Recent Amarillo Slim news?

[Sponger.]

Do you guys give free passes to everyone who has plead guity or been convicted of any crime because they might have been wrongfully accused? WTF is with this thread.

[Daddy Warbucks]

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I saw Amarillo slim hitting on KAthy Liebert on a tournament in Oklahoma, he needs to get his eyes check, kathy would pull out a bigger wanker than he would.

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There's that use of "wanker" again! If you don't know what a slang word means, you probably shouldn't try sound cool by using it.

[UnderThe Gun]

"the DA did testify against him in front of the grand jury. it's generally in the best interest of the state to offer plea bargains even if they feel they have a solid case."

Is it "generally in the best interest of the state" to offer a plea bargain that hardly amounts to a slap on the wrist when they have a self-confessed child molester dead-to-rights? What part of that makes sense to you? Why, exactly, do you believe they made Slim the deal they did if there's so little doubt he's guilty?

I know people in Amarillo who've known Slim all their lives and aren't shy about bad-mouthing him. They'll tell you he's a snake-oil salesman and you have to be a fool to believe a word he says. When I asked if Slim had any history of child molestation they were quick to tell me not only that he didn't, but that anyone who understood the relationship between Slim and his son knew the charges were concocted to pressure Slim for money. The supposed confession amounted to something like, "yea, I slapped my granddaughter on the butt a couple of times, so?"

Also, anyone who has even a passing understanding of west Texas morality understands that the last thing Amarillo Slim should want to do is put his life in the hands of a jury comprised at least in part of people who have been mortified for years that one of the world's most famous gamblers came from their small town. Slim may have been something of a celebrity in the country as a whole, but in west Texas he was just the local gambler who embarrassed the Hell out of every preacher and church deacon in a town were half the population is either a preacher or church deacon.

If Slim had really been guilty of the charges there is no way the prosecutor would have given him the deal he gave him. He would have happily send him to the pen and started making his plans to run for congress. Instead he gave him a walk. You do the math.

[bwana devil]

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"the DA did testify against him in front of the grand jury. it's generally in the best interest of the state to offer plea bargains even if they feel they have a solid case."

Is it "generally in the best interest of the state" to offer a plea bargain that hardly amounts to a slap on the wrist when they have a self-confessed child molester dead-to-rights? What part of that makes sense to you? Why, exactly, do you believe they made Slim the deal they did if there's so little doubt he's guilty?


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im not a lawyer and dont know how a similar case would be handled as far as disposition and length. Two years deferred seems short but i dont know if that is unusual under these circumstances. perhaps someone with direct legal experience may speak up on the issue.

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I know people in Amarillo who've known Slim all their lives and aren't shy about bad-mouthing him. They'll tell you he's a snake-oil salesman and you have to be a fool to believe a word he says. When I asked if Slim had any history of child molestation they were quick to tell me not only that he didn't, but that anyone who understood the relationship between Slim and his son knew the charges were concocted to pressure Slim for money. The supposed confession amounted to something like, "yea, I slapped my granddaughter on the butt a couple of times, so?"

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where did you hear his confession? was it from friends and people in the poker community who know him and heard it second and third hand or do you have privileged information from the grand jury testimony?

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Also, anyone who has even a passing understanding of west Texas morality understands that the last thing Amarillo Slim should want to do is put his life in the hands of a jury comprised at least in part of people who have been mortified for years that one of the world's most famous gamblers came from their small town. Slim may have been something of a celebrity in the country as a whole, but in west Texas he was just the local gambler who embarrassed the Hell out of every preacher and church deacon in a town were half the population is either a preacher or church deacon.

If Slim had really been guilty of the charges there is no way the prosecutor would have given him the deal he gave him. He would have happily send him to the pen and started making his plans to run for congress. Instead he gave him a walk. You do the math.

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i grew up in amarillo and lived there almost 20 years. i have a pretty good idea what it's like. i can speak to the public's general perception of him up until the charges and generally speaking people were proud of him and glad someone would name himself after their rather obscure texas city.

[flopped da joint]

under the gun made the most sense, they had the the d.a. ready to testify that he himself heard the confession, yet slim gets a walk and a penny-ante fine. makes no sense. im just sayin'

[Daliman]

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"the DA did testify against him in front of the grand jury. it's generally in the best interest of the state to offer plea bargains even if they feel they have a solid case."

Is it "generally in the best interest of the state" to offer a plea bargain that hardly amounts to a slap on the wrist when they have a self-confessed child molester dead-to-rights? What part of that makes sense to you? Why, exactly, do you believe they made Slim the deal they did if there's so little doubt he's guilty?

I know people in Amarillo who've known Slim all their lives and aren't shy about bad-mouthing him. They'll tell you he's a snake-oil salesman and you have to be a fool to believe a word he says. When I asked if Slim had any history of child molestation they were quick to tell me not only that he didn't, but that anyone who understood the relationship between Slim and his son knew the charges were concocted to pressure Slim for money. The supposed confession amounted to something like, "yea, I slapped my granddaughter on the butt a couple of times, so?"

