Doyle Brunson – The Godfather of Poker
Doyle Brunson is a true legend of the game of poker. He is often referred to as the “Godfather of Poker” as well as “Texas Dolly.” The 76-year-old living poker legend is also the owner of Doyle’s Room, an online poker site which he founded in the year 2004. He was born in Longworth, Texas, on the 10th of August, 1933. He started off playing athletic sports but due to an injury had to foresee other future options. Therefore, in order for him to remain as a competitive creature, he took on poker.
Surprisingly to many, Brunson started out playing poker illegally in Fort Worth, Texas. He lost a lot of money during this time as well as the next few years. He ended up settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada, and began participating regularly at the World Series of Poker. He has participated in the Main Event tournaments almost every single year since 1970. He won two championships back to back in 1976 and 1977. In these two championships, he won with the exact same hand, a ten and a deuce. As such, the hand was given the name a Doyle Brunson.
Doyle Brunson is a proud member of the Poker Hall of Fame and has been able to capture the claim of ten World Series of Poker bracelets in his many years of playing poker. His first bracelet was won in the year 1976 with his last bracelet being captured in 2005. In addition to his WSOP bracelets, he has also claimed a championship title of one World Poker Tour. Brunson was also the first ever to win $1,000,000 in tournaments.
Apart from his true success in playing poker, he has quite the record of accomplishment for his book, Super System, which he self-published back in 1978. He then published an updated second book, Super System II, in 2004. These books are to show amateur poker players how professional poker players play and win.
1976 $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship $230,000
1976 $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 (6 players per table) $367,800
