Where are they now - Tom McEvoy
A lot of poker players generally take the game up early on in their lives, but it would be hard to
imagine anyone taking to the game at a younger age than Tom McEvoy. Just five years after his November 14, 1944 birth in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was already beginning to learn the game. Shortly after learning the basics of the game he would continually try to get his fellow classmates to join him for a game. The problem was that he would try to do this in the middle of class, often drawing the eye of his teacher, and resulting in McEvoy losing his cards for the day and a phone call home to his parents.McEvoy likes to tell a story about one of these phone calls home. McEvoy’s teacher told his mother that he had been beating his friend Johnny out of lunch money. Mom, perhaps having that motherly intuition of knowing what her son would eventually do for a living, answered, “If little Johnny is dumb enough to lose his money there is nothing I can do about it.”
Despite the funny quote, gambling was looked down on in the McEvoy household. That obviously didn’t discourage the young McEvoy from continuing to play the game, and because of that dedication he has become one of the best poker players to ever belly up to the felt.
Despite the love of cards, his teachers and parents were still able to instill in him the importance of a good education. While continuing to study the game religiously, and because of his overall love of numbers, he attended Ferris State University in his hometown of Grand Rapids where he completed a degree in accounting. He continued to play poker during and after college, but instead of pursuing a full-time poker career, he decided to take an accounting job. However, history would soon start to write itself for McEvoy when he was laid-off from that job. By 1978 McEvoy was no longer an accountant, he was a poker player.
In just four short years, on the Las Vegas Circuit, McEvoy made his presence known when he placed 6th in the Limit Razz event in the 1982 World Series of Poker. Just one year later he joined the poker gods when he took down the 1983 World Series of Poker Main Event just a few days after winning his first bracelet in the $1,000 Limit Hold’em event.
His run from full-time poker player in 1978, to a champion in 1983, wasn’t just luck. When he decided to enter this profession he entered it with everything he had, including a studying ethic that is unmatched.
McEvoy has published 12 of his own poker strategy books and has contributed to dozens more over the last 25 years. His teaching style has been described as one of the easier styles to read. It’s also apparent that he enjoys teaching. A lot of poker players, especially Doyle Brunson, have said that if they could go back and undo writings they have made public, they would. While it may have cut into the earnings of some of these players to educate the general public, it has hardly cut into McEvoy’s bottom line, where he has earned five overall World Series bracelets, and over two and a half million dollars in tournament winnings.
McEvoy has also been an ambassador to the sport. It is nearly impossible to walk into a casino around the world and not see a thick cloud of cigarette and cigar smoke hovering above the tables. If you have walked into a casino and seen the absence of smoke, you can most likely thank McEvoy. In 1998, McEvoy organized the first ever non-smoking tournament. At first it was reluctantly received by many of the top pros, especially the smokers of the group. Gradually they decided that winning a poker tournament, and more importantly money, was more important than smoking a couple of cigarettes. As McEvoy has been quoted as saying, “The addiction to poker is greater than the addiction to smoking.” The event was a fairly big success, but it was only the beginning of what McEvoy had in mind.
Sick of playing in the World Series of Poker every year with smokers, and hearing the outcry of other non-smokers and those with health concerns, McEvoy felt he needed to do something about it. In 2002 he contacted Benny Binion Behnen, the CEO of Binion’s Casino, and host of the WSOP at the time, and asked what they could do about the problem. Behnen said if McEvoy gave him poker lessons free of charge he would make the event smoke free. Since then the WSOP has become smoke free, and the majority of all the other major poker events around the world are also free of smoke. That same year, he also won third place in the heads-up event.
In today’s world of poker it is fairly common for at least half of the field to satellite into a major tournament. While Chris Moneymaker became the first player to ever win the WSOP Main Event after winning a satellite tournament online, McEvoy became the first ever player to satellite into the main event from a live satellite. Poker players are almost looked upon as foolish today if they don’t find a way to satellite into a tournament, but in 1983 satellite tournaments were just starting to pop up. McEvoy took his satellite victory and turned it into a WSOP bracelet in 1983, twenty years before Moneymaker took advantage on his online satellite victory. McEvoy has also authored a book on this subject, titled “Championship Satellite Strategy.” It’s hard to imagine that there would be a better book on this subject when McEvoy was the originator.