Also, anyone who has even a passing understanding of west Texas morality understands that the last thing Amarillo Slim should want to do is put his life in the hands of a jury comprised at least in part of people who have been mortified for years that one of the world's most famous gamblers came from their small town. Slim may have been something of a celebrity in the country as a whole, but in west Texas he was just the local gambler who embarrassed the Hell out of every preacher and church deacon in a town were half the population is either a preacher or church deacon.

If Slim had really been guilty of the charges there is no way the prosecutor would have given him the deal he gave him. He would have happily send him to the pen and started making his plans to run for congress. Instead he gave him a walk. You do the math.

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My god, I can't believe this has been bumped AGAIN! Look, if you have lived in Texas, especially near Amarillo, for a long time, you would know that Slim is a favorite son of the whole state of Texas, and ESPECIALLY the area of Amarillo. Now, would you think it would be a career-savvy move for a DA to nail a favorite son to the wall? Also, I'm not a lawyer, but is there EVER a criminal case that a DA would not cut any deal whatsoever and would only take it to trial? Seems to me even in the most open-and-shut cases, they'll take a plea over a trial any day of the week. With Slim's rep and other factors, giving a sweetheart plea deal seems like a pretty good result for a DA.

Also, I'd like to know how THIS conversation went;

UTG: So you know Slim pretty well?
Tex: Hell yeah, he cheated me outa tons of $$$ at more than one kinda table.
UTG What do you know about him molesting children?
Tex: Hell no, he never did any of that. Why, I have somone tailing him 24/7 just to make sure he would never do anything untoward to anyone, and obviously, if he wuz gunna do any molesting, it'd be where we all could see it anyways, cuz he's known for not having much in the way of street smarts.
UTG: Much obliged, pardner.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

For me, it's pretty simple; he hasn't given any kind of solid statement as to what actually happened, and considering he was the biggest media whore in the history of poker BEFORE poker was big, if he didn't have this gigatic, stinking albatross around his neck Doyle might be little more well-known than Sailor Roberts. To this day, his name STILL might be the most synonymous with poker in the world. If you think he'd miss out on the payday he could have had just to keep things quiet and not cause trouble, well, you don't know much about Slim.

[ike]

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A lot of the comments in this thread seem to be made by young nerds with no common sense, street smarts, or understanding of the world.

I am sure Slim had been robbed in his younger days as a gambler. However, in the situation he was in, he probably felt safer getting out of there then giving the guy money. "You got to know when to walk away, know when to run."

As for the child molestation, he is probably guilty because that kind of thing goes on a lot more than is prosecuted. Even if family members had ulterior motives for pursuing charges, it doesn't mean he didn't do it. Also, my understanding is he has a bad reputation as an angle shooter and so on.

As for his pleading guilty to a lesser charge meaning he is guilty, this is not always true. A lot of people would plead guilty getting probation rather than risking jail time as a child molestor. A very small percentage of criminal cases go to trial. This is also true of civil cases, which are usually settled.

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whenever i think street smarts, i think kenny g

[UnderThe Gun]

" grew up in amarillo and lived there almost 20 years. i have a pretty good idea what it's like. i can speak to the public's general perception of him up until the charges and generally speaking people were proud of him and glad someone would name himself after their rather obscure texas city."

As I think my post made clear, I'm talking about "preachers and deacons," not the guy who sold you pot when you were in high school.

And if your point was you believe there were churches that were supportive of Slim, here's my response: NAME ONE. Then give them a call and ask if you're right.

Unless you're talking about some random Unitarian who stayed there for a couple days when his car broke down I'm confident they'll be happy to spend as much time as you can stand explaining to you where you're wrong. ...chapter and verse.

By the way, my point isn't that they're evil people, it's just that they're people with real convictions and they don't include gambling for a living. They might even have been willing to set Slim free, but my point was I don't believe he can be blamed for not wanting to bet his life on a jury at least partly comprised of people who actually believe you're entire life has been devoted to sin.

What part of that is hard to understand?

[Injection]

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He may be a child molester, but he's not stupid.


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I agree with the rest of your posts Daliman, but I wouldn't have allowed this line to get through my proof-reading [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[UnderThe Gun]

"My god, I can't believe this has been bumped AGAIN"

LOL. So, naturally, your reaction is to bump the thread yet again. Nice hand, Sir.

"Also, I'd like to know how THIS conversation went"

It wasn't terribly complicated. I asked a poker player I know from Amarillo how long he's know Slim. I then asked him if Slim had a history of doing the sort of thing he was accused of. Finally I asked why Slim supposedly confessed and plead guilty. His answers amounted to the information I posted in this thread.

He did make one other point I didn't mention and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring it up now. He said he told Slim it would be a mistake to accept the plea bargain and that he thought he should fight the charge. He said Slim debated not taking the deal but in the end he decided he was just too old to go through it all when the alternative was what amounted to a slap on the wrist.

Maybe I didn't make it clear enough in my original post, my point wasn't that everyone in west Texas hated Amarillo Slim, my point was that there is a large sub-set of people in west Texas who are predisposed to believe that gamblers are sinners who deserve to be punished and it was reasonable for an 80-something year old man not to want to put his life in the hands of a jury that would inevitably be comprised, at least in part, of people who truly believe you've led a life devoted to evil.

If those odds sound good to you, please feel free to let me know the next time you're going to be in Las Vegas... and where and what games you play.