Big Buy-In Cash Games and Tournaments

High stakes poker games are no longer on cable TV, though there is still plenty of action around the world at ‘nosebleed’ buy-ins. Macau is a centre of the action, with US pros regularly found in games where pots reach 6-figures. Add to this list high stakes rooms at the Bellagio and Aria in Las Vegas – plus plenty of online action.

The HighStakes icon is a trademark registered with - UK5 and the logo with wording is trademark - UK0. HighStakes is licensed to conduct gaming operations by the. There are literally hundreds of high stakes online poker sites. Limits can get as high as $500/$1000, which is not likely to be found anywhere else except for the Internet. There is no doubt, that the web is the best place to find high stakes poker. Below is a list of the best high stakes poker. HighstakesDB is the world's largest high stakes poker website. With this service you can see your favorite players' online poker results, replay the big hands or even follow live coverage from.

Stakes are relative in poker. For some people, buying in for $1000 might be a pipe-dream. For others, a big blind of that amount could be their regular stakes. This page covers both the super high stakes scene, and games at $5 / $10 blinds and above that you’ll find online.

Here is what you’ll find below:

• Live High Stakes Poker: Cash game and tournaments are covered here, including some of the big-name personalities you’ll find at the tables.
• History of High-Stakes Poker Online: A look back at the poker boom years, when ‘nosebleed’ stakes were spread online.
• Current Online High Stakes Poker: What games can you find online at higher stakes – for both US and International players.
• Deposits and Withdrawals: Depositing and withdrawing the bigger bankrolls needed by high stakes players has its own challenges, these are discussed in this section.

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Live High Stakes Poker

From 2006 to 2011 there was a TV show called ‘High Stakes Poker’. This ran on cable TV, and featured cash games with the biggest names in poker betting tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of those who starred in these shows are still at the top of the game. They include Gus Hansen, Doyle Brunson, Phil Helmuth and Daniel Negreanu.

Much of the focus for super high-stakes cash games has moved to Macau. Here the big names like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey play against the best Chinese businessmen and poker pros. While these games are not televised, millions of dollars are changing hands.

You will also find high stakes cash game’s in Las Vegas. Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio regularly hosts mixed games with blinds in the thousands. Over at the Aria ‘Ivey’s Room’ likewise attracts players at the very top of the game.

High Stakes Live Poker Tournaments

For many years, the biggest poker tournament around was the World Series of Poker Main Event. This has a $10,000 buy-in. Those at the top of the game played in a mixed game format, known as the ‘Poker Players Championship’ – this one had a $50,000 entry fee.

Those buy-ins are tiny compared to the recent high-roller events.

The WSOP now features the ‘Big one for the drop’ tournament, with a buy-in of over $1 million dollars (a part of which goes to charity). There is an Aria high-roller tournament with a buy-in of $300,000 – plus many more big buy-in ‘High-Roller’ events around the world. Some high stakes poker tournaments have caused controversy before they even begin. Well known German pros refusing to join until they see several recreational players already registered.

Winning just a couple of these events is enough to put players close to the top of the all-time winners list. Examples include Justin Bonomo, who recently passed Daniel Negreanu after winning $5 million in the 2018 Aria event. Antonio Esfandiari holds the record for the biggest single win. He took down the 2012 ‘One Drop’, winning $18.3 million for 1^stplace.

Online High Stakes Poker: A Quick History

During the online poker boom years, the focus of high stakes play was Full Tilt. People used to sign in specially to watch the big games – with blinds of $1000+ and stacks of $100,000k. Phil Ivey, Jungleman, Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom and many others used to trade pots which sometimes reached 7 figures.

Things reached fever-pitch with the ‘Durrrr Challenge’. In an effort to raise the stakes even more, Tom Dwan offered 2-to-1 that nobody could beat him heads up in a race to $1 million. He got an opponent in the form of high-stakes pro Patrik Antonius. Their match was followed by millions of poker fans around the world. A second match involving ‘Jungleman’ was also started.

Alas the ‘Black Friday’ episode in 2011 – which led to Full Tilt being temporarily closed – put an end to the Durrrr Challenge. This also saw the ‘nosebleed’ stakes online decline in popularity. While you can still find big buy-ins at PokerStars or Bovada – the blinds are now measured in the $100’s not $1000’s!

Where to Find High Stakes Poker Online?

