Poker World Loses a Legend

BLUFF Staff | April 14, 2006

Poker pioneer and legend Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson has passed away at the age of 77.

Pearson is credited with coming up with the idea of freezeout tournaments, the driving force behind the popularity of modern poker. After sharing the idea with “Nick the Greek” Dandolos, it was brought to Benny Binion, who founded the World Series of Poker. The WSOP was decided by a vote in 1970 and ‘71, but Binion implemented Pearson’s freezeout structure in 1972, and it has been used ever since. Pearson won three bracelets in 1973, including the main event, and the winner-take-all $130,000 prize.

Pearson, whose nickname was a reference to his nose (which was disfigured in a childhood accident), was born in 1929 in the hills of Tennessee to a large family that was so poor “we had to move every time the rent came due.”

Pearson was a gambler in every sense of the word. He was an expert card and pool player, and when he realized there was big action in golf, he decided to learn the game. He became a scratch golfer, and was reportedly one of the best pressure players around.

Mike Sexton wrote that after being asked who he would choose to take a ten foot putt if his life was on the line, Doyle Bruson answered “Puggy Pearson. That’s right. Puggy Pearson. He’s the greatest pressure putter I’ve ever seen. I’ll tell you one thing about Puggy. He won’t dog it. He might not make it, but you’ll get a good roll for your life.”

There are many legendary golf stories about Pearson, and just as many legendary poker stories. He was notorious for abusing dealers, and in one famous tale, Pearson, after throwing cards at a dealer, was held down by one dealer while another assualted him with a high heel shoe.

Despite his sometimes nefarious reputation among dealers, Pearson was very well-liked in the poker world; Amarillo Slim described Pearson as “softer than butter on a hot stove”.

Puggy Pearson was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1987.

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