Gabriel “Gabe” Kaplan

Gabriel “Gabe” Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian and professional poker player. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his role as Gabe Kotter in the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter but has become more visible in recent years in relation to the popularity of poker, particularly as host/commentator on High Stakes Poker on GSN.

Acting career

As a boy, Kaplan had aspirations of being a Major League Baseball player. However, he was unable to make the roster of even a minor league team and decided to pursue other interests. He began working as a bellman at a hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Touring comedians would sometimes perform at the hotel, and Kaplan began to work towards a career as a comic.

Kaplan’s comedy was successful, and he toured the country with his act based on his childhood experiences in Brooklyn. He appeared five times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from May 1973 to December 1974. During this period he also recorded the album Holes and Mello-Rolls, which included long routines about his high-school days, among other topics; the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter was in part based on his comedy act. In the sitcom, Kaplan played Gabe Kotter, a high school teacher. The series ran from 1975 to 1979. After Welcome Back, Kotter, Kaplan continued with his stand up act and was in several movies, and portrayed comic Groucho Marx in an acclaimed one man show.

Poker

While he was actively involved in his acting career, Kaplan also became involved in financial markets and poker. He made his first appearance at the World Series of Poker in 1978. His biggest win came in July 2004, when he finished third in a World Poker Tour no limit Texas hold ‘em event, earning more than $250,000. He also finished second in the $5000 2005 World Series of Poker Limit Hold ‘em event, winning $222,515.

In 2007, Kaplan won on NBC’s Poker After Dark in the episode “Queens and Kings” after defeating Kristy Gazes heads-up and outlasting fellow professional poker players Howard Lederer, Vanessa Rousso and Annie Duke.

In the 2007 World Series of Poker Kaplan finished in 9th place in the $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E event winning $131,424, the event was eventually won by Freddy Deeb after defeating Bruno Fitoussi in heads-up play.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,100,000.

Judge Kaplan, from the film Rounders, is named after Kaplan

Current activities

Recently Kaplan had been performing stand up comedy and working on adaptations of Welcome Back, Kotter. He still plays poker frequently and is a commentator for poker events and televised poker shows, most recently the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2005 and 2006 on NBC, High Stakes Poker on GSN, and the Intercontinental Poker Championship.