History of the WSOP

[Dr. Jack]

Though the World Series of Poker made its official debut in 1970, the idea of the Horseshoe's annual tournament was actually conceived more than two decades earlier.

In the summer of 1949, as the story goes, inveterate gambler Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos approached Benny Binion with an unusual request - to challenge the best in a high-stakes poker marathon. Binion agreed to set up a match between Dandolos and the legendary Johnny Moss, with the stipulation that the game would be played in public view.

During the course of the marathon, which lasted five months with breaks only for sleep, the two men played every form of poker imaginable. Moss ultimately won "the biggest game in town" and an estimated $2 million. When the Greek lost his last pot, he arose from his chair, bowed slightly, and uttered the now-famous words, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go." Dandolos then went upstairs to bed.

Though significant in its own way as a chapter in poker history, the five-month marathon took on added importance to Benny Binion. He noted that the public had gathered outside the casino each day to watch the game with the fervor of dedicated sports fans, and he was amazed at the attention the event had attracted. But it wasn't until 1970 that Binion decided to re-create this excitement and stage a battle of poker giants - dubbed the "World Series of Poker" - to determine who would be worthy of the title "World Champion." Some of the best players in the country were assembled, and Johnny Moss came out on top. The decision was democratic in that the champion was decided by popular vote.

The following year, the winner was determined by a freezeout competition, with players being systematically eliminated until one player had all the chips. Moss again was declared the World Champion. In 1972, when Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston won the title and went on the talk-show circuit, the WSOP began to gain a wider following.

It was only a year later that Binion participated in the Oral History Project at the University of Nevada-Reno and discussed the World Series with interviewer Mary Ellen Glass. "This poker game here gets us a lot of attention," he told Glass. "We had seven players last year, and this year we had 13. I look to have better than 20 next year. It's even liable to get up to be 50, might get up to be more than that." Binion then paused, and as if gazing into the future, prophesied, "It will eventually."

In the early 1980s, with the introduction of preliminary satellite competitions with lower buy-ins, Binion's prophecy came to fruition and the popularity of the World Series of Poker soared. But even Benny Binion, who passed away on Christmas Day of 1989, would have had difficulty foreseeing the enormous growth the Horseshoe's annual tournament has experienced in the past decade or so.

In 1982, nine years after Mr. Binion participated in UNR's Oral History Project, the tournament drew 52 entrants. Five years later, there were 2,141 participants, and the 2002 event attracted 7,595 entries. The prize money has increased proportionately, from $7,769,000 a decade ago to a staggering $19,599,230 in 2002. Whereas only 12 events, mostly Texas hold'em and seven-card stud, were scheduled as recently as 1988, the 2004 tournament offers 33 competitions that feature a wide variety of games.

Today, the legacy Benny Binion left the poker community ranks as the oldest, largest, most prestigious, and most media-hyped gaming competition in the world, and no doubt it holds the promise of an even brighter future. But equally important, the World Series of Poker has touched thousands of lives over the years, affording talented players the opportunity to follow their dreams, reach for the stars, and perhaps one day achieve greatness in their chosen endeavor.

[5teamparlay]

In 1972, when Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston won the title and went on the talk-show circuit, the WSOP began to gain a wider following.

Bump in homor of Amarill Slim -- R I P


Poker great Thomas 'Amarillo Slim' Preston dies - Yahoo! Sports Canada

Poker great Thomas 'Amarillo Slim' Preston dies


]
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) Thomas Austin ''Amarillo Slim'' Preston Jr., a poker champion whose brash style, fast talking and love of the spotlight helped broaden the professional game's appeal and made him one of its most recognizable characters, has died. He was 83.

Preston's son, Bunky Preston, said he died Sunday of colon cancer while in hospice care in Amarillo, where he lived.

''He was playing poker until the very, very end,'' Bunky Preston told The Associated Press on Monday.

While Thomas Preston craved the spotlight that his poker fame provided, his public image was sullied eight years ago when he was sentenced to probation on misdemeanor charges that he assaulted a young relative.

He got his ''Amarillo Slim'' nickname playing pool, according to Preston's son, and with his cowboy hat and southern drawl, he wouldn't have been out of place gambling in an Old West saloon.

Preston would bet on just about anything, and he mastered the art of stretching the truth. Among his many claims laid out on his website are that he played Minnesota Fats in one-pocket billiards using a broomstick; beat Bobby Riggs, of Billie Jean King fame, at ping pong using an iron skillet; and outran ''a horse for a hundred yards (no one ever said nothing about the race being straight-away).''

''Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker,'' he said on his website. ''... They anticipate losing when they sit down and I try my darndest not to disappoint one of them.''

Preston's accomplishments at the poker table were very real, and his 1972 win in the fledgling World Series of Poker in Las Vegas helped make him an unofficial ambassador for the game. Often not the best player at the table, Preston nonetheless sought out the spotlight

Where many of his fellow professional gamblers at that time preferred to lay low, Preston sought out the spotlight by appearing on television shows.

''He was one of the world's most interesting men,'' Bunky Preston said.

Preston wrote or co-wrote several books about the game and himself, and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992.

Often not the best player at the table, Preston adored the spotlight and milked it using his Texas drawl.

The self-proclaimed ''World's Greatest Gambler'' was born in Johnson, Ark. His family later moved to Texas and settled in Amarillo.

Preston's later life brought charges that he molested a young relative. Records show a 2004 conviction on three misdemeanor charges of assault causing bodily injury in Amarillo in a case involving the 12-year-old girl. Preston, 75 at the time, was sentenced to two years' probation with deferred adjudication and fined $4,000.

The plea came after a Randall County grand jury indicted Preston on three counts of indecency of a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony.

Preston's attorney at the time was quoted in an AP story as saying prosecutors were willing to drop the felony charges because they couldn't prove their case.

Preston later told an interviewer for a poker website that the incidents stemmed from a misunderstanding when his grandchildren were with him in the cab of his pickup truck and at a swimming pool. He said he pleaded guilty to protect his family from embarrassment.

''It would have been very easy for me (to win),'' he said. ''But I didn't want my family dragged through a trial and being made my enemy in the court. I didn't want my 12-year-old granddaughter to have to take the stand.''

A call to court officials seeking information on the outcome of Preston's probation was not immediately returned Monday.

He was in special services for the military and entertained troops at the end of World War II by giving pool exhibitions, Bunky Preston said.