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Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza Return As Hosts For New Season of High Stakes Poker TV Show

The Commentary Team From The Shows First Five Seasons Is Back For Season Eight, Which Premieres Dec. 12

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Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza hosting season 2 of High Stakes Poker

The long-awaited eighth season of the highly popular cash game show High Stakes Poker is set to debut on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET on PokerGO. A week before the first episode premieres, the identities of the hosts for the first season since 2011 were revealed. Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza will return to the booth, reuniting the commentary team that hosted the first five seasons together.

Kaplan is a 75-year-old comedian and actor who has been around the poker world for decades, with nearly $1.4 million in live poker tournament earnings including a win in Amarillo Slim’s Superbowl of Poker back in 1980. Benza is a gossip columnist and TV host.

In the sixth season of High Stakes Poker, Kara Scott took Benza’s place as Kaplan’s co-host. The following season saw Kaplan replaced by comedian Norm McDonald. Now the original duo is officially back together to provide commentary and analysis on another season of nosebleed-stakes cash game action.

A new teaser video released alongside the announcement of the hosts for season 8 included hints at seven-figure pots, and confirmed many of the players that will take part in the action. Among those spotted in the clip were Doug Polk, Phil Ivey, Bryn Kenney, Rick Salomon, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Jean Robert Bellande, Nick Petrangelo, James Bord, Brandon Adams, former Major League Baseball pitcher Michael Schwimer, and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.

Check out the trailer below: