Amarillo Slim

Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. was born in Johnson, Arkansas on the very last day of 1928. Under the name Amarillo Slim he is a famous gambler known for his poker talent and proposition bets. He has four bracelets from the World Series of Poker (WSOP), including one bracelet from the 1972 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship.

Amarillo Slim Preston is in five different “Hall of Fame”, including Poker Hall of Fame, Gambling Hall of Fame and Legends of Nevada Hall of Fame.

In addition to playing poker and writing books on poker, Amarillo Slim Preston has helped establish gambling facilities around the world. When helping to open Casino de Caribe in Colombia he was kidnapped by drug lord Pablo Escobar's henchmen, but this turned out to be a misunderstanding. Preston had been mistaken for another person and was eventually released.

Background

When his parents got divorced, Preston moved in with his father in Amarillo, Texas where he eventually graduated from high school before enrolling in the military. After a few years in the military, he began earning a living as a gambler.

During the early days of his career, Slim used to tour the United States together with fellow poker players Doyle Brunson and Sailor Roberts. They pooled their money and engaged in all sorts of gambling and betting, not just poker. After six years together they went to Las Vegas where they ended up losing all their money. Afterwords they split up as a team but remained close friends.

Books

“Play Poker to Win” was published by Gosset and Dunlap in 1973. Slim co-wrote the book together with Bill G. Cox. A revision edition named “Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win” was published by HarperCollins in 2005.
The autobiography “Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People” was published in 2003. This book deals not only with Slim playing poker but with proposition betting as well. Stories about Slim playing poker against Richard Nixon, Larry Flynt and Lyndon Johnson are included.

There was once plans to turn the autobiography into a biopic movie featuring Nicolas Cage in the role of Amarillo Slim, but as of 2009 these plans have been shelved.
In 2007, Slim launched a website and released the e-book “All In: An E-guide To No Limit Texas Hold'em”, a book he wrote together with Joe Brent Riley.

Examples of famous bets made by Amarillo Slim

Hitting a golf ball a mile on a frozen lake.
Outrunning a horse for 100 yards.
Betting on which sugar cube a fly would land on in a prison in Arkansas.
Betting that a cat could pick up a bottle of Coke.
Rafting down the River of No Return in winter (wearing a wetsuit). This bet earned Slim $31 000 from Las Vegas bookmaker Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.
Riding a camel through Casino El Mamounia in Marrakesh, Morrocco.
Beating Bobby Riggs in table tennis playing with a skillet.
Beating Willie Nelson in dominoes. This bet earned Slim $300,000 from Willie Nelson.
Pitching coins with poker player and casino owner Bob Stupak.
Winning 1972 WSOP Main Event.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Year	Tournament	Prize (US$)
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
1990	$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha	$142,000