Poker Stories: Tom McEvoy

Tom McEvoy is the 1983 World Series of Poker main event champion, and a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. The 72-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan considers himself to be semi-retired from the game these days, but managed to win a total of four WSOP bracelets over the course of his career.

McEvoy was working as an accountant in Michigan when he lost his job and decided to play poker for a living, which was considered an insane idea in the late '70s for a married man with three kids. In the years since, McEvoy wrote more than a dozen poker strategy books and was instrumental in making poker rooms smoke free.

Highlights from this interview include saying no to the party of no, abandoning accounting, taking the paper boy's bankroll, a cross-country commute, being anti-cheating during a time of cheating, pushing smoke to the rail, the horror of working for Binion's, making mom proud on the front page of the Grand Rapids Press, cutting deals with Johnny Chan, knowing the value of bracelets, being a nationally ranked table tennis player, and getting offers from Erik Seidel NOT to write.