Famous Poker Players: Doyle Brunson
Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, The grandfather of Texas Holdem

If there is one name that is synonomous with Texas Holdem and the World Series of Poker it is Doyle Bruson.  He quite literally wrote the book on poker with his famous Super System.  Super System was the first serious stratergy book on No Limit Texas Holdem and despite its age is still considered to be a must have in the library of any serious poker player. As age is not a factor for his book, the same same can be said about its author Doyle Brunson.  His recent showing at the 2004 World Series of Poker at the age of 71 would put many players half his age to shame. Doyle Brunson was born on August 10th 1933 in Longworth, Texas.  In school he played basket ball, baseball and ran track.  He was named one of the top five basket ball players in the state of Texas and offers flooded in from many colleges and he accepted an offer from Hardin-Simmons where he earned a Masters Degree in Administrative Education.

Doyle Brunson

Unfortunately his sporting aspirations were stymied by a serious knee injury which prevented him from playing competatively.  At this point he turned to poker as an outlet for his competative nature.  He soon found he was earning more money playing poker than he was in his chosen career.  After that realisation he began to devote more and more time to the game.

Doyle Brunson married his wife, Louise in 1962.  They had four children, including Todd (another successful poker player), Pam, Cheryl and Doyla.  Tragically Doyla died in her sleep due to a valve problem with her heart when she was 18.

Doyle’s accomplishments are staggering.  He made the final table at the first World Poker Tour Championship, and in 2004 he was one of the first three inductees into the Poker Walk of Fame, with Gus Hansen and actor, James Garner.  His betting is not limited to poker.  He once famously accepted a one million dollar bet that he could not lose 100 pounds in one year.  He won.

Doyle Brunson is one of only three players in the world to hold nine winning gold bracelets from the World Series Of Poker (the other two being Johnny Chan & Phil Hellmuth Jr.).  The titles he won are:

1976 Deuce to Seven Draw & No Limit Texas Holdem Main Event
1977 Seven-Card Stud Split & No Limit Texas Holdem Main Event
1978 Seven-Card Stud
1979 Mixed Doubles
1991 No Limit Holdem
1998 Seven Card Stud
2003 H.O.R.S.E.  (Holdem, Omaha/8, Razz, Seven Card Stud (High), Seven Card Stud high/low (the e standing for 8-or-better)).

In his back to back Main Event titles (1976 & 1977) he won both with the exact same poker hand, a full house (tens full of deuces) giving the Holdem hand TEN TWO the nickname: "Doyle Brunson".

Doyle currently lives in Las Vegas. He also owns a home on Flathead Lake in Montana.  Despite his age he can still play competative poker at a professional level using his fifty years experience to his advantage.  He still plays in many high stakes games and is involved in a web project called Doyles Room.

Doyle Brunson Books