Thomas Austin Preston Jr. (December 31, 1928 – April 29, 2012), known as Amarillo Slim, was an American professional gambler known for his

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

skills and proposition bets. Preston won the 1972 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and was inducted into the

Poker Hall of Fame The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker in the United States. Founded in Las Vegas, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest p ...

in 1992.

Poker career

Before becoming a well-known tournament player, Preston was a

rounder Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy * ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...

, touring the United States looking for gambling action along with

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

and

Sailor Roberts Bryan W. "Sailor" Roberts (March 7, 1931 – June 23, 1995) was an American professional poker player. Before becoming a poker professional, Roberts was a rounder and traveled the country looking for games with Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.< ...

, effectively introducing Texas Hold’em, the most popular poker type today, to Las Vegas in the 1960s. Preston participated in the first World Series of Poker in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

along with Johnny Moss,

, Puggy Pearson,

Crandell Addington Crandell Addington (born June 2, 1938, in Graham, Texas) is an entrepreneur and poker player who is best known as one of the founders of the World Series of Poker, and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Poker Known as "Dandy" because he ...

, and Carl Cannon. Following his victory in the 1972 WSOP Main Event, he appeared on several talk shows, including ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'', and had a small part in the 1974

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New ...

movie ''

California Split ''California Split'' is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould and George Segal as a pair of gamblers and was the first non- Cinerama film to use eight-track stereo sound. Plot In Los Angeles, a f ...

''. He appeared on ''

I've Got a Secret ''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Li ...

'', where his secret involved losing $190,000 in one night of poker. He also founded the tournament series called Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker, which ran annually between 1979 and 1991. Preston won four

WSOP bracelet The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 197 ...

s, including two in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

. Preston's final WSOP win was in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

. In the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event at the 2000 WSOP, he came in second to

Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numer ...

. In January/February 1980, Amarillo Slim hosted the Second Annual Poker Classic, which was the second-most prestigious poker tournament of its time. This series eventually came to be called the

Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker (also known as Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker or SBOP) was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was already drawing larger crowds as many amat ...

and continued until 1991.

Gabe Kaplan Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commenta ...

became the first winner of this tournament series and Stu Ungar won the title three times. The video game ''Amarillo Slim Dealer's Choice'' was published by

Villa Crespo Software A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

in 1991. Preston's lifetime tournament earnings totaled more than $587,000.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Author

In 1973, Preston and Bill G. Cox wrote ''Play Poker to Win'' which was published by

Grosset and Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gr ...

. A revised edition of the book was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

in 2005 entitled ''Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win''. In May 2003, Preston published his autobiography ''Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People'', where he wrote of playing poker with

Larry Flynt Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. (; November 1, 1942 – February 10, 2021) was an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications (LFP). LFP mainly produces pornographic magazines, such as ''Hustler'', pornographic videos, and three por ...

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

among others. In addition to his poker exploits, Preston wrote about his exploits in proposition betting. In April 2007, Preston created a website and released an E-Book called ''All In: An E-guide To No Limit Texas Hold'em''. The book was written by Preston along with Joe Brent Riley.

Personal life

Thomas Austin Preston Jr. was born on December 31, 1928, in

Johnson, Arkansas Johnson is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozark Mountains and is surrounded by valleys and natural springs. Early settlers took advantage of these natural features and formed an economy base ...

, but when he was an infant his parents moved to

Turkey, Texas Turkey is a city in Hall County, Texas, United States. The population was 421 at the 2010 census, down from 494 at the 2000 census. Geography Turkey is located in southwestern Hall County at (34.394248, −100.894736). Texas State Highway ...

. After they divorced, his mother returned to Johnson, while his father moved to Amarillo. Slim is quoted as saying: "It's a good thing he did, because Amarillo Slim sounds a heck of a lot better than Turkey Tom or Arkansas Austin." Preston was divorced, had three children, and lived in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

. In August 2003, Preston was indicted in Randall County, Texas, on charges of indecency with a 12-year-old grandchild. The charges were reduced to misdemeanor assault in a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...

, and on February 10, 2004, Preston pleaded "no contest" to the reduced charges "to protect his family". Preston received a $4,000 fine, two years probation, and was "ordered to undergo counseling". In a 2009 interview, he stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, but chose to take the plea bargain in order to spare his family from a court trial. Early on the morning of October 4, 2006, Preston was the victim of an attempted armed robbery. The armed robber fired three bullets into Preston's car as he sped away. Preston was not injured. On January 28, 2007, Preston was robbed at gunpoint while in his home. On January 22, 2009, Preston was beaten and robbed near the intersection of Interstate 40 and Soncy Road while attempting to collect a gambling debt. Preston's autobiography was the topic of a

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

movie reported to be under development.

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

reportedly was to play Preston's character in the movie.Forman bets on Cage-led 'Slim' biopic
from a January 2005 article in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' According to a 2009 article at Poker Listings, the "planned Hollywood movie about Slim's life" has been "dropped". Preston died on April 29, 2012, of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

at the age of 83.

Notes

External links

Obituary
in The Independent by Marcus Williamson {{DEFAULTSORT:Amarillo Slim 1928 births 2012 deaths American poker players American gambling writers American male non-fiction writers People from Washington County, Arkansas People from Amarillo, Texas World Series of Poker Main Event winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners American memoirists Poker Hall of Fame inductees