Doyle Brunson
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Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is an American professional poker player and author of poker books.
From athlete to rounder
Born in Longworth, Texas, Brunson had a promising athletic future. He was part of the All-State Texas basketball team, and he was the state champion in the mile run. Although he got over a hundred offers from various colleges, he decided to attend Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas because it was close to his home. Brunson would later be drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers before a knee injury ended his playing days. Sometimes he must still use a crutch to get around because of the injury. Brunson changed focus from athletics to education and obtained a master's degree in administrative education.
Brunson had started gambling in college to support himself, and after seeing the disappointing pay for a teacher he then teamed up with other Texas players like Johnny Moss and Amarillo Slim Preston and went on the road looking for action, long before professional poker was as respectable as it is today. He traveled the country as a rounder, with Moss and Preston, looking for illegal games before finally settling in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Professional poker player
The first player to win a $1 million poker tournament, Brunson has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career. His achievements include two WSOP main event titles in 1976 and 1977. Other than his poker success, his greatest achievement is probably the book that was once considered to be the bible of poker: Super/System.
Many parts of Super/System are now somewhat outdated due to changes in the structure of the game. Books by authors such as David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Ray Zee have superceded Brunson's book for the games limit hold em, 7 card stud, and Omaha. However, Super/System was the book that transformed poker by giving ordinary players an insight into the way that the professionals like Brunson played and won, so much so that Brunson believes that having written the book cost him a lot of money. An up-to-date sequel to Super/System was published in 2004.
Brunson continues to play in the biggest poker games in the world and at the World Series of Poker. He won his ninth gold bracelet in a mixed games event in 2003, and in 2004 he finished 53rd (in a field of 2567) in the No Limit Texas hold'em Championship event. He won the Legends of Poker World Poker Tour event in 2004 (garnering him a $1.1 Million prize), and finished fourth in the WPT's first championship event.
Brunson's nickname, "Texas Dolly", came from the incorrect reading of his name by Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, and it stuck. Brunson has the honor of having a Texas hold'em hand named after him. The hand, a Ten and a Two of any suit, bears his name as he won the No Limit Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker two years in a row with them, in both cases completing a full house.
External links
- Doyle's Room (http://www.doylesroom.com/)
- Poker Babes profile (http://www.poker-babes.com/bio/doyle-brunson/)
- Poker Pages interview (http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/interviews/interviews-brunson01.htm)
- Hendon Mob tournament results (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=34)