From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Gabriel W Gabe Kaplan born March 31 1945 is an American comedian actor poker commentator and professional poker player He was born in Brooklyn New York He is best known for his role as Gabriel Gabe Kotter in the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter but he has become more visible in recent years in relation to the popularity of poker especially the NoLimit Texas HoldEm type particularly as cohost and joint commentator with AJ Benza on previous seasons of High Stakes Poker on GSN Gabe was replaced by fellow comedian and celebrity poker player Norm Macdonald for the shows seventh season Description above from the Wikipedia article Gabe Kaplan licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia