance
• Created the financed insurance concept in 1996 which is called the Capital Maximization Strategy (CMS), which allows wealthy individuals to borrow annual premium payments on large life insurance policies
• Holds an MBA degree from Ashbury University
• Has played NLHE for 8-10 years socially with friends, never having won more than a couple of thousand dollars in any game, but feels playing in this game is worth a shot because he enjoys the challenge

Perkins, Bill:

• Is an amateur poker player who lives in Houston, TX
• Is the founder and president of Small Ventures USA, a private equity and venture capital firm
• Also works for a hedge fund, where he trades commodities, especially natural gas
• Made waves on Wall Street by taking out ads opposing the Wall Street bailout
• Holds a BSEE from the University of Iowa, where he played college football as a defensive back, but says he mostly rode the bench

Boneta, Erik:

• Is a businessman/amateur poker player who was born in the United States to parents from Croatia and now lives in New York City
• Is a watch dealer/wholesaler of high end watches, Rolex in particular, which is also his nickname
• Plays in high-stakes home games with many people in the finance industry, including hedge fund managers, investment bankers, and day traders
• Holds a degree in finance from St. Johns University
• Says no one has ever accused him of being a nit….likes to see flops, and is friends with many East Coast poker players like Amnon Filippi, Nick Shulman, and Alan Meltzer

Nice to see the return of a few amateurs to the game, they really helped the action in the first few seasons, not to mention Farha/Elezra were big catalysts. HSP first few seasons were great, there's no need to put durrr/Ivey in every show to make it entertaining - I actually prefer them not being in a game.

Putting viffer on any show completely kills it.

+1million. Just the idea no Durr no Patrik no Ivey is just what shall i say LOL
Seriously without these 3 big guns they should change the name of the show. High Stakes Poker without the biggest High stakes Poker players in the world is imo not really high stakes poker. Sry just so pissed about this stupid situation no full tilt pros.

I'm with Masq. I'm actually sick of seeing both of them. I prefer to see Jamie Gold and Sam Farha again. Even Meltzer would be a nice addition. If the amateurs plays like silent Mike, the show should be fine.

The stakes are the same why would it be named any diffrent if its missing 3 players.
Still going to watch dont care about the commentary, seeing mercier, selbst, chan and etc still plenty for me.

watching the first hand i even more realised how ****ed up the show is without the ft guys ;(

yes ofcourse stupid change the name, it was just as i am on super tilt becouse no Gabe-Ivey-Durr
Just watched the first hand now and JESUS christ Norm as commentator just sounds afwul really insane bad.

I'm more upset that Johnny Chan is playing, than I am that FT Pro's aren't playing. And I don't want to see tournament players on the cash tables, re: Mercier/Selbst

I was so looking forward to this until the news about Gabe's and FTP's departure from the show. I know I will still watch it avidly but it's a shame not to have any more of Gabe's absolute gems.

Seems strange that everyone is hemmed in unlike previous seasons when players have sat next to the dealers; what's with that?

Already counting down to April for the next PAD which actually looks better than that; ages yet until November for Peat, Elezra, Oppenheim, Antonius, Ivey and Dwan which is pretty close to my dream 6 for a cash game.

Just hoping myself that Daniel gets better luck this season; he is certainly due some!

I watched the first hand preview and I dont know whether to laugh or cry.

The host puts you to sleep in that 7mins

horrible

I'm not sure why everyone likes Viffer. When there's other loose/aggressive players at the table, he's tighter than Barry G. And when there's tight players he opens up, but only gambles when he has a smallish stack. idk just something I picked up from watching him. His jokes are lame, and he picked on Gabe for being tight, when he himself was as tight if not more.

So two rich amatures buy in for $500k and ALL the pro's sit down with $200k? Ivey/Dwan/Patrik would be falling over eachother trying load up as much money as they could in front of them.

I noticed that too, lol'ed hard when I saw it for the first time.

OK tonights predictions before i leave..

Antonio tries to be table captian, w/ his talk and play.
Doyle is the silent killer. Will do well against this group.
Barry gonna bluff everyone but Doyle, and stay calm while losing.
Viff gonna try and outplay the amateurs postflop, w/ little success.
Selbst will play cash game like tournament.
and the 3 amateurs gonna give heavy action, while overplaying everything.

Without entertainers around the table, a monotone commentator I'm grinding some coffee beans cause I will need some, won't be excited as for previous seasons. Just looks as the big game, about the same line up without FTP pros and shot at the Bellagio without the same blind structure.

When that teaser played first thing that came to my mind seeing Mike Baxter was "Mike Baxter is back and there's gonna be trouble..... Mike Baxter is back" then I realized it is 2011. Nostalgia is a b....h .

So many days ahead that PAD PLO week.

Norm Macdonald isn't stiff or awful, he just has dry humor and fancies the anti-joke. I think it'll take a while for everyone to adjust to his style.

Love it! That line was just legendary. HSP memories confined to YouTube now, sad times. Even more sad that some of Gabe's best lines were in Season 6 but the jokes fell flat a little with no AJ (well, no anyone).

No more mid-hand comments like "our next poker match-up is Dario Minieri and David Benyamine in an open mixed martial arts cage contest..........heeeeeeer I come, to punchyourface!" absolute gold.

the first hand was to say the least a snoozefest

norm is awful

not to be mean, does vanessa try to look like a guy as a strategy?

if so, its working, dont stand, ppl might see the junk

LOL

Holy crap I'm so excited, Norm MacDonald is hilarious

So wait, I'm looking at my guide and it says 8pm has Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza. Is that just a mixup? I assume it will show the new episode but it's confusing still showing their names.

Mine just says : "no limit holdem games where millions can change hands in a single round. " Does not even say "NEW" .

heh, these actually seem like great predictions, except for Selbst

watched the first 5 min. of the clip before I had to turn it off--Norm couldn't sound more unnatural