Tom McEvoy: World Series of Poker Player Bio

Tom McEvoy was born on November 14, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. McEvoy started playing poker by betting pennies with his grandma.

In the 1960s, Tom McEvoy attended Ferris State University and became an accountant. After years of working in the corporate world, he was fired and took poker up professionally.

Tom McEvoy quickly found success at the poker table. In the 1983 World Series of Poker McEvoy took home his first bracelet and $117,000 at the Limit Hold'Em event. Six days he won the 1983 World Series of Poker, taking home his second bracelet and another $540,000. Making Tom McEvoy equally famous was that he was the first player to win his $10,000 buy-in from a satellite tournament. To date, Tom McEvoy has seen 29 money finishes at the World Series of Poker, making it the final table 17 times. His winnings total more than $2.5 million, and he holds four gold bracelets.

Tom McEvoy is the author and co-author of several books on poker, including:

Tournament Poker

How to Win at Poker Tournaments

Championship Hold'Em (with T.J. Cloutier)

Championship Omaha (with T.J. Cloutier)

Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'Em (with T.J. Cloutier)

Championship Stud (with Max Stern and Linda Johnson)

Win Your Way Into Big Money Hold'em Tournaments: How to Beat Casino and Online Satellite Poker Tournament (with Brad Daugherty)

No-Limit Texas Hold'em: The New Player's Guide to Winning Poker's Biggest Game (with Brad Daugherty)

Championship Hold'em Satellite Strategy (with Brad Daugherty)

Tom McEvoy is also a regular contributor to CardPlayer Magazine.

During his 30-year career, Tom McEvoy has seen a distinct difference between the old players and the new players. Frequently playing online poker, Tom McEvoy is able to keep up with the best of them.

"Online players are very different but stand a good chance in these larger tournament formats such as the WSOP final event," Tom McEvoy said to Poker Prof. "You see a lot of total inexperience online, you would think with these players playing for real money they would invest in a good book - they would have the cost of the book back with one pot."

In his personal life, Tom McEvoy is strongly against smoking and helped organize the first non-smoking tournaments in the professional poker world. His efforts even changed the World Series of Poker, which became a non-smoking tournament in 2002. McEvoy is also an avid fantasy and horror reader, stamp collector, and history buff.