Amarillo Slim
There are times when you have to pause, reflect and consider. We as poker players have reached that point with the news that Amarillo Slim aka Thomas Preston died a couple of days ago. The very name Amarillo Slim conjures up images of loose women, hard drink and slow horses. Images of slow passing river boats easing down the Mississippi and a slick gentleman relieving unsuspecting tourist of their hard earned cash. The fact that the name did reflect a guy who made his money in a dingy lit back room with equally switched on poker players only help to romanticise the purest form of capitalism ever invented by man.
Being tall and lean Amarillo Slim looked like a extra from a Clint Eastwood type film. He wore a hat with a rattle snake head on it and he was effectively the first big poker superstar of the modern age. He was in fact the missing link in the evolution of poker from being a game mastered by bar room psycho-analyst to a TV ‘sport’ in which millions can be won live and in front of millions. Slim led the game to a new age of respectability and popularity unthinkable in the days when card sharpes and hustlers ruled the roost.
Born during the depression he was raised by his father in Amarillo. As a ex military man and a Texan he came across all sorts of gambling scenarios and along with Doyle Brunson and Brian “Sailor” Roberts they mad a living with proposition bets and other gambling escapades. They broke up the partnership after being robbed in Las Vegas, however, he probably made that money back after revealing the secrets of his proposition bets in various books.
He was invited by former bootlegger Benny Binion to take part in a new poker tournament called the World Series of Poker in 1970. He didn’t win but in subsequent years 1971, and 1972, he managed to do very well indeed, winning in 1972 and became the first real poker superstar. He went on to win 3 other WSOP and was seen as one of the greatest poker players of all time.
As a ambassador of poker his natural bragging style made him a favourite for interviews. He came up with the glorious phrase of “Look around the table, if you don’t see a sucker, get up, because you’re the sucker.” This one phrase has been equated to great sporting phrases such as Muhammed Ali’s “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” or Bill Shankley’s “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”.
Being part of the rough and tumble poker and gambling world it was natural that he would be in jail for various incidents and he also found himself in situations where he was robbed and beaten up by people who owed him money or he has just took money from. It was a dangerous and exciting world. At this point I have deliberately stayed clear of the child sex charge which was made concerning his 12 year old grand daughter in 2004. The charges was reduced to a misdemeanor and he pleaded guilty to the charge “to protect his family”.
Amarillo Slim died on April 29th 2012 from colon cancer. He was aged 83.