Born in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, Gabe Kaplan is an actor who is best known for his role as Gabe Kotter in the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
Although he is a celebrity, his participation in the world of poker goes back to the 1970s. He first played in the WSOP in 1978, way before the poker boom. In 1980, he won Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker Main event and also made a final table at the WSOP. Over the next few years he made the final table at the Super Bowl's Main Event two more times. He had numerous other Super Bowl and WSOP final appearances at minor events.
He has cashed 9 times at the WSOP (but no bracelets) and has total WSOP earnings of $497,659. His two significant cashes have been his most recent - his 9th place finish in the 2007 $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event where he won $131,424 and his 2nd place finish in the 2005 $5,000 Limit Hold'em Event where he earned $222,515.
He has cashes 3 times in WPT events (in season 3 & 4), including a 2004 final table appearance where he finished in 3rd place and won $256,519.
Kaplan has a pretty impressive record on Poker After Dark. In the 2007 season, he won $120,000 for his 1st place finish in the "Queens and Kings" episode after outlasting Howard Lederer, Vanessa Rousso, Annie Duke, and others. In the 2008 season, Kaplan won again on the "Cowboys" week against Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Chau Giang, Hoyt Corkins and Doyle Brunson. In the 2010 season, he won during the "Commentators III" week, after being short-stacked.
As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceeded $1,300,000.
He has also been a commentator for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, High Stakes Poker, and the Intercontinental Poker Championship, and a joint commentator for the 1997 and 2002 WSOP.
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HPG ADMIN on February 27, 2013