Amarillo Slim
Introduction
Thomas Austin Preston Jr born on the 31ST December 1928 and known as Amarillo Slim was a professional American Gambler. Amarillo Slim was a colourful man and known for his Poker skills, huge Stetson hat and witty remarks during gameplay.
Amarillo Slims Gambling Career.
Amarillo Slim rose to fame in 1970 with the advent of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas and featured his favourite game Texas Hold’em. Over the years he won millions and even played Poker with former US Presidents Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon and the notorious Columbian drug Lord Pablo Escobar.
He even won $300 000 in dominoes when he beat the famous country singer Willie Nelson. This colourful and non-conventional gambler also claimed a victory in a table tennis match using frying pans and Coke bottles as paddles. Larry Flynt, an adult magazine publisher, met his match and lost $2 000 000 in a Poker Game against Amarillo Slim who has always claimed the trick to winning is knowing the odds.
In 1992 Amarillo Slim was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and continued to compete in tournaments throughout the world. He also appeared in a movie called All in: The Poker Movie released in 2012, the year this five-time Poker World Series winner passed away at the age of 83.
Wrapping it Up
Amarillo Slim was a legend and is recognized as the best gambler that ever lived. His gambling career extended beyond Poker and, he won bets not only in pool halls but rivers, jail cells and golf courses. He insisted he was not a compulsive gambler but a professional. In a book, he published he wrote the following “You see neighbour I never go looking for a sucker. I look for a champion and make a sucker out of him.”