top corner
Popular Poker Toplists
Poker Site Reviews
Poker Strategy
More Poker Toplists

Famed Poker Character Sam Grizzle Dies

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Sam Grizzle Dies
  4. 2620
Sam Grizzle

2020 has been a helluva year. And sadly it has gotten a little worse. Poker legend and well-known character of the game Sam Grizzle has passed. Grizzle suffered a major stroke on Sunday and never recovered. Grizzle is remembered as one of the most unusual characters in poker.

Grizzle Suffers Sudden Stroke

On Monday, Sam Grizzle’s daughter Lexie told the poker world about her father’s condition:

Later, PokerNews reporter Chad Holloway gave additional details, stating that Grizzle’s life support would be pulled Tuesday morning.

After the announcement of Grizzle’s health, poker players and fans poured out their support:

A True Grinder With Over $1.35 Million in Earnings

Sam Grizzle was not your typical poker player. He won over $1.35 million in live poker tournaments over his career but did not once have a cash above $100k. He has cashes dating back to 1988 on Hendon Mob. Sam has cashes from all over the United States ranging from California to Tunica, MS. He was proficient in most games with wins in Omaha Hi-Lo, Ace to Five Lowball, Limit Texas Hold’em, 7 Card Stud, and HORSE.

Earlier this year, Grizzle had seven cashes at the 2020 WSOP Online at WSOP.com. He finished 3rd in Event #10, the $600 NL Hold’em Monster Stack. The $77,725 earned in that event was actually more than his largest live poker tournament cash. His largest live cash was all the way back in 1991 when he won a Half Hold’em, Half Lowball Event at the 7th Annual Diamond Jim Brady in Los Angeles. That won him $70,400.

In his later years, Grizzle was known as a lower-stakes player with many talking about him playing as low as $1-$3. Of course, many of those stories end with Sam either wiping them out or finishing up the big winner of the day. He showed that poker players didn’t have to grind high stakes poker tournaments to be successful.

Grizzle Remembered as a Character of the Game

Sam Grizzle is being remembered for being one of the most outgoing and at times antagonistic poker players in the game’s history. Many remember how that Phil Hellmuth once talked about how that he and Grizzle once got into a fistfight. Others talk about various encounters they have with Sam. Many times, they were good-natured ribbing being enjoyed by other poker players.

Grizzle was cut from a different cloth than modern-day poker players. He was one that used his wits and his mouth to intimidate other players and give himself an advantage. If he could aggravate someone, he could use that to put them on tilt and eventually take a good chunk of their stack.

However, there was a side of Grizzle that was a grinder. According to a story once published on PokerNews by Chad Holloway, he played with Grizzle once and the man seldom spoke at the table. However, he was still very dominant and ended up the big winner – at least he was the winner when Holloway busted from the game.

I can attest to Sam’s unique style. While I never played with him at the World Series of Poker, I was fortunate enough to play against him at other Vegas venues in smaller tournaments. They were generally Limit Hold’em or Stud 8 or Better event. Sam could easily be one of the loudest players at the table at times, and often listening to him was its own form of entertainment.

There aren’t too many characters like Sam left in poker and the game is better off for having had him a part of the community. May he Rest in Peace and enjoy his time in the “Big Game in the Sky.”

bottom corner