High Stakes Poker has picked up a new sponsor in Gold Strike Poker, which comes on the heels of an announcement that all PokerStars ads and commercials will be removed from the show. This is great news for the show because many feared that HSP would be canceled after the US cracked down on PokerStars. Fortunately, Gold Strike’s sponsorship deal ensures that at least somebody will step in to fill the financial void left by Stars.

Gold Strike Poker is quite an interesting site because it’s one of the few legal US poker rooms operating in the country. Of course, to operate in the US, Gold Strike obviously can’t offer real money games to players. Instead, players pay $19.95 each month, which gives them unlimited play on the site and a chance to win various prizes like vacations and electronics.

As you can see, the Gold Strike sponsorship is a vast change from Stars, which set numerous records for the multi-million dollar real money tournaments they run on a monthly basis (not sure if this will continue). With the major change, it will be interesting to see what direction the show goes in as we move from PokerStars to Gold Strike Poker.

One thing that won’t be changing are the huge pots constantly featured on the show. Barry Greenstein and Julian Movsesian got involved in a $146,000 pot, which Greenstein won after he paired his aces, and Movsesian failed to get any help from the board.

Another huge pot involved Mike Baxter and Haralabos Voulgaris, who played for $168,000; Baxter’s A-Q failed to improve so Voulgaris’ pocket kings held up to win the massive pot. One more big hand was a $179,000 pot between Phil Laak and Bill Perkins. The two chopped the pot when they ran the turn and river twice; Laak’s pocket aces held up the first time, but Perkins hit a flush during the second run.