Poker Legend: Amarillo Slim

Contrary to what most people would think, Poker Hall of Famer Thomas Austin Preston, Jr., was actually born in Johnson, Arkansas in 1928, and only gained the nickname Amarillo Slim later on when he made the move to the Texas town of Amarillo, where he still resides today.

In a career spanning decades, Slim made a name for himself in the early years of big-time poker tournaments, winning the third-ever World Series of Poker Main Event. The quality of the opposition that day - Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Moss all made it to the final table - shows just what a quality player Slim was.

Before going professional, Slim joined Doyle Brunson and other future poker legends as rounders, traveling the length and width of the United States of America looking for opponents willing to take them on.

Slim's most recent WSOP bracelet came in 1990, bringing to four the total number of bracelets he has won. He has almost $600,000 in tournament prize money to his credit.

 

However, it is his exploits off the poker table that have made him a household name. Slim and Bill Cox co-authored the 1973 book Play Poker to Win. In 2003, Slim published his autobiography Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People, which included anecdotes about playing poker with former presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

As with many of the stars of that era, Slim's life changed with the advent of the WSOP, and he appeared on talk shows and played roles in movies, including the 1974 Robert Altman film California Split, and the weekly game show I've got a Secret. Slim's secret was losing almost $200,000 in one night of poker. More recently, he has appeared in TV series Anything to Win and Beyond the Felt.

Slim also hosted the Second Annual Poker Classic in 1980, a tournament that later became the Super Bowl of Poker and ran until 1990.

True to his name, 80 year old Amarillo Slim still lives in Amarillo, Texas, to this day. Slim was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992.