Doyle Brunson

Name: Doyle Brunson
Nickname: Texas Dolly
Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Birthday: 10.8.1933 (Longworth, Texas, USA)
Tournament Winnings: 4,654,912$
Tournament Victories: 11
WSOP Bracelets: 10
In the money: 34 times
Style: Tight-Aggressive (TAG)
Strengths: Reads, versatility

Doyle Brunson belongs to the same league of greatest players ever as Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, Phil Hellmuth Jr., and Johnny Chan. They all have one thing in common: they were successful over many years and some of them still are. Despite the poker boom that started at the end of the last millenium, they are still the most successful players that poker has ever seen. Every player stares in awe and fear when one of these players sits across from them. In this round, Doyle Brunson has a very special place. Two hands were named after him (AQ and T2). Last year he managed to win the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Short Handed Event, obtaining his 10th bracelet. He won his first in 1976!

His spot on top to of the world for more than 3 decades, millions in prize money, published poker "bibles" and most of all the way he takes the word No-limit more seriously than any other make him a living legend and ensure that he will be immortalized in the world of poker.

Biography

Before Doyle started with poker, he was known throuhout Texas for his success at sports. He was a first class funner and one of the best basketball players in Texas. He was even drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers but had to give up his career in short order because of two bad knee injuries.

At that time, in the 50s, poker was forbidden in Texas and he played in underground cash games against crooks, pimps, and other cheaters - always escaping robbery afterward or worse, the police, by the skin of his teeth. During this time he became friends with Amarillo Slim and founded a booking firm with him. He quickly noticed that he could make more money playing poker than he could with a normal job and became of the first pro players.

After he had built up the sizable bankroll of more than $1 million he wrote his first book "Super System" (originally titled, "How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker"), which was a breakthrough for the game at the time. It was the first book about poker strategy written by a poker pro.

Even then Doyle's popularity knew no bounds, yet it still grew with back-to-back wins of the WSOP Main Event in 1976 and 1977. Particularly worth mentioning is that he won both tournaments with the hand T2, which has been known as the "Doyle Brunson" ever since. In addition to these 2 WSOP bracelets, he won a further 8 in diverse disciplines, e.g. Deuce-to-Seven, Lowball, Stud and HORSE. With this he showed that he was not only master of Texas Hold'em, but also every other kind of poker imaginable.

An overview of all 10 of Doyle Brunson's bracelets

Year

 Tournament

 Prize
1976

 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship

 $230,000
1977

 $5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw

 $80,250
1977

 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship

 $340,000
1977

 $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Split

 $62,500
1978

 $5,000 Seven-Card Stud

 $68,000
1979

 $600 Mixed Doubles (with Starla Brodie)

 $4,500
1991

 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em

 $208,000
1998

 $1,500 Seven-Card Razz

 $93,000
2003

 $2,000 H.O.R.S.E.

 $84,080
2005

 $5,000 No Limit Shorthanded Texas Hold'em

$367,800
Today you can meet Doyle in the "Big Game" at the Bellagio, where many poker pros play over millions of dollars every evening. In addition to playing poker Doyle also runs his own internet poker site, also earning a little money on the side with betting. He once won a million dollars after betting that he could lose 100 pounds. He did it and the money was his. There is another nice anecdote. His house was broken into once and he was able to drive the thief away. How did he do it? Simple. He pretended to have a heart attack and the robbers fled. That, too, shows just how fit and funny Doyle Brunson has remained to this day.