While the days of the ‘Nosebleeds’ and ‘Durrrr Challenge’ are gone, there is still some high stakes action to be found online.

If you have the bankroll, and skills to complete, you can enjoy games with $25 / $50 and $50 / $100 blinds running at both US and Non-US poker brands.

For US players, the biggest poker network is the place to head for high stakes action. This is the Bovada / Ignition / Bodog.eu grouping – known as the PaiWangLuo network. You’ll find the games here are anonymous. While there are some bigger stakes tables at the other US networks, these rarely see action. You might find the occasional $10 / $20 games on the Winning Poker Network – evenings and weekends are the best times to check.

Internationally, the player pools are much bigger. This means high stakes action is easy to come by – though the competition in the games is a lot tougher. PokerStars / Full Tilt pool their players these days. This is the only place you will find continual high stakes action. $50 / $100 games are available in several formats – with $100 / $200 games running at peak times.

While the buy-ins might not compare to those in the boom years, $20,000 stacks are more than enough to generate some high stakes action.

Big Buy-in Poker Tournaments Online?

It is rare to see big buy-in poker tournaments online. The biggest is $25,000 – a high-roller event which is part of PokerStars’ ‘World Championship of Online Poker’. Regular events at the biggest sites top out at around $625 to enter.

There are regular $1 million prize pools. PokerStars run the ‘Sunday Million’, while other sites have these games as part of their special tournament events.

US players can find tournament events at Bovada and on the Winning Poker Network. At Bovada, look out for the Summer Millions and ‘Black Spade Open’. WPN is the only US network that runs regular $1 million guarantees. These are often part of their regular ‘Online Super Series’ events.

You can also enjoy online poker tournament action with a real WSOP bracelet as a prize. You’ll need to be physically located in Nevada to enjoy these events – which take place as part of the live WSOP schedule.

Poker Payment Methods for High Stakes Poker Games:

If you want to play games as ‘small’ as $5 / $10 online, then your requirements for deposit methods are different to small stakes players. Moving large enough sums to cover high stakes games is going to be difficult with credit cards – from the US especially.

Here are the options:

• Bitcoin: If you are US-based, then Bitcoin makes an ideal payment option. You will still hold and play with dollars, using BTC only to send and receive payments. There are detailed instructions on how to use this on the Bovada Poker website. Getting set up is very easy these days. It solves all your deposit issues – high stakes or otherwise.
• Bank Wires: This is a go-to method for moving big sums for international high stakes poker fans. From the US it is more difficult, due to banking restrictions on payments to gambling sites. If you are depositing large amounts, you should work with the support team at your US site to make your wire possible. The fixed fee on wires (charged by the banks) make this a cost-effective deposit method as you deposit larger amounts.
• Local Bank Transfer: Internationally, this cuts out the waiting for traditional wires. This is often used for withdrawals when you deposit with a method that does not accept a cash-out.
• eWallets: Many people favour these for the added security of not directly linking your bank and a gambling site. If you are depositing large amounts, the fees are a factor to consider. Some charge fees when you send cash (Skrill / Neteller), while others charge you fees when you receive money (PayPal).

Wrap Up: Are High-Stakes Poker Games Right for You?

Caution is required before you jump into the high stakes poker games online. If you are able to beat $5 / $10 in your local casino, then the equivalent games online will tend to be much tougher. That is not to say they can’t be beaten – fish will find their way into every limit from time to time. You’ll find the best players from around the world, often playing several tables at the high stakes. It can pay to start lower than your regular live level – and move on up when you have a solid winning record.

Only the biggest sites are able to offer high stakes cash games – and the biggest online tournaments have lower buy-ins than their live equivalents.

You will not find the ‘nosebleeds’ of the poker boom years online these days – though there is plenty of high stakes poker action to enjoy.

Poker TV, it seems, has always been around, as it began being televised so early on into the life of television and the increase in popularity of live poker tournaments. This television staple has been a constant fed into people’s homes for decades, but only in the last decade or so has Poker TV become such an entertaining way to spend one’s evenings. With recent legislation changes in the United States, many people are concerned about the future of several of their favourite shows on Poker TV. One of the most popular shows, however, is in no danger of going anywhere at all– High Stakes Poker looks like it’s here to stay.

High Stakes Poker often features professional poker players that can be seen on other Poker TV shows, so there is a large amount of overlap in the players in, for instance, Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. Some of the players who have played on both shows include Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, David Benyamine, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow, and Patrik Antonius.

