High Stakes Poker: The Producers Speak

By Justin West

Photo from the set of High Stakes Poker.

In my first article regarding High Stakes Poker, written as the show entered its second season, I began the piece by conveying to the masses my general disillusionment with televised poker. I won't rehash those sentiments, but I will say that they haven't changed, and High Stakes Poker remains a rare exception.

Last Tuesday, the new season of High Stakes Poker premiered on GSN. Now in its fourth season, HSP is no-doubt secure for some time to come in its place as GSN's highest rated program. But how does a show that's been on the air for a few years now keep itself from experiencing the "World Poker Tour effect?" That is to ask, how does HSP keep itself from stagnating?

"I coordinate between the players and the production of the event by going to different tech producers and going to post-producers, basically bringing together a team that does everything from A to Z," notes Mori Eskandani, Coordinating Producer. "Being that we come from the poker world, me and Eric Drache (who basically shares half the responsibilities of all of this), we go after players and we talk to them. We have a lot of meetings and talk it over, asking things like: 'How do we want to approach this season? Do we want to kick up the blinds? Do we want to increase the buy-in? Do we want to invite this person or that person?'"

As High Stakes Poker continues to grow in popularity among players and voyeurs alike, the influx of new faces eager to take their place at the table has ballooned in similar fashion.

"We always have an overflow of players," says Henry Orenstein, Executive Producer and inventor of the revolutionary in-table hole card camera. "We try to pick just enough to have tremendous conversation, and so far we have been able to get a great mix. This season, in the last seven hours you'll see two billionaires play. Strangely enough, they played very well. People didn't expect it. Guy Laliberté, who owns Cirque du Soleil, is a good example. He actually turned out to be a very good player."

Certainly there are many professional players eager to take their place at the felt, potentially earning a huge payday - but they're not the only ones. Amateurs, like Laliberté, are eager to take their chances, as well.

"We like to ask the players who they like to play with on the circuit and in the no-limit hold'em games," says Eskandani. "The amateurs that love the game and show up two or three times during the year to play with the pros, those are the amateurs we're interested in. They know the pros, and they're not too shy to speak up either verbally or financially during the games."

As Orenstein pointed out, the producers of High Stakes Poker tend to lean towards the more animated professional players. After all, it's just good television, right? But, what of a player like Chris Ferguson (left), whose stoic presence at the table last season was far from energetic?

"Chris is Chris," commented Eskandani. "That's always going to attract viewers. Does he talk much? No. But if we made players go out of their character, it would look phony. What Chris does, that makes it. What Sammy Farha and Daniel Negreanu do is natural. I don't think that they're putting on an act. That's just who they are.

"The advantage that we have," Mori continues. "If there's any kind of rivalry between two players, we know it so we make sure they come. If the story comes to us, we invite those two players to come in, because you know they can't just sit back. When you've got your guns pointed at someone, you're going to step higher."

The realm of poker changed dramatically last year with the passage of the UIGEA, a bill that effectively pushed online poker into a state of prohibition. Both Eskandani and Orenstein were quick to note that this had little affect on the success of High Stakes Poker.

"[Look at] the kind of commercials we saw during the premiere," said Eskandani. "We had Miller, Walgreens, Burger King, PokerStars... There were a lot of big-named commercials. So, to me, it's a pleasant indication that maybe some of the bigger companies are looking poker's way... As far as the poker sites? Of course it's difficult, because why would somebody that's left the U.S. [purchase] any kind of North American advertisement when they're not doing business here? In a sense it's made the poker site commercials tighter, but it looks like it's opened up quite a few other opportunities. "

"We still have one major online poker advertiser, PokerStars," Orenstein concluded. "It was a very interesting commercial, I thought. [The network is] able to sell the commercial time quite easily. This show has the best ratings of any GSN show."

Mori Eskandani

The season premiere of High Stakes Poker was met with a positive response, and Mori and Henry are quite excited about what's waiting down the line, as the final seven episodes of the season feature a $500,000 minimum buy-in. According to Orenstein, at one point there was more than $4 Million on the table in cash alone, and a handful of security guards on-hand to guard it.

Mori Eskandani certainly feels confident that there is still plenty of excitement in store, simply noting: "The best is definitely yet to come."

For an inside look at the filming of this fourth season of High Stakes Poker, read Michael Cheser's article, "High Stakes Poker Season 4: Worth The Wait!"

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High Stakes Poker Season 4: Worth the Wait!
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Justin West played poker since the age of 17, he spent more than a year earning a living on the green felt; a modest living, to be sure, but a living nonetheless. His aim was at one point to win the WSOP main event, thus causing Hell to freeze over. However, given his penchant for sin and his extreme dislike of cold weather, Justin has put that dream to rest.

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