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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. -Max Shapiro
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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."
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