"Amarillo Slim" Preston Biography
by Chad Holloway of Predictem.com
Amarillo Slim was born Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. on December 31, 1928 in Johnson, Arkansas. Before becoming a well known gambler and poker player, Preston traveled throughout the country with the likes of Sailor Roberts and Doyle Brunson looking for lucrative poker games. In 1972, Preston was thrust into the public spotlight after winning the World Series of Poker World Championship. After his win, he had appearances on The Tonight Show (11 times), Good Morning America, 60 Minutes, The Tomorrow Show, Panorama, Georgia Today, A.M. Los Angeles, and I've Got a Secret, where his secret involved losing $190,000 in one night of playing poker. He also had a small role in the Robert Altman film California Split.
Preston has four W.S.O.P. bracelets: 1972 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship ($60,000), 1974 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em ($11,100), 1985 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha ($85,000), and 1990 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha ($142,000). In 1980, Preston hosted the Second Annual Poker Classic, which eventually became known as Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker, which was the second most prestigious tournament in its day. Gabe Kaplan won the first tournament, while Stu Ungar went on to win the title a remarkable three times, prompting Preston to exclaim, "Stu musta won a jillion dollars in my tournaments." The tournament was discontinued in 1990. Preston's recent tournament accomplishments include cashing in the 2007 W.S.O.P. World Championship Seniors No Limit Hold'em event and winning the 2002 World Poker Challenge Omaha Eight-or-Better event.
Preston was best friends with casino pioneer Benny Binion, who willed Preston his horse when he died in 1989. Preston is often misquoted as saying that if a woman ever won the W.S.O.P., he'd slit his own throat; however, what he really said has been greatly distorted. During one of the early W.S.O.P. events an unpopular woman player claimed she was going to win the World Championship after developing an early chip lead. She asked Preston what he thought of it, and he told her that if she won (which she didn't) he would slit his throat.
Preston made light of the situation during the 2000 W.S.O.P. by sneaking up behind both Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert, two women who were going deep into the Main Event, and posing for photographs while holding a hunting knife to his throat.
Preston was once kidnapped by Pablo Escobar's men while he helped open the Casino de Caribe in Columbia. After being detained for a short time, the men realized they had mistakenly grabbed Preston, who they thought was someone else, and promptly released him with Escobar's apologies. Preston has released three books: Play Poker to Win with Bill G. Cox in 1973, which was republished in 2005 by HarperCollins in a revised edition as Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win: Million Dollar Strategies From the Legendary World Series of Poker Winner; Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People in 2003; and All In: An E-guide To No Limit Texas Hold'em, by Amarillo Slim Preston with Brent Riley in 2007. Preston is divorced with three children and currently resides in Amarillo, Texas. His lifetime tournament earnings exceed $525,461.
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