A life for poker
He was one of the greatest, if not THE GREATEST poker player in the world. He dedicated all his life to this game and was highly admired for his value not to be disputed. This legend of the world poker passed away at the end of April.
Thomas Austin Preston Jr., known to every one as Amarillo Slim, was born on December 31st 1928 in – where would you think? – Amarillo, Texas. He died on April 29th, 2012. He had turned the wonderful age of 83, but he lost the ‚game’ to the colon cancer. World Series of Poker had confirmed the news and the family of the great player released a statement to the press ‚We hope that the entire world will remember our dear Amarillo Slim for all the positive things he did for the poker and for the popularization of his favorite game – Texas hold’em’.
He made history
A divorced father of three, Amarillo made history in the poker world, and his value was acknowledged at the international level – with no doubt about it. The American became famous for his notorious betting requests and for his natural talent of poker player.
He won the 1972 World Series Poker Main Event, thus turning into the first world champion to have a say-so at the tournament table and not being selected by the votes, as they had done during the previous two editions. Here, he won the first of the four golden bracelets to be awarded at the Poker World Tournament. The other three titles came easily, in the following years: in 1974 – in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament of 1,000 dollars, in 1985 – in a Pot-Limit Omaha event of 5,000 dollars and in 1990 – also during a PLO tournament of 5,000 dollars.
A TV star
After winning the WSOP Main Event in 1972, Preston succeeded to get everyone’s eyes onto the poker. He was invited to many American TV channels and was hosted by shows like ‚The Tonight Show’, ‚60 Minutes’, ‚Good Morning America’ and many, many others. In the 80’s, Amarillo Slim became the host of the Annual Poker Classic, a tournament thus ‚baptized’ by the players of the Super Bowl of Poker. This has become the second largest poker tournament in the world, after WSOP, and its last edition took place in 1991. The achievements of the famous American poker player were confirmed in 1992, when he was awarded a place on the Poker Hall of Fame. Amarillo Slim played poker even in his late years, and the most recent performance dates from 2000. Then, he finished the second in the World Series of Pokker, PLO of 2,500 dollars, being defeated by Phil Ivey. Their confrontation was perceived as a ‚relay race’ between the old and the young generations of poker players. The American will be remembered as a legend by everyone who knew him or about him, an original character in this world of poker, who managed to take the game into a new era when WSOP was still a baby.
Ironical and playful
Amarillo was boasting himself that he had played poker with two American presidents –
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Also, he had fought against the famous Larry Flynt, the founder of the well-known magazine for men ‚Hustler’. ‚No one will win all the time – whoever says otherwise is, well, either a liar or is not playing poker’, is one of the most remarkable statements of the American player, who would always accesorize his presence during tournaments with his eternal cowboy hat and boots. He proved himself to be of a very fine irony, like nobody else. Here is what he would say about his native place: ‚The population in Amarillo has not changed in the last 50 years – every time a woman gets pregnant, a man leaves town.’ Besides the fact that he played poker and was one of the greatest ambassadors of the game, Amarillo also wrote books. In 1973, together with Bill G. Cox, he wrote ‚Play Poker to Win’. In 2003, the American published his autobiography – ‚Amarillo Slim in a World Full of fat People’, a book that is considered one of the best in terms of the poker without any strategy. ‚If I disagree with something, I either bet against it, or I keep silent. Since it is not a normal thing for a cowboy to argue, I can assure you that I placed some bets in my life. But, after my humble opinion, I am not a regular crook. You know how’s going, friends? I will never look for a loser, but I always look for a champion to make him look like a loser’, was saying the legendary American player.