Poker Player Profile : Amarillo Slim

Amarillo Slim is one of the few old-time poker stars still around along with Doyle Brunson - who Slim ranks first as the player he respects the most. It's hard not to notice him with his distinctive appearance. At the table, he is tall, think, wears a cowboy hat, custom made ostrich boots, emerald buttons on his Western shirt and and always has a witty one-liner ready to keep players amused at the table. Born in 1928 in Johnson, Arkansas, he started playing poker at age 25 and won the World Series in 1972, sending his three children to college. His biography - Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People - is currently available at bookstores. He is best known for the crazy "proposition" bets he's won - including playing one-pocket pool with Minnesota Fats using a broom handle, golf with Evil Knievel using a carpenter's hammer, ping-pong with Bobby Riggs using an iron skillet, beating Larry Flynt at poker for $2,000,000, and beating Willie Nelson for $300,000 playing dominoes. He has also played poker with presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and drug lords Pablo Escobar and Jimmy Chagra. Always one to be able to spot a sucker, when asked if you could change one thing about the poker world, he replied: "More rich players".

When Amarillo Slim won the 1972 World Series of Poker Championship he went on the talk show circuit and through his charismatic personality and storytelling ability he made one of the single most important contributions to the sport. Poker was suddenly a main stream sports and national news. Slim, as the unofficial spokesman, continued to play and promote poker as a legitimate sport. If you ask almost anyone to name one poker player most will say Amarillo Slim. His nickname, "Slim," comes from his well over six feet height and his trim build. He once remarked that he was the advance man for a famine. Amarillo Slim was a world class billiards player and is the youngest player to ever play in the World Billiards Tournament. He is enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame.