O/8:
All Gravy for Grady!
It was all gravy for Grady Talbot, a largely
retired civil practice attorney, who ran
roughshod over the final table and scored
a resounding win in $100 Omaha hi-lo,
the eighth event of Winnin o’ the Green
2004. Talbot, a fighter pilot in Vietnam,
arrived with an enormous lead, holding
51,000 of the 173,000 chips in play. From
then on there was no heading him. The
fight was stopped when he got heads-up
with Mike Ohashi with a nearly 7-1 chip
lead, and the two made a deal.
There was 9:48 left in a $1,500-$3,000
limit round when the nine finalists sat
down. It would be another fast final table,
taking only 38 hands to complete. Poker
player Rocky Enciso was lowest with 5k
in chips. He went all in on the third
hand, split the pot with a nut low, and
hung in to outlast three other opponents.
After
limits went to $2,000-$4,000, Herbert
Thomas put in his last 2k. Talbot and
Lulu Cabot limped and Don Loncaric checked
from the big blind. The flop was A-K-4.
Talbot bet and Loncaric called all in.
After an 8 and 6 were dealt, Tabot took
low with 2-3.Thomas,
whose A-2 was counterfeited, took high
with his paired ace. Loncaric, a Valencia
accountant with a few tournament wins,
had only a weak low and was first out.
Thomas
didn’t last much longer. He raised all
in for 4k with A-2-4-8 double-suited.
Ohashi had just K-6-6-2, but called from
the small blind and made a full house
when the board came J-9-6-K-J. Then Cabot
had 1k left in the small blind. She was
hoping for a miracle low holding 3-5-5-9.
Instead the board came K-J-3-A-9 and Grady
blew her away with a Broadway straight.
Enciso
went all in for the last time in a three-bet
pot against Talbot. He had A-Q-10-7 and
Talbot had K-K-4-2 with diamonds. A board
of A-Q-6-10-3 and three diamonds gave
Talbot another win with a nut-nut scoop
as he extended his lead to about 75k.
Limits
now moved up a notch to $3,000-$6,000.
On hand 23, Jim Bokhari was all in with
A-A-Q-8. He was up against Jack Tejwani
who had A-4h-5-6h. The board came 10s-9h-5h-9c3h,
and Tejwani’s baby flush left Bokhari,
a software engineer, in fifth place.
Talbot,
meanwhile, was kept busy picking up more
chips. First he quartered Ricardo Abraham.
Both made the same A-2 nut low, and Talbot
took the high end with a paired jack.
Then he scooped Tejwani with a heart flush
and better low. A couple of hands later,
Talbot scooped yet again in dramatic three-way
action that pretty much nailed down the
win for him. He raised with A-A-4-K. Abraham
called all in with A-2-5-7, and Tejwani
also called with A-3-Q-Q. A flop of Q-2-5
gave Tejwani a set of queens. He bet and
Talbot raised with his aces and number
two low draw. When a jack turned, Tejwani,
still in the lead, bet. A trey hit the
river to give Grady yet another scoop
with a wheel. He now had about 100k in
chips while Abraham cashed out fourth.
As
if that wasn’t enough, Grady delivered
yet another body blow on hand 35. With
a board of Ah-As-6s-10s, Tejwani was leading
with a flush until a river queen gave
Grady queens-full and a lead of about
140k. Tejwani survived with a chop on
the next hand, but two hands after that
it was all over. Tejwani went all in pre-flop
with 2-3-4-9 when the pot was capped.
Grady had A-2-Q-K and made aces full when
the board came A-A-J-7-K. He now had 150,500
chips to Ohashi’s 22,500, and Ohashi surrendered
with a deal.
BIOGRAPHY
Grady Talbot first learned poker when
he was an Air Force captain flying F-100
fighter planes in Vietnam in 1965 and
getting shot at. Now mostly retired as
a civil attorney, he splits his poker
time between tournaments and mid-limit
hold’em and Omaha cash games. He’s
had numerous tournament cash-outs, including
a win in the seniors event at Legends
of Poker, and a best all-around at the
Bicycle Casino’s America’s Poker
Classic this past January. To quote from
an earlier post by Bicycle Casino poker
host Marc Gilutin, Talbot won a Mustang
in the Poker Classic points playoff and
a few weeks earlier won the Harley they
were giving for the no-limit hold’em
event. “All this guy needs is a trailer!”
Tonight,
Talbot said, he got knocked down to about
four or five thousand with two tables
left, but then the cards started to come
and he was able to make it to the final
table with a substantial chip lead.
Max Shapiro
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