Crandell 'Dandy' Addington: Texas Road Gambler and WSOP Pioneer

Dandy → Crandell Addington

Dandy's real name is Crandell Addington.

Known as: Dandy
Real name: Crandell Addington
Also known as: Dandy
Section: Texas Road Gamblers
Category: Poker Players

Quick answer

Crandell Addington (June 2, 1938 – April 14, 2024) played poker under his real name. His nickname was "Dandy," for his immaculate Western clothes. Born in Graham, Texas, he was a regular on the Texas poker circuit in the 1960s. He won the 1969 Texas Gamblers Reunion in Reno, which led to the World Series of Poker. He played in the first WSOP in 1970, finished second in the Main Event in 1974 and 1978, and entered the Poker Hall of Fame in 2005.

Name and nickname origin

Crandell Addington is his birth name. "Dandy" came from how he dressed. Doyle Brunson told PokerNews, "He liked to wear expensive cowboy boots, immaculate Western outfits, and a top-line Stetson," and said Addington looked like "some sort of movie star" at the table.

On the Texas Circuit

Addington was younger than Moss and Brunson. He joined the high-stakes Texas games in the 1960s and was already a self-made businessman. He was known for playing for the challenge more than the money (PokerListings; BLUFF Magazine). He graduated from Southwestern University with degrees in economics and accounting. In a 2020 PokerNews interview, he said his favorite game was high-stakes no-limit cash.

WSOP origin: Addington won the 1969 Texas Gamblers Reunion at the Holiday Hotel in Reno. Benny Binion took that gathering as the model for the first World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in 1970.

Career highlights

Played in the first WSOP (1970)
Seven WSOP Main Event final tables in the 1970s, often cited as a record
Main Event runner-up twice: to Johnny Moss in 1974 and to Bobby Baldwin in 1978. Most of those years were winner-take-all, so they don't appear as cashes.
No WSOP bracelets. About $162,000 in recorded live earnings (Hendon Mob).
Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2005
Left poker in the 1980s to run businesses in oil and gas, chemicals and biotech (Phoenix Biotechnology)

Addington died in San Antonio on April 14, 2024, at 85.

More Texas road gamblers

This profile is part of Texas Road Gamblers, our guide to the rounders of the old Texas Circuit. Only Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts traveled together as one bankroll partnership; the others played the same circuit separately.