Both sites on the Cereus network, Absolute and UB, have decided to add the game and it is already hitting the online poker world pretty hard.  Just about every poker forum online is buzzing with the opportunity to sit down at these tables and bluff someone out of a big hand.

The beauty of the feature is that you just never know what people are going to have now.  Even the straightest of players will often fall victim to the lure of the side bet and start throwing extreme amounts of money around in order to take down that bet.  The funny thing is that they are often wagering 10 or more times the bounty in order to win it.  Once they get going, it is hard to let go.

Cereus has been on damage control for quite some time now.  Just a while back, they were involved in a much publicized scandal where players were able to get the hands of the people that they were facing. The scams ended up being tracked down to people that were involved with the site and traffic fell off dramatically.  This in fact was very instrumental in Cereus overhauling their software to ensure that this would never happen again.  The damage was done however, and they slipped down in the overall power rankings of sites and currently reside at 7th.

The new feature is also perfect timing as they are in full swing with their Aruba Super Satellite tournament.  50 players will have their shot at traveling to Aruba to play in a satellite tournament to the main event.  The attractive feature for the players is that even if you don’t make it to the main event, you are still getting a nice little vacation out of the deal.  In most cases, you do not get to the site until you have actually won the main event entry.  This is a nice change of pace and one of the most popular online tournaments for a main event in existence.

Now you have the shot at not only getting into the Aruba tournament, but also playing in one of the most entertaining games around.  If you sit down at one of these tables, get ready to sling chips and strap in because the action is often ferocious.  Just the thought of someone having a 7-2 in their hand can cause fireworks.  More on this game to come as we are sure that sooner or later we will have to sit down at one of these tables to see what all the fuss is about.

Filming is currently underway in downtown Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget casino. This season, the minimum buy-in has been increased to $200,000. Some of the players that will appear during this season of High Stakes Poker include David Benyamine, Daniel Negreanu. Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, and Victor Ramdin, Paul Wasicka, David Williams, Doyle Brunson, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari. The current World Champion of Poker, Peter Eastgate, will also appear during the fifth season of High Stakes Poker.

High Stakes Poker is known for not only it’s high stakes cash game format but also for bringing out some of the biggest names in the world to play high stakes poker. Unlike a tournament, players put up their own money to play in the event. Players are compensated by the network for their appearance, but the fee is very small in comparison to the stakes that they play at.

The cash game format on High Stakes Poker mimics actual cash game action, complete with little neiances such as straddles, running hands twice, and even prop betting. Many of these things are banned in tournament play but are used to spice up cash games.

Hosts A.J. Benza and Gabe Kaplan return this season to provide their insight. Kaplan is a regular player on both the tournament circuit and high stakes cash game action.

High Stakes Poker will kick off its 5th season Sunday March 1st at 9 P.M. EST.