News reports are saying that Amarillo Slim died a few hours ago. This is not surprising, as he has been on death's door for several days now. On April 17, Doyle Brunson tweeted, "Looks like Amarillo Slim is I'n critical shape. For the record, no way was he ever a child molester." (From what I've been able to gather from public reports on the incident that led to his plea deal, I'm inclined to agree that he was wrongly accused.) Then on April 19, Brunson tweeted, "Just talked to Amarillo Slim. He is I'n hopice but is fighting hard. Tears came to my eyes as we said bye." And, further, "Amarillo Slim had faults as we all do, but he started the poker boom as we know it. Look him up on google."
Well, Doyle, I don't need to look him up, though I agree that today's players should know more about him than they seem to. I wrote a post about him, and how strange it was that a good player I ran into had never heard of the man. I'll point readers to it as my little tribute to his passing:
Posts
3 comments:
Slim quote on paying attention"hear a mouse pee on cotton" played with him in a Omaha game at the Grand in Gulfport in 93 he was there as a favor to Lyle Berman. believe it or not he spent a good deal of time playing 1-4 stud and carrying on an hilarious rapt
Read your older post on Amarillo Slim and the guy who never heard of him.
Perhaps because of my age, but I heard of him long before I ever dreamed of playing poker in a card room. My first memories of hearing about the WSOP are of hearing his name. When I told a friend of a similar age that I had started playing poker in Vegas, he asked if I had met Amarillo Slim even tho I'm sure he had long since stopped playing by this time.
I met Slim at a Season 1 WPT event at Commerce. He was an absolute delight. I read "Amarillo Slim in a world of Fat People" soon after. His creative genius in gambling and prop bets will surely never be equalled, though I guess Ted Forrest comes close. R.I.P.
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