Amarillo Slim Playing Poker in Ireland - 1982

Thomas Prior House in Dublin’s Ballsbridge is the venue for the £44,000 Irish Eccentric International Hold-Em Tournament. White it is not quite Las Vegas, the tournament has attracted some of the coolest poker players in the world including Doyle Texas Dolly Brunson, the 1976 and 1977 champion. The knockout tournament is organised by Dublin bookmaker and Eccentric Club chairman Terry Rodgers. Each player pays £2,000 to enter and an additional £200 goes to charity. Ireland’s poker hopes are resting on current champion Frank Conway, 1980 Irish poker champion Collette Doherty and former Olympic swimmer Donnacha O’Dea. However they must contend with the irrepressible Amarillo Slim Preston, who has won £32,000 so far. Amarillo Slim Preston’s hatband is made from a rattlesnake that dared to bite his hand. When the snake’s original teeth fell out, an orthodontist fitted the snake with artificial fangs, Did you ever see a rattlesnake with false teeth? That one’s got false teeth. Report broadcast on 12 September 1982.