Amarillo Slim – A Great Texan Poker Player
Amarillo Slim lived through some of the most challenging times in the gambling industry. He was born during the time of the Great Depression and the prohibition in the USA. The infamous Texan endured many exciting adventures in his lifetime, including playing poker with the notorious drug lord, Pablo Escobar. This professional gambler will remain in history as the man who brought Texas Hold’em into the mainstream in Las Vegas.
In our piece about Thomas Amarillo Slim Preston, you will learn all about the legendary gambler. We will begin with a few facts about his early life, followed by an overview of his poker career. Then, you will learn more about the late life of Preston. After that, we have put together some interesting facts about the gambler. Finally, you will find answers to the most popular questions about the Texan.
Thomas Amarillo Slim Preston – Life Before Poker
Thomas Austin Preston Jr., known as Amarillo Slim, was born in 1928 in Johnson, Arkansas, Texas. His family frequently moved between Arkansas and Amarillo because his father was a car salesman. Poker was not the first choice for Amarillo Slim; before his gambling career, he played snooker – a billiard game popularized by the Brits in America.
Shortly after, the young man was playing pool in the Mexican part of Amarillo. In the mid-1940s, Thomas Amarillo Slim Preston enrolled in the Navy, where he entertained the sailors with pool exhibitions. Preston ran a bookmaking business while he served and allegedly made $100,000 from it. After the Navy, Amarillo Slim enlisted in the Army, and he was stationed across the pond in Europe.
He did not miss a chance to hustle, not even during the war. Preston had a large black-market business and even sold thousands of Mickey Mouse watches to Russian soldiers. Once the war was over, he had returned home and spent most of the 1950s playing pool. The Texan even took a few pool matches against Minnesota Fats; some even say this inspired his pseudonym – Amarillo Slim. None of that, would be possible if he was born later and started playing online at the best US online casino sites.
Amarillo Slim Poker Career
It wasn’t long before Amarillo’s pool reputation spread far and wide. Once that happened, the gambler decided it was time for a change of scenery and switched businesses. After pool, Preston was engaging in illegal bookmaking during the winters and traveling around Texas to play poker during the summers. He is also known for introducing Texas Hold’em in Las Vegas in the 1960s.
In 1970, Preston took part in the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) as a professional gambler. A couple of years later, in 1972, Amarillo Slim won the WSOP, which led him to appear on several talk shows, including The Tonight Show. On top of that, it is said that the Texan had a small part in the iconic California Split movie by Robert Altman. Here are some of the major milestones in Amarillo Slim’ poker career.
| Year | Tournament Won |
|---|---|
| 1972 | $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship |
| 1974 | $1,000 No Limit Hold’em |
| 1985 | $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha |
| 1990 | $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha |
As we mentioned, Preston was a hustler and did all sorts of things in his lifetime, including founding the Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker, which ran every year from 1979 to 1991. Before this, the Texan hosted the Second Annual Poker Classic – the second-most prestigious poker tournament at the time. That’s not all – Preston is a published author with three books under his name – Amarillo Slim’s Play Poker to Win, Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People, and an E-guide To No-Limit Texas Hold’em.
Late Life of Amarillo Slim Preston
Amarillo Slim Preston lived a long and adventurous life, to say the least. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 83 from colon cancer. Many will likely remember him for his gambling career and introducing Texas Hold’em poker into the mainstream. A Guardian article about Amarillo Slim called him ‘a larger-than-life personality who could make them enjoy losing their money…’ Undoubtedly, he was a superstar of the poker world that inspired an entire generation of players with catchy nicknames and oversized personalities.
However, his family might remember him in a different way. Thomas Austin Preston Jr. was arrested for indecency towards his granddaughter, a 12-year-old minor at the time. While Amarillo Slim claims he is innocent of the crime, he reportedly said that he took the plea bargain to protect his family from a trial. After that, Preston became known as Amarillo Slime and was the victim of robberies and beatings.
Reportedly, there was a planned movie about Preston’s life with Nicolas Cage cast as Slim, but it was dropped. We cannot help but wonder if that movie came into the world, would it become one of the greatest poker movies of all time, but we will never know for certain.
Interesting Facts About the Gambler
It is impossible to go through Amarillo Slim’s entire life story in just a few hundred words. This man has lived 83 years during some of the most thrilling yet exciting times of the history of the world. The Texan was born during the Great Depression, took part in WWII, popularized poker, led illegal bookmaking businesses, and much more. This is why we decided to make a list of some of the wildest adventures in Slim’s lifetime:
Outran a Campion Racehorse
Amarillo Slim Preston reportedly has said that he likes to bet on anything as long as the odds are in his favor. Having said that, let us tell you how he managed to outrun the world-famous racehorse, Seabiscuit, in a 100-yard race. The Texan selected the track himself, which was the key to his victory. Preston chose a 50-yard track that slowed down the horse during the turn, which allowed him to finish first.
Amarillo Slim Ping Pong Games
By now, you might have noticed that Slim is not much of a rule follower. Preston would even bet against a man at his own game. First, the Texan won a ping pong match against professional tennis player Bobby Riggs because they used a cast iron skillet instead of standard paddles.
Then, a Taiwanese ping pong player, Lefty, challenged Slim, who agreed only if he could choose the paddles. So, Lefty practiced with a skillet thinking that Amarillo Slim would choose that again. To his surprise, the gambler showed up with two empty glass bottles of Coca Cola instead of paddles. Once again, Slim was victorious.
Bet Against Evel Knievel
Crazy is a word that is often thrown around to describe Thomas Preston Amarillo Slim’s bets. This was especially true when Preston dared the famous stuntman, Evel Knievel, that he could make a golf ball go a mile with a carpenter’s hammer. Sounds insane, right?! Slim hit the golf ball with the tool (as promised) over the frozen lake at the golf course, and it slid for over a mile. Knievel was shocked but still paid Slim $1 million as agreed.
Bowling with a Twist
Slim is known for his outrageous bets and wagers – once he bet a professional bowler that he could not bowl over 70 blindfolded. Another poker player witnessed the bet and took action but was only aiming for 50, despite that he failed. Then, Slim claimed that his driver could reach the seven blindfolded. Conveniently, Slim did not mention that his driver has been blind since birth and knew how to bowl with his disability.
Texas Hold’em with a Drug Lord
Aside from his crazy bets and tricks, Thomas Preston Amarillo Slim also had a lot of wild stories. Some are more believable than others but still sound like something straight out of an old Hollywood movie. The thing is – we will never know for certain which are true and which are the fabric of imagination.
Probably the wildest story that we have heard about Amarillo Slim is when he got mistakenly kidnapped by some of Pablo Escobar’s men – the notorious drug lord. The story goes that the criminals almost threw him out of the helicopter, but once they found who he was, Pablo Escobar himself apologized and then they played a game of Texas Hold’em.
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope that our article about Thomas Amarillo Slim Preston has helped you learn more about the legendary gambler. We did our best to be as thorough as possible, but we might have missed something out. Hence, we prepared answers to the most popular questions about the iconic Texan.
