Amarillo, Texas – Texas poker great Amarillo Slim was beaten and robbed while trying to take collateral on a USD 3,000 gambling debt he was owed, police said Thursday.

Amarillo Police Lt. Jim McKenny said the 80-year-old former world champion poker player, whose real name is Thomas Preston, was beaten after being lured to a field Tuesday night expecting to receiver a four-wheeler as collateral. Preston went to the hospital with a broken jaw, hand and thumb, he told the Amarillo Globe-News.

He said he was robbed of USD 8,000 cash and a diamond ring worth USD 85,000, McKenny said.

„That would not be that unusual for him to have that kind of money,“ he said.

It wasn’t the first time he’s been robbed either, McKenny said.

„I think it probably has to do with the clientele and people he tends to hang with in the gambling circles,“ he said.

Amarillo Slim won the 1972 World Series of Poker and has been a member of the Poker Hall of Fame since 1992.