In the land of legends, Doyle Brunson is the one and only, the First, the name that any serious poker player instantly recognizes with awe, respect, and admiration. Brunson is an undisputed phenomenon – one of the greats who invented the popular Texan Hold’em version of poker. He paved the way to take poker from a game played illegally in back rooms by criminals and turned it into a respectable game played by executives, and other respectable world leaders.
The Texas Rounders
The legendary group, the Texas Rounders, introduced “Power Poker” to the world as a game of high-stakes hotel poker games. As the premier star of these traveling poker sharks, Brunson won an unprecedented – and unmatched – ten World Series of Poker events. Even winning two back-to-back world championships has been a feat no other player has yet to achieve; he is truly the Emperor of Poker.
Background
Growing up in Longworth, Texas, a rural community in western Texas, Brunson soon found he was a natural athlete, and went to college on a basketball and track scholarship. He had a promising NBA career with the Minneapolis Lakers; however, shattering his leg in an accident at the gypsum factory where he was working, suddenly ended this talented athlete’s basketball career. However, his philosophy of “no matter what you’ve been dealt, it can be turned into a winning hand” allowed him to steer his future into another promising career when he took up poker. This belief has seen him through many a near disaster during his life, including a bout with cancer in the early 1960s when he was diagnosed and given three months to live. But being the stalwart and stubborn man that he is, he again drew the winning hand and beat the cancer.
Father of Modern Poker
Named the Father of Modern Poker early on, “he cleaned Texas dry” throughout the 1950s and 1960s by hosting these illegal big-money poker games, eventually moving to Las Vegas where he became a huge success. In reality he became a great tourist attraction with visitors surrounding the poker table just to watch him play. In the late 1970s, his best-selling book Super System changed the game of poker, introducing new games, strategies, and insights from the patriarch himself. With this one being so successful, he was encouraged to write a sequel and Super System 2 was released and became an instant success.
His Future
At the youthful age of 75, Brunson is still the master at the privileged levels where only a select few are invited. He is still a vibrant and worth opponent, still able to beat the newest and youngest talent in the poker realm today. His DoylesRoom.com is a popular website for poker, and he remains the chairman and main spokesperson for this site. In addition, he writes a syndicated poker column in the London Telegraph, and fans enjoy his frequent blogs. Brunson can still be found sitting in on a high-stakes Texas Hold’em game every day, and is considered the single most influential person in the high-stakes poker world.