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Amarillo Slim's Winning Poker Adventures!

Some of the stories surrounding Amarillo Slim make it very clear why he is known the world over as Mr Poker. Very early in his life Slim had become such an accomplished pool player, having beaten even the notorious Minnesota Fats on no less than two occasions, he was looking for a new challenge, and that challenge was to be poker.

One of my favourite annecdotes is a well documented game of Texas Hold 'Em between the young Slim and a bunch of wealthy ranchers. After a few hours Amarillo had cleared all five of his opponents out of every dollar that they had on them and it was looking like an early night for the skinny Texan. However, one of the big shot ranchers had an idea which was to extend the game into the early hours of the following morning. Suffice to say that by breakfast time Slim was the proud owner of five Cadilliacs. There were of course downs as well as ups and Amarillo recalls leaving the navy with over $100,000 in poker winnings only to lose it all in less than a year.

In the early 1950's, Slim formed a poker equivalent of the Three Musketeers with Doyle Brunson and Brian "Sailor" Roberts and the trio hit the road all across America sharing their individual fortunes and misfortunes like a small poker corporation. When asked what he recalled most vividly about those times Slim let loose one of his memorable understatements, "Whe