Apart from World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour broadcasts, poker does not get all that much media attention unless there is something negative going on like the passing of the UIGEA in 2006 or Black Friday. Readers of the December 31, 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated, though, were treated a short piece on one of the game’s all-timers, “Amarillo Slim” Preston.
As the paragraph on Preston was in the “Farewell” section of the year-end issue of the 58-year old magazine, its existence is actually sad (he passed away in April at the age of 83), but to have a nice obituary alongside sporting greats such as Gary Carter, Hector “Macho” Camacho, Junior Seau, Marvin Miller, Alex Karras, and Steve Van Buren, says something about his place in the history of sports.
Next to a picture of a late-in-life slim wearing a peach and black suit, bolo tie, and his trademark Stetson hat, the short story recounts some of exploits that made him seem like a fictional character pulled straight from a novel. “Calling Thomas Preston one of the greatest poker players who ever lived is to miss the bigger picture,” it begins. “Amarillo Slim wasn’t a poker player. He was a gambler.”
Amarillo Slim’s legend began when he teamed up with Doyle Brunson and Brian “Sailor” Roberts, traveling throughout the southwest United States making their living dominating poker games. If anyone lived up to the term “Texas road gamblers,” it was those three.
In 1972, Amarillo Slim won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and while the field was only eight players, what an eight it was: Preston, Walter “Puggy” Pearson, Brunson, Crandall Addington, Jack “Treetop” Straus, Johnny Moss, Roger Van Ausdall, and Jimmy Casella. That win, combined with Preston’s personality, brought national, mainstream attention to poker, as he made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and other talk shows and was even on the game show I’ve Got a Secret.
Slim won three other WSOP bracelets in his career: 1974 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, 1985 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and 1990 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Having less than $600,000 in recorded live tournament earnings, his record may not seem that impressive, but keep in mind that in the prime of his poker playing career, there were no million dollar prize pools and there weren’t organized, high buy-in events at casinos every week. He and his pals toured around, finding games where they could, and, at times, fleeing before they were robbed.
The Sports Illustrated piece marveled at some of Amarillo Slim’s famous gambling exploits, such as beating pro tennis player Bobby Riggs at table tennis using skillets as paddles, winning $300,000 playing dominoes against Willie Nelson, and his claim to have won $1.7 million playing poker against Larry Flynt. If there was a Mount Rushmore for poker, Amarillo Slim’s bust would certainly be on it.
SI’s story on Amarillo Slim concluded, “…if some of his exploits beggar belief (Flynt, for instance, disputes the amount he lost), then chalk it up to the same trait that made Slim so dangerous at hold ‘em: his ability to sell a story. ‘It’s a real strong bluffing game,’ he said. ‘I like that.’”
