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 With his
cowboy hat, and ostrich skin boots, Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Jr. is one of the most recognizable and accomplished
players in the game of poker. Known as one of the pioneer's of the modern game, there isn't much that Slim hasn't seen or bet on.
Thomas Austin Preston Jr. was born in Johnson, Arkansas on December 31, 1928. He grew up in Mineral Wells, Texas until
his parents divorced, when he moved to Amarillo, Texas with his father. At 16, Slim earned his high school diploma and
joined the Navy and eventually the Army. While overseas Slim booked sports events, hustled pool, and is rumored to have
helped throw the GI World Series. Returning to the states a seasoned gambler, Slim met
Doyle Brunson and Brian "Sailor"
Roberts for the first time. They immediately became close friends and formed a partnership traveling town to town playing
poker. For six years they played together off the same bankroll, critiquing each other's play, and becoming the best known
road gamblers in Texas. In Doyle's book Super System 2, he writes "We got to the point where we were gambling
on just about every game there was -- golf, tennis, basketball, pool, sports betting. Just about everything. As long
as we thought we had some sort of edge, we'd bet. And we made money."
Amarillo Slim is known for being not only a great card player, but also a great gambler. Willing to wager on absolutely
anything, Amarillo considers himself "The greatest gambler who ever lived." Slim is also known for being quite
a story teller and it is hard to believe most, let alone all, that you hear. Some of his more famous side bets have included
playing golf with a hammer against Evel Knievel, and wagering $1 million that he could hit a golf ball over a mile. He
supposedly won this bet by having the ball slide over a frozen lake of ice. In his book, Amarillo Slim in a World Full
of Fat People, one passage reads: "If there's anything worth arguing about, I'll either bet on it or shut up.
And since it's not very becoming for a cowboy to be arguing, I've made a few wagers in my day. But in my humble opinion, I'm no
ordinary hustler. You see, neighbor, I never go looking for a sucker; I look for a champion and make a sucker out of him."
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Slim and his wife of over 50 years have three children and seven grandchildren. Slim doesn't play as many tournaments as he
used to probably because a lot of poker players look at him with disgust (he has even been called Amarillo Slime). In 2003,
a Randall County grand jury indicted Preston on three counts of indecency with a child by contact. Slim pled guilty to three
misdemeanor assault charges. Preston received two years deferred adjudication and a $4,000 fine. All of this was happening while
Chris Moneymaker was being cast as the modern
day Cinderella story. The game took off and Slim was for the most part left by the wayside. It is a shame that instead of being
known as a poker legend or for what he has done for the game, he will be known as a child molester. Slim now spends the majority
of his time at home with his family. They live on a 3000 acre ranch located outside Amarillo. Slim once said, "The population
in Amarillo has stayed the same over the last fifty years. Every time some woman gets pregnant, some man leaves town."
Over the years, Slim has become a poker celebrity. As a result of his 1972 World Series of Poker victory, he was featured
on numerous television shows including 60 Minutes, What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Good Morning
America and The Tonight Show. In the classic 1974 gambling movie California Split, he played himself,
alongside Elliot Gould and George Segal. Country western singer John Lutz Ritter wrote a song titled Do You Dare Make
a Bet with Amarillo Slim? Academy Award winner Milos Foreman will direct and Nicolas Cage will produce and star in
a movie about Slim, adapted from his book.
Along with Doyle Brunson, Amarillo is one of the last of the men that currently play at the World Series of Poker, who
competed at the original event in 1970. He holds four World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1990 Pot Limit Omaha,
1985 Pot Limit Omaha, 1974 No Limit Hold'em, and the Championship title in 1972. In 2000, he finished second to
Phil Ivey in the Pot Limit Omaha event missing his fifth bracelet
by one spot. In 1992, Preston was inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame.
Notable Quotes from the Slimtionary:
"Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker."
"You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can skin it only once."
"They anticipate losing when they sit down and I try my darndest not to disappoint one of them."
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