Those who follow poker closely know that Doyle Brunson, or “Texas Dolly” is to poker what Vince Lombardi was to American football. Brunson has been involved in professional poker for more than fifty years and has set the standard by which all new card players must follow. In addition to winning in the card room, Brunson has written several award winning books on poker.
Doyle Brunson has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to winning in poker. Not only was he the first guy to claim $1 million in poker winnings, but he’s also the rightful owner for ten World Series of Poker championship bracelets. Among his other triumphs were two consecutive WSOP Main Event titles. He won them back to back in 1976 and again in 1977. He is also one of the only men on earth to win the World Series of Poker Main Event and the title on the World Poker Tour. Brunson’s impact is long reaching, as every poker player owes some debt of gratitude to him for making the game what it is today.
Doyle Brunson’s life started in a usual, conservative way. He grew up in Longworth, Texas, a town with only about 100 residents. His early years were marked by a great deal of athleticism and a love of sport. He was a long distance runner who was in great shape and he also excelled in basketball. He once recorded a mile at the time of 4:43, one of the fastest times ever recorded during that period. Brunson’s athletic conquests netted him many offers for college, but he chose to attend the small Hardin-Simmons University in the town of Abilene. With the chance of playing professional basketball sitting right around the corner, Brunson blew out his knee while playing in college. That ended any chance of suiting up for the Minneapolis Lakers, who had shown great interest in Doyle. Brunson didn’t hurt his knee playing basketball. Rather, he hurt it while moving sheetrock. Though Brunson moves around well for an older gentleman, the injury is still somewhat apparent, as he needs a crutch to get around on occasions.
Before he suffered that devastating injury, Doyle had laid the framework for his poker career that would follow. He was a five card draw master and he often found the game to just be too easy. He managed to pay for the bulk of his college expenses by winning money playing poker. Though he never imagined that poker could lead to massive wealth, he was good enough to make it happen. Still, he took a normal job doing normal things after graduation. He was going to be a business salesman, but never really got the chance to shine there. He got the invitation to play in a high stakes seven-card stud game and made a killing there. Not long after, Brunson decided it would be fiscally responsible to start a career in poker, rather than in sales. It has worked out pretty well for him.
Brunson’s early career led him to some illegal back hall poker games in Fort Worth. He went there with one of his closest friends, a man by the name of Dwayne Hamilton. After time, they went to a few different states looking for action and usually found it. In their travels, they came across guys like Amarillo Slim, who would also go on to be big names in the professional game. Brunson got into these illegal games, which were often the enterprise for organized crime groups, which made money off of the rake. It wasn’t easy being a poker player during that time, as rules of the game weren’t always adhered to. On more than one occasion, Brunson was held at gun point and he was also beaten. There was no way to fight this, though, as playing poker was illegal and didn’t give one any legal avenues for protection.
Brunson’s friend Hamilton couldn’t make it as a traveling player and made his way back to Fort Worth, but the rest of the gang moved along to new games. They went together, playing poker and doing everything together. They played as partners for a while and were quite successful. Finally, the group’s success ran out when they went to Las Vegas and blew a substantial amount of money. Though the vowed not to play together as partners anymore, the group all remained good friends.
On top of his great poker prowess and career, Doyle Brunson has a few other personal successes. His superb book, Super System, remains the overall authority on the game of poker. Any player who hopes to have success in the game reads the book to get Texas Dolly’s take on how it should be played. Brunson originally published the book himself all the way back in 1978, and as time went by, it became apparent that the book would provide new players with great insight. Brunson believed that the advice that he published eventually cost him a ton of money in games, as other players adopted his extremely successful strategy. Brunson published a second version of the book in 2004, and this one included advice from several other poker players. He has also published two other books, which weren’t quite as popular, but still did very well.
Even in his old age, Doyle Brunson hasn’t slowed down much. He routinely plays in the world’s largest cash poker game – the $4000/$8000 mixed game at the Bellagio. In addition to that high stakes cash game, he also plays in most of the world’s most prestigious poker tournaments. In 2003, he won yet another bracelet at the World Series of Poker, proving to all of the young guys that he still has some game. He has since finished in the money in a number of different professional poker tour events and tournaments. Brunson’s tenth bracelet win came in the 2005 World Series of Poker. He is second all-time in bracelets, one behind Phil Hellmuth, who has 11.
Through his entire career, Brunson has embraced his nickname, “Texas Dolly”. The roots of this nickname are somewhat surprising, considering Brunson’s poker prowess. Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was supposed to announce Doyle Brunson by the name of “Texas Doyle”, but he accidentally called Brunson “Dolly”. This name stuck and Brunson has made no effort to shake the notion.
Brunson’s place in poker is cemented by the fact that he even has a couple of hands named after him. Ten-two is his hand because, twice, he won the World Series of Poker’s Main Event with that hand. In both cases, he made a full house with the ten-two and finished off his competitor. The second hand is known as being his for another reason. Ace-Queen is the hand. In Brunson’s book, he states that he never plays that hand because it is so easily busted. His play in major tournaments has dispelled the notion that he doesn’t play this hand, though. He has been seen on television to play the hand and was even knocked out of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event in 2007 when he held Ace Queen.
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