While there is no shortage of other programs that rely largely on poker celebrity talent to draw in audiences, High Stakes Poker has always set itself apart (and not just by having high stakes, as the name suggests). Almost all other Poker TV regulars televise tournament style games, but High Stakes Poker shows a high stakes cash game instead, and in this game, the chips represent the amount of money for which the players have bought in. The stakes are, in fact, incredibly high, ranging from buy-ins that started at 100,000 US dollars for the first four seasons, save for a few games in season 4 that had a buy-in of a cool half a million dollars. Season 5 saw the buy-in raised to $200,000, making it the highest buy-in amount for a full season of a television show. Because High Stakes Poker is a cash game instead of a tournament, the blinds and antes don’t change, but instead stay at $300/$600 the entire game (along with a $100 ante), although the addition of extra blinds has come into play during the fourth season.

While players are paid to play in a High Stakes Poker game, they’re in no way paid enough to counter the investment that they have to make just to play the game. The odds are quite good that all of these players would play anyway, but perhaps the money makes them more willing to be filmed for 24 hours of poker playing.

Online High Stakes Poker Db Links

Whatever the secret formula is, High Stakes Poker is an addition to poker on television that really has no equal. What could one expect from a show that was created by Henry Orenstein, the man who responsible for the greatest invention in Poker TV history, the pocket cam? Without Orenstein’s invention, watching poker on television would be far less interesting and suspenseful, and commentators would be unable to fully analyze the action on the table until it was all said and done; it’s no wonder that High Stakes Poker is so successful, given that it’s another of Orenstein’s brainchildren.

High Stakes Poker experienced a little turmoil, as even the best and most stable shows are subject to the whims of the poker industry. When PokerStars.com became the official sponsor of the show in season seven, many Full Tilt pros did not participate, due to a boycott. When PokerStars pulled out of the US market only months later, poker lovers feared the worst, and, in fact, the Game Show Network, which produces the show, said that they would have to reduce the number of shows that were aired. PokerStars was accused of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling by the US government in a case called United States v. Scheinberg et al., and many other shows and scheduled televised poker events were pulled entirely from the lineup. GSN is still airing the current episodes of High Stakes Poker, and there is no doubt that a show with this many fans and players (some of whom have bankrolls that would make your head spin) will find other sponsors.

High Stakes Poker has one of the largest (if not the largest) lists of professional poker players who have been on the show. Players who have been on all seven seasons of High Stakes Poker (all seasons to date) include Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu. Several other players have become regulars on the show, however, having only missed one or two seasons, such as Eli Elezra, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Phil Laak, and Mike Matusow.

In addition to being home of some of the biggest names in poker playing, High Stakes Poker has also made quite a name for itself by having some spectacular hands played on air. During Season 3, Phil Ivey was up against Brad Booth– Ivey held pocket kings and Booth held [4s][2s]. When Ivey raised after the flop (useless to both of them), Booth raised almost $250,000, and Ivey folded, despite having a much stronger hand. Ivey would make this fatal error again in Season 6 against Tom Dwan, who held [8s][9s] while Ivey had [ad][6d]. Dwan raised preflop, after the flop ([td][qc][kd]), and after the turn ([3s]), and Ivey called each time. After the river ([6c]), it was Dwan that raised over $250,000, and after over ten minutes on contemplation, Ivey once again folded, despite having the stronger hand in both instances.

Daniel Negreanu experienced some bad luck to rival Ivey’s, however. During the second season, Negreanu held [6s][6h] to Gus Hansen’s [5d][5c]. Hansen raised preflop, and Negreanu re-raised. When the flop came down [9c][6d][5h], Negreanu was eager to bet, and Hansen raised. After the turn ([5s]), Hansen was almost a shoe-in for the win, because although Negreanu held a full house (sixes over fives), Hansen now had four of a kind. Hansen bet and Negreanu called. After the river ([8s]), Negreanu bet and Hansen went all in. Negreanu, thinking his full house unbeatable, called, only to lose the $575,700 pot to Hansen.

High Stakes Poker Show

Given the ruthlessness of the players and the stakes of the games, High Stakes Poker is one of the greatest shows currently on television. Players and fans will have to wait to see what the future will bring to Poker TV, but it seems like High Stakes Poker will be around for quite some time.