Puggy Pearson
American poker player (1929–2006)
Walter Clyde "Puggy" Pearson (January 29, 1929 – April 12, 2006) was an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1973 World Series of Poker Main Event winner.
Early years
Pearson was born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee in a family with nine siblings. He got his nickname "Puggy" from a childhood accident that left him with a disfigured nose at the age of twelve. He dropped out of school in the fifth grade, and at the age of 17, he joined the United States Navy, where he served three tours. He strengthened his skills at poker and gambling while in the Navy.
Professional poker career
Prior to 1949, all poker games were cash games; a player could cash out his chips and leave at any time. Pearson originated the idea of a freezeout tournament and shared his idea with fellow gambler "Nick the Greek" Dandolos in the early 1950s. Dandolos later brought the idea to legendary casino owner Benny Binion. After further urging by Pearson, Amarillo Slim, and Doyle Brunson, all of whom felt that such a tournament would create great side (cash) game action, Binion founded the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1970.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Puggy Pearson” as american poker player (1929–2006). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american poker player (1929–2006). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1384546. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2006, 1973 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Puggy Pearson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.