Tom McEvoy

Thomas K. McEvoy, born 14 November 1944 and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an American professional poker player, author and 2013 inductee of the Poker Hall of Fame, best known for winning the 1983 World Series of Poker Main Event. He worked as an accountant and began playing poker full-time in 1978 after being laid off. In 1983 he won his first bracelets, in the 1,000 dollar Limit Hold'em event and the Main Event, and was the first Main Event winner to earn his buy-in through a single table satellite. His seven and a half hour heads-up match with Rod Peate was then the longest in WSOP history. He added bracelets in Razz in 1986 and Limit Omaha in 1992, won a Professional Poker Tour event in 2005 and the 2009 Champions Invitational for former Main Event champions. He has written or co-written over a dozen poker books, including with T. J. Cloutier, and helped organize the first smoke-free poker tournament in 1998.