Poker Hall of Fame is Really a Hall of Shame as Many Members Have Checkered Pasts

LAS VEGAS — The Poker Hall of Fame will add a new member on Sunday, July 10, bringing the total membership to 61 poker pros and others who have contributed to the game.

 

But is it really a Hall of Fame?

 

Among the members are a child molester, a safecracker who served time in prison, a casino cheat, a drug addict, a mob boss and a racist who dressed in blackface.

 

The Poker Hall of Fame is more like a Poker Hall of Shame!

 

Here are just a few of the upstanding, solid citizens who have been voted into the Hall:

 

THOMAS AUSTIN “AMARILLO SLIM” PRESTON JR. — As poker‘s first superstar, he became nationally famous appearing on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in the early 1970s. He won four World Series of Poker championship bracelets in his career, including one for the Main Event in 1972. He became so popular that a major film studio in Hollywood planned to make a movie about his life, but the project was scuttled after he made anti-Semitic remarks in a radio interview. His career then imploded in 2003 when he was indicted by a grand jury in Texas on three felony charges of indecency with a minor, after he thrice committed sexual assault by touching the breasts of his own 12-year-old granddaughter. In a plea bargain, he pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor assault charge, was fined $4,000 and given two years probation. He died in 2012.

 

DAVE “DEVILFISH” ULLIOT — One of England’s top poker pros, he earned more than $6 million playing live tournament poker in his career, including winning a WSOP bracelet and finishing runner-up in five other WSOP events. But before finding poker success, the high school dropout was part of a safecracking ring, getting arrested before he was 21 and serving nine months in prison. Shortly after getting out of prison he was arrested again, this time for robbing a bank but he avoided jail time. A few years later he was arrested for participating in a brutal brawl outside a nightclub where numerous people were seriously injured. He served 18 months in prison on that rap. During his life he fathered five illegitimate children with multiple women. He died in 2015.

 

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STU “THE KID” UNGAR — Another high school dropout, he won the WSOP Main Event three times as well as two other WSOP bracelets. He also excelled at blackjack and gin rummy. A movie was made about his life, called “High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story.” But he was also a notorious cocaine addict, blowing millions of dollars on the illicit narcotic. He died young at age 45 in 1998. An autopsy showed there were drugs in his system.

 

DANIEL “KID POKER” NEGREANU — This Canadian high school dropout has won six WSOP bracelets, though never the Main Event. He’s also earned an eye-popping $42 million playing live tournament poker in his career, making him one of the most successful poker players of all time. As a poker pro he is a fearless winner. But as a human being, he is a creepy loser. He was recently accused of sexual harassment by a female poker pro, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. His racism and sexism are legendary. He appeared in blackface in a video he posted on the Internet. In a blog post, he questioned why there is a Black Entertainment Network but no White Entertainment Network. In another blog post, he said his dog doesn’t like black people. Other blog posts had him saying Asian poker players aren’t respected and using the slur “gook.” On a television show he used a mock Asian accent. In other blog posts he put down Hispanics, referred to women as “bitches” and mocked the mentally ill. He’s John Rocker, Marge Schott and Archie Bunker all rolled up into one, albeit a Canadian version.