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Amarillo Slim: Pro Poker's Showman

Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. is Amarillo Slim's birth name and he was born in Johnson, Arkansas on December 31, 1928. He now lives in Amarillo, Texas with his wife of more than 50 years, and has 3 children and around 7 grandchildren. Amarillo Slim proclaimed himself as 'the greatest gambler who ever lived', having the popularity on and off the poker circuit.

Making a living out of implausible bets made Amarillo Slim popular. He played golf with Evel Knievel using a hammer, played poker with US presidents, defeated Larry Flint for $ 2 million at a poker game and Willie Nelson for $ 300,000 at dominoes, and played one-pocket pool using a broom handle with Minnesota Fats.

As expected, not everybody likes Amarillo Slim, particularly Larry Flynt who has intensely stated that Slim's status was 'built on lies'. Ironically, a movie of Slim's life is scheduled to come out on December 25 of this year, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Milos Forman, the same director in 'The People vs. Larry Flynt'. Amarillo Slim is an entertainer, a celebrity in all aspects.

He usually wears a cowboy hat and an ostrich skin boots at tournaments. He also appeared in several TV shows and has landed a small role in one movie. But Slim is quite famous in the poker circuit as a fierce opponent. He has accumulated 4 World Series of Poker bracelets as of 2004 and won more than $ 500,000 in tournaments.

He was inaugurated in the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992. Slim, already past 70, is not as active at poker as he used to. He says that sitting at a tournament makes him feel 'all pokered out' and he'd rather be elsewhere. He now enjoys golfing at his own backyard and quail hunting. Slim has been busy developing casinos around the world.

In his autobiography 'Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People', contains many of his escapades and trademark sayings. He has also been alleged of being an anti-Semitist and anti-feminist because of his searing comments in his book. There are quite a number of people who despise him because of this.

The worst strike on his reputation was when Slim was indicted by a grand jury in Randall County on 3 counts of child molestation. It is such a shame that a man of Slim's stature and prominence in the pro poker circuit will be tarnished by all these allegations; allegations that will be most remembered instead of his great poker accomplishments.