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In rather shocking news circulating around the industry on Monday, former “Saturday Night Live” star Norm MacDonald will host of the seventh season of the GSN cash game franchise “High Stakes Poker.” MacDonald takes over the reigns from Gabe Kaplan, who will not be returning. Kara Scott, a sponsored pro of PartyPoker, will be back as the series’ on-floor hostess after making her debut last season.

Did we mention that Season 7 of “High Stakes Poker” will be shown in 3D? It will. Yes, 3D. In fact, according to a press release distributed by GSN on Monday, “‘High Stakes Poker’ Season 7 marks the first time in history that a poker show has been filmed using 3D technology, offering DIRECTV customers with 3D-enabled televisions the chance to enjoy an immersive poker experience as never before. The 3D broadcasts of ‘High Stakes Poker’ will be available exclusively on DIRECTV’s 3D channel, n3D™, powered by Panasonic, this Spring.”

The seventh cycle of “High Stakes Poker” will premiere on Saturday, February 26th at 8:00pm ET and PT. If you miss any of the action, you can catch a replay that starts three hours later.

MacDonald is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) regular and was a cast member on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” from 1993 to 1997. His comedic portrayals of celebrities like Bob Dole and Burt Reynolds were quite memorable, the latter of whom he dubbed Turd Ferguson.

No Full Tilt Poker pros will appear on the seventh cycle of “High Stakes Poker.” However, the show won’t be without talent. In fact, three WSOP Main Event winners will play – Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and reigning champ Jonathan Duhamel, who became the tournament’s first Canadian victor last year. Brunson has appeared on every season of “High Stakes Poker,” while Chan will return for the second time.

Full Tilt Poker’s dispute with the show stems from its PokerStars sponsorship. The lack of involvement of the world’s second largest online poker site means that familiar faces like Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, and Phil Ivey will be absent this season. Here’s a look at the cast for “High Stakes Poker” Season 7 in alphabetical order:

Mike Baxter
Eric Boneta
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
Robert Croak
Jonathan Duhamel
Antonio Esfandiari
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
Bill Klein
Phil Laak
Jason Mercier
Julian Movsesian
Daniel Negreanu
David “Viffer” Peat
Bill Perkins
Andrew “good2cu” Robl
Phil Ruffin
Vanessa Selbst
Bob Voulgaris

The response from the poker community has been mixed. One poster, alluding to the departures of Kaplan and A.J. Benza, explained on TwoPlusTwo, “It's pretty interesting what has been done with the last couple of seasons of this show. I mean it was the most popular poker show out there. What exactly were they trying to fix?”

Another poster wondered what many in the poker community may have thought this morning: “‘High Stakes Poker’ now in 3D and hosted by Norm MacDonald… It sounds like a level. I wonder if he's going to even try and call the action or just make jokes the whole time.” One “High Stakes Poker” fan added, “I like how GSN is trying new things with HSP, but the biggest mistake is not having two people doing the commentary.”

Regardless of how you feel about MacDonald’s addition, you can expect to see big-time action from the floor of the Bellagio, which serves as the host venue this time around. The minimum buy-in is $200,000 and the blinds will be $400/$800 with an ante of $100. GSN revealed on Monday that several players went busto during taping, which should make for some interesting television.

Tune into GSN on Saturday, February 26th at 8:00pm ET and PT for the premiere of “High Stakes Poker” Season 7.