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Real Casinos > Poker Player Profiles > Tom McEvoy
Tom McEvoy
Tom McEvoy has been playing poker since he was five years
old and that is quite an accomplishment for a man who is now nearly sixty. He began playing at a tender age and was
busted many times for playing in grade school but this did nothing to slow him
down. The thought of professional play
never crossed his mind until a life changing event occurred in 1978. Working as an accountant, McEvoy learned that
he was being laid off so he left the world of number crunching and decided to
give full time poker a try. This served
to be the best decision that he ever made and he went to Vegas with a
purpose. He spent five years working the
casino cash games to hone his skills.
In
1983 he made his first run on the World Series of Poker and took the top spot
for the main event. One must understand
that this was not quite as dramatic at that time because poker was not on fire
like it is today. He still brought home
over five hundred thousand dollars in winnings from the game but that amount
seems small when compared to the day’s pots that can total nearly ten million
dollars. McEvoy was also special because
he was the very first player to win a seat at the tournament by way of a
satellite game. This is now a very
popular concept and several of the overall winners of the World Series of Poker
have had the chance to play thanks to the satellite tournaments that are played
live and online.
McEvoy
made himself a bit unpopular with a lot of players by convincing that owner of
the casino to make the tournament non smoking.
This was a long fought battle and he only won by agreeing to give the
owner poker lessons. That is the reason
why there is no smoking during the World Series of Poker tournament anymore a
matter that still bothers many of the top players who would like to smoke to
remain relaxed throughout the game.
McEvoy
has also earned the honor of having played with every single World Series of
Poker main event winner at one point or another. McEvoy was born November 14, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and at age 59 he now resides in Las
Vegas and continues to be a major contender for the
game of poker.
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