Thomas Austin Preston Jr. (December 31, 1928 – April 29, 2012), known as Amarillo Slim, was an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets.

[1] Before becoming a well-known tournament player, Preston was a rounder, touring the United States looking for gambling action along with Doyle Brunson and Sailor Roberts, effectively introducing Texas hold 'em, the most popular poker type today, to Las Vegas in the 1960s.

[2] Preston participated in the first World Series of Poker in 1970 along with Johnny Moss, Sailor Roberts, Doyle Brunson, Puggy Pearson, Crandell Addington, and Carl Cannon.

[5] He also founded the tournament series called Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker, which ran annually between 1979 and 1991.

A revised edition of the book was published by HarperCollins in 2005 entitled Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win.

[12] In May 2003, Preston published his autobiography Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People, where he wrote of playing poker with Larry Flynt, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon among others.

In a 2009 interview, he stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, but chose to take the plea bargain in order to spare his family from a court trial.

[22] On January 22, 2009, Preston was beaten and robbed near the intersection of Interstate 40 and Soncy Road while attempting to collect a gambling debt.