“Amarillo Slim” Preston
Amarillo Slim Preston (real name Thomas Austin Preston) was born in Arkansas in 1928. He is a well known gambler and is one of the most recognized poker players in the game. When his parents split up and divorced, he and his father moved to Amarillo. After finishing high school, Preston joined the U.S. Navy and then the Army. He did a lot of gambling while in the Army and when he returned home, he met up with Brian ‘Sailor’ Roberts and Doyle Brunson and the three of them began travelling around towns playing poker.
Amarillo Slim Preston
Preston has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and the first one he ever won was in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event in 1972. Two years later he picked up his second bracelet in the $1000 No Limit Hold’em event. His third and fourth bracelets were both won in the $5000 Pot Limit Omaha event, one in 1985 and one in 1990.
Preston’s total tournament winnings are estimated to be nearly $600,000 of which his WSOP winnings account for almost $370,000. He has cashed 10 times at the World Series of Poker. In 1992 Amarillo Slim Preston was inducted to the Poker Hall of Fame.
Preston has actually co-written the book Play Poker to Win with Bill G. Cox which was first published in the 1970s but a revised edition was released in 2005 with the new title Amarillo Slim’s Play Poker to Win. He has also published an autobiography and has released an E-book about Poker.
Preston has three children and is divorced from his wife. His family was devastated by charges of indecency with a child that was brought against him in 2003. However these charges were strongly refuted by Amarillo Slim and were later reduced to misdemeanor.
