The champion of champions?
Throughout the 2009 World Series of Poker, PokerStars advertised its roster of former WSOP champions: Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joseph Hachem (2005) and Peter Eastgate (2008).
However, there is one additional past WSOP champion on PokerStars' roster of professionals who has often been overlooked: Tom McEvoy.
This former CPA won the WSOP main event bracelet in 1983, along with three other bracelets from 1983 to 1992. Although he is well-known among the older poker generation, young players are often not familiar with McEvoy and his interesting role in the growth of the satellite, the emergence of nonsmoking poker rooms and the boom in poker literature. Let's take a trip back in poker history.
Lesson 1: McEvoy is the predecessor of Moneymaker. Moneymaker's story of how he won his seat online on PokerStars via a $39 satellite, and ultimately won the 2003 main event, is well documented. However, most people do not know that McEvoy was the very first WSOP main event champion to earn his seat via a satellite. McEvoy's 1983 championship laid the groundwork for today's satellite popularity. Today, satellites are a staple of any big buy-in tournament.
"Back in 1983, only a very small number of players [10 to 15 percent] got in via satellite," said McEvoy. "Nowadays, the majority of them will have gotten in this way."
However, back in 1983, I'm sure even McEvoy didn't foresee the satellite options that would be available to every player today.
Lesson 2: McEvoy had been a strong early activist for nonsmoking poker rooms, something that many are thankful for each time they hit the felt.
"There were a lot of other players, not just me, that were adamant about this and got petitions in order to convince management," he said. "Ultimately, it was almost morally unjust for players to be subjected to secondhand smoke."
After years personally petitioning poker room managers, McEvoy helped organize the first nonsmoking tournament in 1998 at Sam's Town casino. With the success of this and other nonsmoking events, he was able to convince Binion's to make the 2002 WSOP a nonsmoking tournament. "To finally convince Binion's to give [nonsmoking] a shot, I feel that that was my biggest contribution to poker," he said.
Today's poker players probably take for granted the existence of nonsmoking poker rooms. On a person note, my wife, who is a family physician, gives McEvoy an honorary master's in public health for his tireless work in making tournament poker nearly smoke-free.
Lesson 3: McEvoy is the predecessor of me and the numerous other poker authors to emerge over the past few years. McEvoy authored the first tournament poker book in 1985.
"Since there was absolutely nothing on tournament poker, after I won the 1983 World Series of Poker main event, they asked me to write a book on tournament poker," said McEvoy. "I was actually offered $25,000 to not publish the book … because they did not want too many secrets out."
Thankfully, McEvoy did not accept the offer and began his journey as an author. Over the next 15 years, he wrote and co-authored over 10 widely read poker books (four with poker legend T.J. Cloutier), primarily on tournament poker. These books include the one I consider my poker bible, "Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold 'Em." McEvoy's books have laid the groundwork for the numerous poker books that are available today and the many more that will be published in the future.
Despite these noteworthy poker achievements, in today's world of online poker, McEvoy is still somewhat overlooked by this television generation. In 2005, McEvoy believed that he would be reintroduced to the poker world after he won the third event in the inaugural season of the Professional Poker Tour. During Season 1, PPT champions included household poker names such as John Juanda, Erick Lindgren and Ted Forrest. McEvoy believed that the television coverage of the event would put him back on the poker world map. However, the show was not aired until a year and a half later.
"This was a select invitation-only field and it meant a lot to me to win the event," McEvoy said. "It was supposed to be televised, but the event got lost in the shuffle. This was definitely a bad break for me."
Thus, when the 2009 WSOP announced the creation of the WSOP Champions Invitational, no player was more determined to win the event than McEvoy. His exploits, along with those of 19 other former main event champions, will be aired Tuesday night (8 ET) on ESPN.
"This event was by far the toughest group of players I had ever faced," he said. "Any of these players were capable of winning … but I felt I was by far the player most determined to win the tournament. I had something to prove."
Thing is, McEvoy has very little to prove at this point. One of 10 players nominated for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame this year, McEvoy says if he is picked to join this select group, it would be among the top highlights in a long, distinguished, and still-active career.
"I have four WSOP bracelets and I would rather have the Hall of Fame than win a fifth bracelet," he said. "It is that important to me because it would be a lifetime achievement. Being in the Hall of Fame to me is the ultimate honor."
Bernard Lee is the weekly poker columnist for the Boston Herald and author of "The Final Table, Volume I." He also hosts a weekly poker radio show, "The Bernard Lee Poker Show," on Rounders Radio and in Boston on 1510 AM. The show can be heard from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and is repeated throughout the week. For questions or comments, e-mail him at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com.
