Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the 14th of November 1944 Tom McEvoy has been a full-time professional poker player for all of 30 years. It is rumoured that he first started to play poker aged five years old and was regularly in trouble at school playing the game which would eventually take over his life.
Prior to taking up poker full-time Tom McEvoy was an accountant so his head for figures has certainly proved very useful in his current pastime. While he still plays poker regularly today his heyday was back in 1983 when he won the World Series of Poker after a heads up match with a Rod Peate which until 2006 was officially the longest heads up in the history of WSOP.
Currently Tom McEvoy has total live tournament winnings in excess of $2.7 million and while he is still regularly attending the big tournaments of the day his direct income from these events has slowed markedly in recent times. However he is one of the leading poker authors in the world and has a number of bestselling books behind him.
Tom McEvoy has also been one of the leading lights in the move to banish smoking from poker tournaments and poker rooms something which has received a mixed response from players of the game.