Tony
is Grand in Lowball
For the third night in a row, the
final table turned out to be largely a
one-man show. Taking center stage this
time was Tony Grand. Maneuvering with
the controlled play, assurance and card-reading
skills honed in a long and successful
career as a lowball player, he arrived
at the final table with nearly double
anyone else’s chips and by the latter
stages had a nearly insurmountable lead.
A retired businessman, Grand has two World
Series bracelets in lowball, and something
like 20 titles in that game overall.
The final table arrived after Jack Sperber
busted out when he drew to 7-4-A and paired
his four. Blinds started at $1,500-$3,000.
Rounds were a short 30 minutes so that
the older lowball players might get home
by bedtime. As it was, tournament director
Denny Williams caught “Basketball
Sam” Davis starting to nod off and
had to warn the players against sleeping
at the table.
Sam, whose playing and dealing days go
back to the Stone Age Gardena era, recently
retired as a Bicycle Casino dealer. Before
that, he had played for years with the
Washington Generals, a basketball team
serving as foils for the Harlem Globetrotters.
He made his traditional average player
age guess at 56, but appeared to be a
bit high this time.
Dan Heimiller, a baby at the table at
only 41, lasted one hand. He posted his
only two chips in the big blind, drew
one, caught a nine and lost to Jeff Han’s
8-7-6. Lowball is a game where players
are forced to bluff a lot to pick up pots.
Two hands later, Tom Hirata did just that,
betting out after pairing his eight, making
Paul Davis fold with two sevens. “See
why I’m the luckiest Oriental who
ever played lowball?” Hirata crowed.
Earlier, he was all in in the big blind,
drew two to J-9-10 and paired his 10,
but survived when his opponent drew two
and caught trip threes.
Paul Davis finished seventh. He hit a
7-6 and bet his last $1,500, but Sam Davis
was waiting for him with a pat 7-5. Aurel
“Ace” de Hollan, who listed
his occupation as “surfer,”
had a wipe-out right after blinds went
to 1-2k with 2-4 limits. He and the gregarious
Basketball Sam, who led the table in points
for talking, both drew one. Sam made a
“Union Oil” 7-6, ” to beat
de Hollan’s eight.
Jeffrey Han next raised all in for 3k
and drew one to an 8-7. But he was drawing
dead against Hirata, who made an 8-5,
and Han cashed out fifth.
Up until now Grand had been playing selectively,
his chip lead only inching up to about
40k. Hirata, playing much more freely,
was closing in with about 36k. But Tony
showed his stuff on hand 26. Holding a
king, he bet out after the draw, convinced
that Basketball Sam, who drew two, had
paired. He was right, and Sam paid him
off with paired aces. “I played against
Bonetti that way,” Grand said. “John
Bonetti ain’t Basketball Sam,”
Basketball Sam responded.
Grand now had about 50k. With limits at
3-6k, he knocked out James Mena in three-way
action, making an 8-6 while Mena caught
a jack and Hirata a nine. Grand, now moving
like a freight train, had 61 of the 96k
in play. He scored his last basket against
Basketball Sam, calling an all-in raise,
drawing two and edging Sam’s pat
10-9 with an 9-8. “If he had more
chips I’d never have called him,”
Grand explained.
The
score was now 80-16k. Grand, not too worried
about Hirata’s warning of “Don’t
forget how lucky I am,” offered him
an extra grand to surrender, then agreed
to $1,300, and the event was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Tony
Grand has been involved in numerous business
during his career, the most notable being
ownership of a New Jersey amusement park.
He’s been playing poker seriously
for more than 20 years. He won his lowball
bracelets in 1996 and 2000, and other
lowball world championships include the
Four Queens in ’96 and the Commerce
in 2000. He’s also won titles in
other events, including pot-limit at Commerce
and four or five wins in both stud and
hold’em. Back in the 80s, he started
playing every day in $75-$150 lowball
live games not long after the Bike opened
its doors.
Tonight, he said
he had been all in early-on, played short-chipped
and didn’t get going until the third
table when he started making chips. As
impressive as his record in lowball, the
young-at-heart Tony Grand says that’s
not even his best game. “Playing
with girls is.”
Max Shapiro
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