Doyle Brunson

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is an American professional poker player and author of several poker books.

Professional poker player

The first player to win a $1 million poker tournament, Brunson has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan for the record. His achievements include two WSOP main event titles in 1976 and 1977.

Related Topics:
Poker tournament - World Series of Poker - Johnny Chan - 1976 - 1977

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Other than his poker success, his greatest achievement is probably the book that was once considered to be the bible of poker: Super/System. 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. He is also the author of Poker Wisdom of a Champion, originally published as According to Doyle in 1976.

Related Topics:
Super/System - 2004 - 1976

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Brunson continues to play in the biggest poker games in the world playing $4000/$8000 minimum bets and also 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 2576) 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. Early in the morning on July 1, 2005, less than a week after Chan had won his 10th bracelet, setting a new record, Brunson earned his 10th.

Related Topics:
2003 - 2004 - Texas hold'em - World Poker Tour - July 1 - 2005

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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 two Texas hold'em hands named after him. One 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 (1976 and 1977), in both cases completing a full house. Interestingly, although one of the obvious all-time greats, Brunson had to suck out with his 10-2 off after the money got into the middle in order to win. Doyle has expressed his displeasure at being known for the hand because it is generally considered a weak starting hand in Texas Hold 'em. Another hand known as a "Doyle Brunson," especially in Texas, is the Ace and Queen of any suit because, as he says on page 519 of the Super/System, he "never plays this hand."

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Doyle's son Todd Brunson also plays poker professionally. Todd has won a bracelet in Omaha High Low at the 2005 WSOP, making the Brunsons the first father-son combination to each win bracelets at the World Series.

Related Topics:
Todd Brunson - Omaha High Low

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