Tom Mcevoy

 

Poker player biography of Tom McEvoy

Tom ‘Pokerchump’ McEvoy learned poker by playing penny-ante with his grandmother at the age of five. At the time when he was fired from his accounting job, he went into playing poker and went pro at age 35. At 39, he bagged his first WOSP bracelet in Limit Hold’em, and followed it up by winning the No Limit Hold’Em World Championship in six days later in 1983. He moved to Las Vegas and started playing all limits and variations, and eventually became a tournament specialist. Tom McEvoy represents Poker Stars, and plays under his own name.

Tom McEvoy was born November 14, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a graduate of Ferris State University and a former accountant. He is also the author of multiple poker books with T.J. Cloutier including "Championship Pot-Limit and No-Limit Hold'em."  Tom McEvoy brings in an enviable roster of poker achievements to his name. These are four WSOP bracelets, 29 in-the-money finishes at World Series events, an Irish Championship, a Hall of Fame title, and a Super Bowl of Poker title.

Tom McEvoy's achievements as a pro poker player
 
Tom McEvoy took off with his first world tournament $1,000 Limit Hold’em in the 1983 World Series of Poker, earning him $117,000.00. This was followed up in the same year with the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship, earning him $580,000. In 1986, he got off with $52,400 from Razz, and another $79,200.00 from the 1992 $1,500 Limit Omaha. Still playing regularly today, Tom McEvoy’s heads-up match up with Rod Peate was the longest battle in WSOP history before being surpassed in 2006 during the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event by Chip Reese and Andy Bloch.

As of 2008, his total winnings amount to more than $2,700,000.00 and 4 WOSP bracelets. This amount adds up from his matches since 2004 WSOP Event 23 No Limit Hold’em to the 2008 WSOP Event 42 Seniors No Limit Hold’em. In March 2006, McEvoy won the third Professional Poker Tour event, defeating a field of pros-only at the Bay 101 casino.

A true gentleman of poker game, Tom McEvoy writes his ideas about how professional poker might be improved. He says that if he could change anything in the poker world, it would be to implement uniform rules, ban smoking in the poker table, and have a disciplinary committee to prevent players from playing for rule abuses. McEvoy has been the author or co-author of several poker books with other players such as Doine Vines Brad Daugherty, Max Stern, and T. J. Cloutier. He is also a column writer for CardPlayer Magazine.

McEvoy is against smoking. He helped organize the first tournament in 1998 where smoking was not allowed. In 2002, he convinced Benny Binion Behnen to make the WSOP a non-smoking tournament by giving Behnen poker lessons. Tom McEvoy resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and has three children. He and poker player Jane Phelps are currently dating. According to McEvoy, there's absolutely nothing better than winning the World Series. He enjoys the fringe benefits of being a pro poker player because he enjoys traveling to different countries and exotic locations.