WSOP Legends
How can a person, even a massively knowledgeable poker expert such as Mason Raymond, begin the process of trying to name some of the most truly influential poker legends who have made an impact at the World Series of Poker?
This prospect is no less daunting than naming a short list of the greatest baseball, football, basketball, hockey or to tiddlywinks players in history. Any time you're dealing with a competition that is notorious for bringing out the very best in people, such as the WSOP, it is clear that there are many individuals who are worthy of the status of legend.
But, if I was forced to provide a list of, say, the three legends most deserving of mention, I would have to start with Benny Binion. Why? For one very simple reason: it was this gambling giant who got the whole thing started back in 1970 at his very own Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas. If ever a person can be said to have loved gambling as much as life itself, that person was Benny Binion. He didn't just love to play poker, he loved to host events and introduce the game to masses of new people.
Benny Binion's best friend in the whole world was a guy named Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston and he certainly deserves to be ranked in the top three World Series of Poker legends of all time. A player every bit as colorful as his nickname, Slim did some absolutely amazing things at the WSOP and could arguably be called the first poker superstar, even earning a role in the classic Robert Altman film "California Split".
My third selection to round out this holy trinity of poker legends would be to the great Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson. Like both Binion and Slim, Doyle got his start in the poker world as a rounder back in the 1950s when the game was still illegal when played for money. By the time Vegas had at least partially legitimized professional poker, Brunson had honed his skills to a truly ferocious degree. He has cast a long and indelible shadow over the entire professional poker circuit and nowhere is this more true then within the ranks of the World Series of Poker.
While the game continues to produce new and great champions every single year and there's no doubt that new legends will be made with the passage of time, it is hard to imagine that any players will emerge who will become more iconic than Binion, Preston and Brunson. All hail the ultimate power trio of poker.
