I mentioned this in antoher thread but never got a reply but has anyone else noticed the tension between Benza and Kaplan? It seems like every episode of HSP I watch they are talking bad about eachother and it rareley seems like they are joking. I mean it just sounds like they really dislike eachother. Has anyone else noticed this?

For those who don't know what I am talking about just about every episode of High Stakes Poker has been posted on this site in the video section (the section you are viewing) by PokerDawg. Go ahead and check them out if you havn't. GREAT show.

I am just wondering if this has been discussed by anyone here before or if anyone knows any details about why they don't seem to get along so well. I remember in one episode Kaplan says "so AJ I was wondering why you had your agent call the show and tell them you didn't want to work with me anymore" or something along those lines and Benza says "because people don't want to hear your rants they want to hear about poker" at which point Kaplan goes into a random rant to piss him off as Benza shakes his head all mad... Then throughout the episode you can hear them ripping on eachother randomly whenever they get the chance.

I was just wondering if there was more to the story... Anyone know?

I have noticed the banter between them seems to get a little more than joking at times. I could definitely see Kaplan making jabs like that even if they were good friends, though. Regardless I think Kaplan is hilarious. My favorite is when he changed out some chips for like 1000 in ones when Negreanu let him have a seat at the table. Maybe he took those the the Rhino afterward. (Can you even tip with ones at the Rhino?)

I think it all part of what makes their commentary entertaining. It's like a couple of good buddies ripping eachother.

I hate to use this comparison, but kind of like Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell always ripping eachother on American Idol, all the while constantly flirting with eachother.

I don't think it's truly a dislike for each other I think it's just part of the way they want to make the program and their interaction come across. I don't take their jabs at each other as anything more than just having fun at the other's expense. I think Gabe Kaplan is the best poker commentator out there will Mike Sexton a close 2nd.

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Yeah Kaplan is pretty good. I was watching the WSOP episodes yesterday and Norman Chad annoys the crap outta me.

I enjoy Gabe Kaplans commentary, Benza is just a stand color commentary guy who knows shit about poker.

Gabe Kaplan has been an avid poker player in LA for well over 20 years and is actually a pretty decent player.

I talked with him a few months ago at "Qua" the spa at Caesars palace when they were filming an event. I was hanging out in the steam room and some guy started chatting, and I recognized the voice and we talked about poker for about 30 minutes or so. Gabe is areally cool down to earth guy.

I'm not sure if all of the animosity between these guys is part of the setup, or they truly don't like each other. I'm tending to lean towards PoWda's view that they generally despise each other.

Jason

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

I just sense a ton of tension there and the jabs they take at eacother and their reactions just don't seem friendly in nature.

Meh.

If anyone ever finds out post it here!

By the way, Kaplan had a pretty good showing at the 50k HORSE last year, if you missed the ESPN coverage. I think he placed 10-18, almost a FT!

yeah Kaplan can play. He has played high stakes games for a long long time as far as I know.

<--- hoping to do better than that in this years $1500 HORSE event