Poker Legend Amarillo Slim Dead Aged 83

Poker legend Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston has died on Sunday aged 83 after a lengthy battle against cancer and a heart problem.
Back in the bad old days of poker before the game earned the reputation it has today, Amarillo Slim was a ’rounder’ along with pals Doyle Brunson (now 78) and Sailor Roberts, who died in 1995 aged 64. The trio would then tour the Southwest as “road gamblers” and after their group split up still remained friends all their lives.
Amarillo Slim’s poker skills and outlandish prop bets subsequently came to public attention after winning the WSOP Main Event in 1972, eventually increasing his bracelet tally to four by 1990. Amarillo Slim’s charm and numerous colourful stories saw him invited onto many TV shows, such as The Tonight Show, where he helped promote himself and the game of poker. As noted for his quick wit as his poker skills, when talking about Amarillo, Texas where he lived, he famously said:
“The population in Amarillo has stayed the same over the last fifty years. Every time some woman gets pregnant, some man leaves town.”
He also coined the phrase; “If you can’t spot the sucker within the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.”
Throughout his life, Amarillo Slim played with some of the most famous people on the planet including President Lyndon Johnson, drug lord Pablo Escobar and porno king Larry Flynt. By 1992, the significant contributions which “Amarillo Slim” Preston had made to poker were recognised with an induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.
The 83 year old legend will now be sadly missed by the poker community, friends, family and the three children he leaves behind. Fondly recalling her father, daughter Becky Deane said:
“He was an extreme psychological profiler. He sought out your strengths and weaknesses. He applied that to us. The more he could embarrass you by doing something like wearing green boots or a suit with dice on it, the more he said it would build character in you.”
Our condolences go out to the family of Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston at this difficult time.