Anyone who is assembling a comprehensive list of the best players ever to perform at the World Series of Poker would certainly place Tom McEvoy at or near the top of such a list. This one is just a classic no-brainer, folks. If any player has earned the status of "living legend," certainly it is this man.

Born in 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, McEvoy started playing poker at the tender age of five and his natural inclination towards games of chance constantly landed him in hot water with his elementary school teachers. Yet Tom did not enter adulthood with the intention of becoming a professional poker player. Much like Chris Moneymaker, he used his natural skill with numbers to launch an accounting career. Yet, unlike Moneymaker, Tom was given an external boost to leave the corporate world behind when he was laid off from his accounting job in 1978. Taking full advantage of all the free time on his hands, he turned his focus back to poker.

McEvoy's first major success at the World Series of Poker occurred in 1983 when he won the main event. He has matched that accomplishment all of three additional times since and has played against every WSOP main event winner in the history of the event at one time or another. That is a claim virtually no other poker player can make.

McEvoy set a career trajectory that is similar to Moneymaker's in another way in that he also earned his initial seat at the World Series of Poker by winning a satellite tournament. In fact, he was the first player ever to do so. His subsequent success at the WSOP went quite a long way towards popularizing satellites as a means of entry for amateur players. Tom has also proven himself to be a prolific author, writing, either on his own or in collaboration, over a dozen books covering many aspects of the game of poker.

Firmly against smoking, in 1998 McEvoy organized the very first tournament where no puffing was permitted. He was met with quite a bit of resistance, but the tournament still attracted a large number of players and confirmed the viability of having smoke-free tournaments.

As befits a poker player of his status, Tom McEvoy currently makes his home in the city where he became famous: Las Vegas. Thus he is always close to the action and is regarded by many younger players as little less than a god.