[Report kindly submitted by Max Shapiro]
Window Cleaner Cleans Up!
Robert Cranshaw, who owns his own window cleaning business, cleaned up to the tune of $9,985 as he won the 13th event of Winnin 'o' the Green, 7-card stud hi-lo, his first major win. He credited his success to simply playing a lot tighter than he did in his prior WOG tries. It took 37 deals for the first six players to be eliminated at the final table, but the heads-up match lasted 45 more hands. Cranshaw's final opponent, Tim Fu, seriously short-chipped but stubbornly refusing to surrender or accept a deal, went all in 10 times and even took the lead briefly before Cranshaw could finally put him away. Fu, who only plays stud, made a final table at last month's Poker Challenger Cup at the Hustler Casino,
The final table was set after Rocky Enciso couldn’t improve his buried aces and lost to Tony Brenner’s kings and queens while Don Halpern took the low end with a 7-6. Limits started at $1,000-$2,000, with $200 antes and a $300 low-card bring-in, 12:42 left. As is typically the case with stud hi-lo, players quickly began going all in and surviving. Leading in this category was Brenner, who soon went all in four times but couldn’t be killed, thus earning the table nickname of “cockroach.”
Chesda Ly, short-chipped after folding against Fu on sixth street, went out in four-way action on hand six. Limits were now $2,000-$4,000, with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in. Starting with 7-8/2, Ly made an 8-low but lost to Stan Zdanowich’s 7. Real estate developer George Boyce, also all in, took half the main pot with a flush. Eighth place paid $715.
Brenner, perilously low after his 7s and 6s were beaten by Boyce’s 10s up, went all in a couple more times and finally was sent home on hand 15. All in for $800, he had a club flush draw that didn’t get there and lost to Fu’s pocket aces. His payday was $955.
On hand 22, with $3,000-$6,000 limits, $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, Nash Rizk started with split 6s and caught a third one on sixth street. He bet and was raised all in by Fu, who showed 3-K-9-10, then turned up two more kings for higher trips. Nash, who won the earlier stud hi-lo event, earned $1,200 for finishing sixth. A couple of hands later it was the turn of Don Halpern. He started with A-2/8 but couldn’t do better than two 8s. Cranshaw creamed him with kings and aces while Boyer, also all in, made a 6-low. Fifth place paid $1,445.
Zdanowich, a retiree with several tournament wins, also found himself all in a lot, being saved twice by flushes and twice by full houses. On hand 27, he started with a promising A-3/A and went all in on sixth street with aces-up. But Cranshaw, starting with split 6s, caught a third one and Stan pocketed $1,690 for fourth place.
Another 10 hands went by and then Boyce went broke. All in on fourth street, he had the lead with jacks-up until Fu hit a third 9 on the river. Third place paid $2,665.
A rough chip count showed that Cranshaw now had about $65,000 to Fu’s $45,000. With antes of $500, bring-in of $1,500, playing for 4-8k, Tim, now down to about $14,000, went all in on hand 46 for the first time that evening, though certainly not the last. As they played on, Tim put three scoop hands together to briefly take the lead. Robert took it back a few hands later when Tim folded on sixth street showing 7-6-K-J. Finally, on hand 92, with 6-12k limits,Tim started with Q-3/A, couldn’t do anything with it and lost his last chips to Robert’s pair of 9s. – Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Cranshaw is 54, lives in Canyon Country, owns B&B Window Cleaning and has been playing poker since he was 18. He plays low-limit hold’em side games, but most of his poker action is devoted to tournaments. Though he’s won some small events, this is his first major victory. He said he had played pretty much all the prior WOG events without much success, and then, before the stud hi-lo event started, decided to tighten up and not get in trouble by playing too loose. In fact, at one point he sat for two hours without playing a hand. The strategy apparently paid off, because he was in good shape throughout.
When he got heads-up, though, his strategy changed. “You’ve just got to go boom at that point,” he said. “I was raising him a lot, and basically just putting the pressure on when I felt I had the better hand.”
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