Doyle Brunson

If you asked any poker player or anyone affiliated with poker and online poker, who they thought had the biggest impact on the game of Texas Holdem during it’s rather brief history, I can basically guarantee you that they won’t even pause before saying Doyle Brunson, or Texas Dolly. I don’t mean to disrespect any of the other poker professionals here, but I suppose they too would agree that Doyle Brunson is the granddaddy of them all.

The nickname "Dolly”, by the way, comes from the mispronunciation of the name "Texas Doyle”, for which Jimmy Snyder is to "responsible”.

Born in 1933, in Longworth, Texas, a settlement comprised of about 100 souls, Doyle had exhibited uncommon athletic abilities since his childhood. That explains why his early academic career was closely tied to activities of that nature. He was a track athlete, but his favorite sport was basketball, at which he excelled. Having graduated from the Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, the young Doyle Brunson locked his sight on the big prize: the NBA. The Minnesota Lakers (now you understand why the now LA Lakers were named that, don’t you?) were interested in acquiring the young graduate, however an unfortunate accident ended Doyle’s NBA career well before it ever took off. In the summer break prior to what could’ve been his first NBA season, he broke his leg in two places while handling some heavy sheetrock. The injury confined him to casts for two years to come, and it sometimes comes back to haunt him to this very day.

His athletic options closed, Doyle was quick to look for opportunities in other places. He had played poker before, and found that he could indeed make money on it, so he teamed up with a friend of his and began playing in illegal games in Fort Worth. Soon the town proved too small for the duo, so they began traveling around looking for games to play in and suckers to prey on. It was then that Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts joined the group. Playing illegal poker in those early days was a far cry from what we – modern online players – would call fun, entertaining or even bearable. Doyle himself said he had been beat up a few times back in those days and had even had a gun pulled on him on a number of occasions. It certainly wasn’t something for the faint of heart, but then again, Doyle has never been a man to back off from a challenge.

Sure enough, despite the difficulties, the group managed to gather up a five-zero sum with which they planned to hit Vegas big. The expedition came to a screeching halt though as they lost everything and were forced to "disband”.

Doyle settled down in Las Vegas, while all the other members went their own ways. As it turned out, this early setback did little to douse the fire burning within this gambler’s heart.
Today, Doyle Brunson is not only remembered as the player who’s won no less than 10 WSOP bracelets (you do know that there is only one person who tops him in this respect – Phil Hellmuth with 11 WSOP victories) but also as the author of a number of extremely successful books on poker (Super System, Super System 2, According to Doyle, My 50 most memorable hands etc), and as the person who turned Texas Holdem into the world-wide hysteria that it is today.

For those of you who are not poker-savvy and may not have heard about Doyle yet, just so you get a measure of the true greatness of this individual: two poker hands were named after him. The 10,2o and the A,Qo are both known as "Doyle Brunson” in poker-circles.

In addition to his 10 WSOP bracelets, Doyle can also show 29 (!) WSOP money finishes, 1 WPT title and 4 WPT final tables.

He still plays today in some of the world’s biggest stake games (like the Bellagio $4,000/$8,000 cash game), and still holds his own against the up-and-coming young professionals in televised events like High Stakes Poker and Poker after Dark.

As a poker player, I personally owe him a few things myself, hence this page is not only meant as a biography, but also as a tribute to the greatest poker player (and one of the better human beings) ever to walk this earth.