SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest James Bond movie features an intense high stakes poker game for millions of dollars and GSN brings this fantasy to reality with real money being played by high rollers in the only poker cash game on television. The third season of HIGH STAKES POKER ("HSP 3") premieres on Monday, January 15 at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT from the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although not quite as dramatic as James Bond defeating the bad guys, HSP 3 newcomer Jamie Gold pulled off his own amazing accomplishment beating over 8,500 in the 2006 World Series of Poker. Gold is one of 14 new players who will be making their debut this season on HSP 3, which features the toughest field of players ever.

As in the past two seasons, HSP 3 features the players buying in with at least $100,000 and up to $1 million of cash to play no limit Texas hold 'em.

"HIGH STAKES POKER is a hit for GSN. Poker continues to gain momentum with a record number of players participating in the World Series. In addition, major films including 'Casino Royale,' have featured high stakes games," said Rich Cronin, President and CEO of GSN. "We have put together an all-star line up of players who brought more money to the table than ever before. With the NFL regular season and college bowl games over on January 8th, viewers will enjoy the new season of HIGH STAKES POKER action on Monday nights beginning January 15th."

Once again Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza call the action on HIGH STAKES POKER. In an unprecedented move, Kaplan, a renowned poker player himself, will play this season. Kaplan will take a seat at the table on a couple of episodes and one of the players will switch places take over the analyst role on the broadcast.

Joining Kaplan and Gold is a star studded line up of newcomers including 2006 WSOP runner-up Paul Wasicka, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Patrick Antonius, David Benyamine, John D'Agostino, Victor Ramdin, David Williams, Bill Chen, Dan Harmetz, Dan Shak, Illya Trincher and Brian Townsend.

The star players who made HIGH STAKES POKER a smash in the first two seasons also return for more action. The line-up features:

Daniel Alaei Brad Booth
Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson
Eli Elezra Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman Phil "The Unabomber" Laak
Erick Lindgren Mike "The Mouth" Matusow
Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu Shawn Sheikhan

The second season brought high drama, intensity and the largest pot in the history of HSP. It included Daniel Negreanu losing a pot of $575,000 when his full house was defeated by Gus Hansen's four-of-a-kind. That hand topped the first season's record pot of over $350,000 when Sam Farha's pocket kings beat Barry Greenstein's pocket aces when a king appeared on the flop.

The new 13-week season of HIGH STAKES POKER 3 is on Monday nights at 9 PM ET. It repeats at 2 AM ET on Mondays with an encore showing on Thursday nights at 9 PM ET.

GSN is supporting HSP 3 with a strong marketing presence. In addition to on-air, print, radio and on-line campaign, GSN.com will also have marketing elements and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the taping of HSP 3 beginning in January.

Henry Orenstein serves as the Executive Producer of HSP 3 with HSOR, L.L.C. Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache are the Executive Consultants with Phil Smith handling the producer role. HSOR produces more poker for television than any other company.

GSN, the Network for Games, is the only U.S. television network dedicated to game-related programming and interactive game playing. The network features game shows, reality series, documentaries and casino games. As the industry leader in interactivity, GSN's interactivity allows viewers a chance to win prizes by playing along with GSN's televised games via GSN.com. Now reaching more than 60 million Nielsen homes, GSN is distributed in the U.S. through all major cable systems and satellite providers. The network is jointly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media Corporation. For further media information, visit GSN's press website at corp.gsn.com