Savalas was a famous actor that was known for playing the role of Kojak. Each time I see a picture of him, he is always eating a lollipop.

Anyone know how good Savalas was at poker? I believe he and Kaplan were the only celebrities that played poker before the boom. They were apparently real players, unlike the poker boom celebrities, like Jennifer Tilly, who just use poker to prop up their careers.

I hope Johnny Hughes and the other old timers can share with us their opinions about Savalas.

He knew how to pick the suckers.

I played poker with him back in the 90's a few times. Very nice guy but very avg poker player at best.

His son Nick Savalas was a pretty big fish back in the day.

And that is what you link Telly Savalas to?

How exactly did Jennifer Tilly use poker to prop up her career? If anything she acts less now.

Might find more on google if you spelled his name right It's Telly.

He had 3 WSOP cashes including a 3rd in a 7 card stud hi/lo. http://www.pokerpages.com/player-pro...ly-savalas.htm


More info on other pages.

Maybe he was average in the type of game you were playing.

Proving once again the axiom of the first reply is the best

Exactly- Would we even be talking about her if she didn't play poker?

My uncle played stud with him in the 70s at Caesars he says he was a very nice guy very generous but like others have said pretty avg player

I see... so you believe she started playing poker to help her acting career by appealing to the very influential poker demographic.

I'm pretty sure there are a couple of other easier ways she could get the attention of a mostly male group.

Played with him at the Aladdin (now planet Hollywood) - 3 - 6 limit. Had his brother with him who looked just like him. He was well known at the time as his Tv show was still running. I can tell you he was one of the nicest guys. Did not act like a star at all. Very down to earth. Had some great stories as well.

I saw him at Binion's during the World Series, but I did not see him play. He was falling down drunk. Another time, he was just standing around. Wilson Brimley was around. Chill Wills was a big movie star, at the first World Series. He had been a friend of Benny Binion's and Johnny Moss's when they were young in Dallas.

The biggest wheel I saw was some mob guy. They stopped play at my table,and we were all told to stand up while he was seated. Someone said he owned parts of four joints. We were playing kind of cheap for that!

He had a hand named after his television character and the best description of the hand is you will end up looking like Kojack if you play KJ off suit often.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6FQNPmJFLs

He wasn't vey good but if you played any 20/40 holdem back then you'd know there weren't too many good players... Thus the comment about him being average.

On top of that it's kind of nice to be respectful of the deceased..

lol, had not heard that one before .......

No, but maybe because this is more of a poker section of a poker forum.

Didn't his brother have hair?

I played with Telly semi-regularly in the $20/$40 hold 'em at The Bicycle Club in the early 1990s.

He knew what he was doing, and might even have had the ability to be a winning player, but when he came there he was always in a jocular, generous mood and winning money didn't seem as important to him as having a good time.
Everybody was always happy to see him, and he'd be the life of the table. He'd typically donate a healthy $500-$1,000 in an hour or 2, but not necessarily because he was a bad player.

The most memorable part about playing with him was his surprisingly large size (he was much bigger than you'd think from seeing him on TV), and his monstrous chubby fingers that were so big he literally had trouble fumbling with his cards and his chips. Well, that and his distinctive voice.

Savalas liked to suck on suckers but he was no sucker.

Pre- boom celebrities I saw in cardrooms: Redd Foxx at the old MGM, playing low stakes stud.

Wow. That is more than amazing!