The World Series of Poker (WSOP), poker's world championship with over 50 tournaments, will be here again at the end of May.

It's time to have a look at the players who have had a crucial influence on shaping this important tournament series.

Amarillo Slim is a true poker legend. Back in 1960 he toured with Sailor Roberts and Doyle Brunson through Texas, relieving the poker players in every city of their small change. The trio stayed together for six years before going their separate ways in the player's paradise - Las Vegas. The common bankroll was gone and they decided to plough their own furrows from now on.

Slim's breakthrough came in 1972 with his victory in the WSOP, a tournament which was played with eight participants at that time. Johnny Moss had won the two previous years. Slim's old partners Sailor and Brunson went on to win the tournament in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Following this, Slim (real name Thomas Preston) was one of the first poker players to become famous through his TV appearances. Early on he helped to shape the image of the professional player, vehemently opposing being dismissed as a gambler.

One of Slim's most famous sayings is: If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker.

He has won four coveted WSOP bracelets in total. Following his success in the Main Event, he won another No Limit Hold'em bracelet in 1974. Two bracelets in Omaha tournaments followed in 1985 and 1990.

It was announced last year that Nicolas Cage will play the lead role in a film about the 80-year old professional poker player's life. Amarillo Slim and Cage have already met and are both excited about the idea.

The filmmakers will have more material to work with than simply Amarillo's dazzling poker life. Besides poker, Slim is also known for proposition bets of all kinds. Curious incidents such as a camel ride through a casino and a golf game against Evel Knievel, played with a hammer, have all just been run-of-the-mill to him.

In 2003, Amarillo published his autobiography, on which the film will be based. In Amarillo Slim in a World of Fat People, the self-acclaimed best poker player in the world also reveals tales of playing poker with Larry Flint, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

One of his most famous bets (in a slightly altered form) has already made the leap to celluloid. Slim once bet a golf pro that he could hit a golf ball further than a mile. The hard-nosed player won because he hit the ball over a frozen lake. In Tin Cup, Don Johnson (as golf pro David Simms) hits the ball along a street.

Eurosport