Monday, June 23, 2008

Poker gems, #132




Max Shapiro, as quoted a short time ago by one of the PokerNews live bloggers:


Two things you don't do, pull on Superman's cape or play Billy Baxter in a lowball game.


[Until yesterday, I hadn't really paid attention to Baxter's track record, though of course I knew the name. The guy has won an amazing seven World Series of Poker bracelets, all in lowball games--specifically, five in deuce-to-seven events, one in ace-to-five, and one in razz, scattered between 1975 and 2002. See the full evidence here. Nobody else even comes close to his record in these rather unpopular and unconventional forms of poker, and probably nobody ever will. This is an amazing accomplishment, old-school poker at its finest. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006. As I write this, he has made the money in yet another 2-7 event, and is the chip leader with only 17 players remaining. I'm pulling for him to rack up piece of gold #8 at the final table tomorrow, to stretch out his bracelet-winning span to an astonishing 33 years.]

2 comments:

Renee said...

Hey, thanks for writing about Billy Baxter. I've been a huge fan for a while, he turned me on to lowball. Still love watching him play. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Good find! I haven't a clue how to play any of those games although I do have a basic grasp of Razz. Problem is I always get good stud hands when playing Razz! LOL!