Despite the large amount of money he has won in tournaments, he is estimated to be at least a few times richer because of his writing ability. Some people have joked that McEvoy has written too many books regarding winning the WSOP Main Event, despite only winning one. Considering many of today’s top pros have never even sniffed a final table, it makes sense for him to write a handful of books on the subject as opposed to someone who hasn’t won. It has also been argued that he recycles materials and just presents it in a different way. But, that has been largely untrue, as he seems to have kept up with the ever changing trend of poker. While some things change, some things do stay the same. McEvoy still plays most of the major tournaments, even finding success in the fairly new World Poker Tour, taking third place in the Mirage Poker Showdown.
McEvoy will surely go down as one of the best tournament players ever, but he will go down in history for changing the way the WSOP is played, smoke-free. That tidbit of information will most likely start to be forgotten as the years pass, but his books will also most likely stand the test of time.
*Tom McEvoy is a Team PokerStars Pro*
Major Tournament Results
EVENT PLACE PRIZE DATE
Oasis Open
No Limit Hold'em
4th $1,390 Aug 31, 2007
38th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #47 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
93rd $5,378 Jun 29, 2007
38th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #41 - WSOP Seniors - No Limit Hold'em World Championship
34th $8,820 Jun 25, 2007
38th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #35 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
239th $2,948 Jun 21, 2007
38th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #15 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
202nd $3,408 Jun 9, 2007
Mirage Poker Showdown / WPT Event Season 6
Super Satellite - No Limit Hold'em
3rd $10,000 May 17, 2007
Mirage Poker Showdown / WPT Event Season 6
Event #3 - No Limit Hold'em
20th $1,402 May 10, 2007
World Poker Challenge / WPT event Season 5
Event #16 - No Limit Hold'em
17th $3,790 Mar 23, 2007
Bay 101 Shooting Star / WPT Event Season 5
No Limit Hold'em
16th $4,500 Mar 11, 2007
The Wynn Classic
No Limit Hold'em
2nd $32,786 Feb 25, 2007
Fall Poker Round Up
Event #1 - No Limit Hold'em
43rd $400 Nov 9, 2006
37th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #39 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em Championship WSOP FINAL
371st $34,636 Aug 10, 2006
37th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #43 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
11th $6,306 Aug 7, 2006
Mandalay Bay Poker Championships / WPT Event Season 5
No Limit Hold'em
8th $5,780 May 28, 2006
Seneca World Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em Canadian / American Challenge Championship
7th $4,990 Jan 31, 2006
Seneca World Poker Classic
Limit Hold'em Oklahoma Johnny Hales Championship Event
19th $390 Jan 27, 2006
Seneca World Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
24th $160 Jan 25, 2006
Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure - WPT Event Season 4
WPT No Limit Hold'em
95th $10,700 Jan 10, 2006
Fall Poker - Round Up
Event #10 - No Limit Hold'em
4th $20,130 Nov 12, 2005
Fall Poker - Round Up
Event #8 - Omaha Hi/Lo
12th $405 Nov 10, 2005
Festa al Lago IV WPT Event/Season 4
No Limit Hold'em
10th $5,370 Oct 13, 2005
Canadian Poker Tour
No Limit Hold'em
2nd $22,391 Oct 8, 2005
36th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #15 - WSOP Shootout - Limit Hold'em
28th $2,795 Jun 16, 2005
Mirage Poker Showdown / WPT Event Season 4
Pot Limit Hold'em
3rd $20,952 May 15, 2005
World Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
