Gabe Kaplan is an American actor, poker player and commentator. He starred in the 1970s sitcoms 'Welcome Back, Kotter'
He is perhaps best known in the poker world for his High Stakes Poker commentary.
Biography
Kaplan first became involved in poker during his acting career, and regularly played in Amarillo Slim's Superbowl of Poker between 1979 and 1985, winning the Main Event for $190,000 in 1980.
He continued to play poker all the way through to the 2000s, with the largest cash of his career so far coming in 2004 after finishing third in the 2004 Mirage Poker Showdown for $256,519.
That remained his largest score until 2014, when he finished eighth in a Las Vegas $100,000 Super High Roller for $258,390.
Commentary Career
Kaplan's distinctive voice can be heard on several well-known poker TV shows but he is perhaps best known for commentating alongside A.J. Benza on High Stakes Poker. He commentated on the show for its first six seasons, before being replaced by the late Norm Macdonald for season seven.
When the show returned in 2020 for Season 8, both Kaplan and Benza returned as commentators. They'd serve in that capacity through Season 9, and then on the January 24, 2023 episode, which was the premiere of Season 10, Kaplan surprisingly revealed that it would be his last episode as he was retiring.
