The Most Famous Poker Star Nicknames

What “Texas Dolly”, “Amarillo Slim”, or Jack “Tree-top” Strauss mean? GamingZion reveals the fact behind the most famous poker star nicknames.

Nicknames are something that is common when sports teams or sports stars are concerned. As gambling news nicknames are usually awarded to, and not chosen by the recipient. They are usually based on the name of the person and serve as an abbreviation of the same, but can be also based on some characteristics or attributes of that person

• Texas Dolly was widely known due to a mistake
• Appearance determines the nickname
• Dorman Shaw named for his amazing patience

, as it is the case in sports. In this case some of them are related to the physical characteristics of the person, mainly the weight, highs, hair color, or something specific about his or her appearance. Other are related to the personality traits depending on whether someone is talkative, boring, funny, positive etc. Poker star are also known to have nicknames. This GamingZion article investigates the stories behind some of the most famous nicknames in the gambling world.

Texas Dolly: one of the most famous poker star nicknames

The most celebrated nickname in the poker world belongs to the most famous personality in the gambling circles, Doyle Brunson. The whole story started back in 1973 due to an unfortunate error. The nickname Texas Dolly was given to Doyle Brunson due to his relationship with Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, one of the most famous characters in the 1980s from the “NFL Today.”
Snyder was at the time working as a gambling columnist for the Las Vegas Sun. He was mainly responsible for covering the World Series of Poker. In that period he already had a well-established relationship with Brunson, and in his writings he referred to him as “Texas Doyle.”

Brunson on the other side also wasn’t comfortable with using his real name in the reports from the Poker series. The gambling profession was settled in that period in Texas, and it was best to use an alias. Both of them became soon even better friends with one another and it was common for Snyder to take liberties with the name. That is how the “Texas Doyle” nickname emerged in the first place. However a member of Associated Press unfortunately misinterpreted the nickname as “Texas Dolly.” This error was included after in his writings, and as online gambling sites in the US recall, was never corrected. That is the short history of one of the most famous poker star nicknames.

Poker star nicknames are also given due to physical characteristics

Unlike the case of Texas Dolly sometimes the poker star nicknames are given also due to some physical descriptions or the playing styles of the gamer. It is also not uncommon for them to be received due to their place of origin. The gamblers also like to give nicknames to their fellow players because it’s easier to remember in that way than to remember their names, which are often false ones. For instance, nobody remembers Thomas Austin Preston, but “Amarillo Slim” is definitely a name that everybody in the gambling industry is well familiar with. Needless to say that the nickname was due to his skinny appearance while Jack “Tree-top” Strauss, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, received his nickname because of the 2 m height.

Stu Ungar was nicknamed “The Kid,” because he had a look of someone who is not even old enough to drive and let alone to legally play in a casino. Walter Clyde Pearson got the “Puggy” nickname because of strange shape of the bridge of his nose while Crandell Addington is better

Easy to see why they dubbed Ungar “the Kid”

known as “Dandy” because of his outfit. Many say that he never sit on the poker table without his elegant suits and ties and is rightly considered to be one of the most elegant gamblers of all time.

Johnny Hughes author in West Texas has written an amazing story about a local gambler named Dorman “Iron Drawers” Shaw. As online casinos in the US, Shaw received the nickname because he was an incredibly patient player. Many are still remembering that when he put a chip into the pot, it was only because he was confident he had the best of it. In cases he did lose, he would not stop. But take out a big bundle of cash he called “The Big Pea,” and tried to cover the rest of the table.