5th $5,730 Apr 26, 2005
Five-Star World Poker Classic - WPT Championship Season 3
WPT Main Event - No Limit Hold'em
74th $30,000 Apr 24, 2005
Rio Las Vegas Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event
Event #6 - WSOP Circuit No Limit Hold'em
16th $3,510 Mar 17, 2005
Rio Las Vegas Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event
Event #3 - WSOP Circuit No Limit Hold'em
14th $2,910 Mar 14, 2005
PPT No Limit Hold'em $500,000 Freeroll - Season 1
PPT Freeroll - No Limit Hold'em
1st $225,000 Mar 12, 2005
Fall Poker Round-Up
Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
3rd $7,223 Nov 11, 2004
Aruba Poker Classic / WPT Event Season 3
WPT No Limit Hold'em
137th $7,000 Oct 1, 2004
Four Queens Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
2nd $2,300 Sep 17, 2004
Festa al Lago II
No Limit Hold'em
27th $1,727 Jun 27, 2004
35th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #23 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
77th $1,720 May 12, 2004
Five-Star World Poker Classic - WPT Championship Season 2
Event #15 - Satellite - No Limit Hold'em
11th $25,500 Apr 17, 2004
7th Annual Spring Poker Round-UP
Event #6 - No Limit Hold'em
2nd $12,290 Mar 12, 2004
7th Annual Spring Poker Round-UP
Event #5 - Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
3rd $6,398 Mar 11, 2004
7th Annual Spring Poker Round-UP
Event #2 - Limit 7 Card Stud
6th $1,600 Mar 7, 2004
2004 Shooting Star - WPT Season 2
Event #3 - No Limit Hold'em
9th $4,530 Feb 29, 2004
5th Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open - WPT Season 2
Event #6 - WPO Pot Limit Hold'em
24th $1,260 Jan 13, 2004
Four Queens Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
14th $445 Sep 29, 2003
Four Queens Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
1st $9,959 Sep 25, 2003
Four Queens Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
5th $599 Sep 23, 2003
Four Queens Poker Classic
No Limit Hold'em
8th $515 Sep 22, 2003
BARGE 2003
No Limit Hold'em
16th $100 Aug 2, 2003
34th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #22 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
36th $2,500 May 6, 2003
34th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #16 - WSOP Limit Omaha
14th $2,300 Apr 30, 2003
Larry Flynt's Poker Challenge Cup
No Limit Hold'em
8th $1,185 Feb 24, 2003
Jack Binion World Poker Open 4th Year - WPT Season 1
WPT No Limit Hold'em
19th $9,162 Jan 31, 2003
Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Event #3 - Pot Limit Hold'em
13th $1,472 Dec 4, 2002
$500,000 Guaranteed Gold Rush WPT Season 1
Shootout - No Limit Hold'em
9th $1,000 Nov 8, 2002
Hall of Fame Poker Classic
Event #9 - Limit Razz
5th $1,820 Sep 5, 2002
Hall of Fame Poker Classic
Event #2 - Limit Hold'em
5th $2,350 Aug 29, 2002
2nd Annual Linda Johnson Celebrity Challenge
No Limit Hold'em
2nd $9,865 Jun 29, 2002
33rd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #33 - WSOP Seniors - No Limit Hold'em
32nd $1,480 May 18, 2002
33rd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #9 - WSOP Heads Up - No Limit Hold'em
3rd $8,575 Apr 26, 2002
Casino Europa Invitational Tournament
- No Limit Hold'em
2nd $12,956 Mar 2, 2002
LA Poker Classic
Event #23 - No Limit Hold'em
4th $60,000 Feb 25, 2002
LA Poker Classic
Event #17 - No Limit Hold'em
17th $1,720 Feb 17, 2002
World Poker Challenge 2
Event #11 - No Limit Hold'em
5th $3,143 Jan 14, 2002
World Poker Challenge 2
Event #3 - Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
5th $2,033 Jan 7, 2002
The Tom McEvoy Tournament
Limit Hold'em
8th $650 Nov 18, 2001
The Tom McEvoy Tournament
Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
8th $350 Nov 12, 2001
32nd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #20 - WSOP Pot Limit Hold'em
