Amarillo Slim

In the world of gambling, Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston is a legend. He's been a promoter, an organizer, and a bookmaker. Willie Nelson lost $300,000 playing dominoes with Slim. Minnesota Fats watched Slim beat him playing pool with a broom. At poker, Slim lightened Larry Flynt's wallet to the tune of $2,000,000. And, he's won the World Series of Poker held in Las Vegas at Binion's Horseshoe Casino. These accomplishments are popularly known, but what isn't widely recognized is that Slim would bet on just about anything.

In his recently published book, Slim describes some of the more interesting wagers he's made and won.

"I've probably run thirty footraces in my life for money - I've run barefoot, and I've run a lot of races where I started flat on my back and facing the wrong direction. I could run, and the novelty was that, since I'm a tall, lanky cat, no one thought I could run short races. But I was a dasher through and through, and anything beyond a quarter mile nearly killed me."

"I also have a perfect record in my career running the hundred-yard dash against a racehorse. Jesse Owens couldn't beat a Thoroughbred on the square, but I sure as hell did."

One thing that needs to be mentioned here is that Amarillo Slim is smart and he never takes a bet or makes a wager without an edge of some nature. Not cheating, call it the gambler's insider knowledge advantage. So, regarding the hundred-yard dash,

"The key to this bet is to make sure that the hundred-yard race is fifty yards one way and fifty yards another - that's a hundred-yard dash! Ain't nobody said anything about it being a "continuous" hundred-yard dash. I would always finish the race before the jockey could turn the racehorse around. Mind you, I'm not talking about a cutting horse, but a racehorse - a big, powerful Thoroughbred. Heck, it takes them big things so long to turn around that even Secretariat would have been drawing dead against me."

The title is Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People and it's a good read.