Wed, 03/02/2011 – 01:28 – PokerPages Staff

Season 7 of the High Stakes Poker game show premiered on Sunday evening as new host Norm Macdonald took the reigns for the first time.

Macdonald, who was a surprise choice to replace former favorite Gabe Kaplan, oversaw a star-studded table which included Poker Hall of Famer Doyle Brunson and Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst and Barry Greenstein.

Selbst got the action underway at the Bellagio, rasing from early position with Ah-Qc. Robert Croak called from the cut off with pocket jacks and Bill Klein (Ks-7s) and David Peat (9d-8h) also came along for the ride.

Selbst fired the first bullet on the 4s-2h-9h flop for $7,600 and Croak min-raised to $15,700. Klein and Peat mucked but Selbst continued her interest in the hand.

A 5h on the turn prompted Selbst to fire a second barrel for $28,400 and Croak finally gave up as the 26 year-old dragged down the pot.

The next big action came when Phil Ruffin limped with pocket threes. Brunson made it $4,900 to go with 7s-5s and Selbst called with pocket queens. Antonio Esfandiari also wanted to see a flop as he limped in with 10d-9d.

Esfandiari bet $17,000 on a 4c-9c-3d board and Ruffin elected to smooth call with his flopped set. Selbst re-raised to $63,800 and Ruffin then made it $117,100 to go.

Selbst tanked before jamming all of her chips into the middle. Ruffin snap called and the 6d and 6h turn and river were no help for Selbst as Ruffin snared the huge $474,100 pot.

Ruffin was also involved in the last notable hand of the evening after meeting Esfandiari’s $6,000 raise with Ad-8h. He was in bad shape as Esfandiari held Ac-Qd and it seemed like he would bleed a significant percentage of his stack when an Ace hit the felt on the flop.

Esfandiari fired an $8,300 bullet only for Ruffin to four bet to $38,300. Esfandiari responded by moving all his chips into the middle, forcing Ruffin to fold.