15th $6,575 May 8, 2001
32nd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #9 - WSOP Limit S.H.O.E
3rd $35,115 Apr 28, 2001
32nd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #6 - WSOP Limit Omaha
9th $3,350 Apr 25, 2001
LA Poker Classic
Pot Limit Hold'em
4th $6,370 Feb 21, 2001
1st Annual World Poker Challenge
Event #11 - No Limit Hold'em
3rd $13,408 Jan 21, 2001
1st Annual World Poker Challenge
Event #9 - Pot Limit Hold'em
5th $4,169 Jan 19, 2001
Guaranteed Weekend
No Limit Hold'em
7th $430 Nov 11, 2000
Casino Europa Celebrity Poker Challenge
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
10th $176 Oct 9, 2000
Guaranteed Summer Challenge
Event #2 - No Limit Hold'em
10th $310 Jul 28, 2000
Orleans Open
No Limit Hold'em
12th $1,155 Jul 20, 2000
Orleans Open
Limit Omaha
6th $2,010 Jul 12, 2000
American Poker Classic
Limit Hold'em
2nd $9,545 Jun 2, 2000
American Poker Classic
Pot Limit Hold'em
3rd $4,680 May 29, 2000
Carnival of Poker
Pot Limit Omaha
2nd $17,400 Jan 11, 2000
29th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #13 - WSOP Limit Hold'em
17th $5,130 May 3, 1998
1998 L.A. Poker Classic
Shootout - Limit Hold'em
4th $4,254 Feb 8, 1998
28th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #15 - WSOP Pot Limit Hold'em
2nd $102,000 May 3, 1997
28th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #9 - WSOP Pot Limit Hold'em
3rd $46,930 Apr 27, 1997
28th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #4 - WSOP Limit 7 Card Stud
3rd $36,622 Apr 22, 1997
28th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #2 - WSOP Limit Razz
9th $3,600 Apr 20, 1997
LA Poker Open
Hold'em & 7 Card Stud Tag Team Event
1st $2,000 Sep 30, 1996
26th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #9 - WSOP Pot Limit Omaha
3rd $35,850 May 3, 1995
Big Poker Oktober
No Limit Hold'em
7th $599 Oct 17, 1994
25th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #18 - WSOP Limit Omaha
14th $2,085 May 3, 1994
25th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #1 - WSOP Limit Hold'em
9th $10,845 Apr 16, 1994
Masters Of Poker
Limit Hold'em
1st $10,200 Mar 17, 1994
24th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #12 - WSOP Limit Razz
7th $5,805 May 1, 1993
L.A. Poker Classic
Event #19 - Limit 7 Card Stud
8th $2,010 Jun 17, 1992
L.A. Poker Classic
Event #6 - 1/2 Hold'em 1/2 Lowball
16th $660 Jun 4, 1992
23rd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #7 - WSOP Limit Omaha
1st $79,200 Apr 28, 1992
23rd Annual World Series of Poker
Event #6 - WSOP Limit 7 Card Stud
2nd $60,300 Apr 27, 1992
7th Annual Diamond Jim Brady
Hold'em & 7 Card Stud
8th $1,770 Aug 18, 1991
7th Annual Diamond Jim Brady
Omaha Hi/Lo
3rd $9,030 Aug 6, 1991
21st Annual World Series of Poker
Event #5 - WSOP Limit Omaha
8th $5,340 May 4, 1990
20th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #3 - WSOP Limit Hold'em
14th $4,490 May 3, 1989
18th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #12 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em
7th $17,160 May 11, 1987
17th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #9 - WSOP Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
8th $3,680 May 18, 1986
17th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #7 - WSOP Limit Razz
1st $52,400 May 16, 1986
15th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #3 - WSOP Pot Limit Omaha
3rd $16,800 May 3, 1984
14th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #14 - WSOP World Championship - No Limit Hold'em
1st $540,000 May 16, 1983
14th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #10 - WSOP Limit Hold'em
1st $117,000 May 12, 1983
13th Annual World Series of Poker
Event #6 - WSOP Limit Razz
6th $3,200 May 14, 1982
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