Texan was game's first superstar
(NEWSER) - Amarillo Slim, a poker Hall of Famer who was instrumental in bringing the game into the national limelight, died Sunday at 83 of colon cancer, his son tells the Los Angeles Times . Slim, born Thomas Austin Preston, Jr., "brought poker out of the back alleys," says a historian of the game. "It was really Slim that became the face of poker for middle America." Born in Arkansas in 1928, Slim spent years as an illegal bookmaker and pool hustler—both in and out of the US Navy— before turning his attention to poker in the 60s. More»
