Famous Poker Players

Famous Poker Players

In the history of poker ever heard of someone who became a myth or a legend, having emerged from anonymity and quickly winning tournaments in some spectacular fashion way? Here we picked two professional poker players who made history in thepoker world. Check it out.

Johnny Moss:

Born in 1907 in Odessa Texas, where he learned to play since a young age. He was a teenager when they hired a local hall to make sure the game was played correctly. Two years later he began to travel to play games of poker.

In 1949 he played with Nick The Greek for five months in a marathon organized by Benny Binion, and gained between two and four million dollars. Thanks to these men, poker has become popular and was created the World Series of Poker in 1970. Johnny Moss won the main event in 1970, 1971, and 1974. He played every year from 1970 to 1995 and won eight bracelets in total and ensuring a Silver Cup and nine wins at the WSOP.

Amarillo Slim:

Thomas Austin Preston Jr. is his name, but no one recognizes the cowboy like lanky player by the name which he was baptized.

Slim’s prestige is such that he shared poker tables with presidents (Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon), and even got to be face to face with the infamous Pablo Escobar. The drug dealer who knew of the presence of Slim in a Cartagena Casino ordered his men to kidnap the old player. Slim would eventually be released back in Medellin, but not before being stripped of everything that was he carrying, clothes included.

After seven years of constant travel, Amarillo decided to settle in Texas where he would meet another big name in world poker - Doyle Brunson.

The two were the main reason for the positive image that poker has today in American society. From making the transition of poker played in basements and hidden locations from Texas to the halls of the glamorous casinos of Las Vegas.