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Originally Published: August 4, 2009, 05:43 AM Doyle Brunson – From Basketball to Poker
Posted By Diego | Other News | August 4, 2009, 05:43 AM |
Doyle Brunson
Born: August 10, 1933 - Longworth, TX
Resides: Las Vegas, NV
WSOP Bracelets: 10
Career Winnings: $5.81 million
World Series of Poker Wins
1976: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em World Championship
1977: $5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw
1977: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em World Championship
1977: $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Split
1978: $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Poker
1979: $600 Mixed Doubles (with Starla Brodie)
1991: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em $208,000
1998: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz
2003: $2,000 H.O.R.S.E.
2005: $5,000 No-Limit Shorthanded Texas Hold'em (6 players per table)
Poker Success Thanks to Basketball Injury
Doyle Brunson has nothing left to prove in regards to professional poker,
yet at 73 years young he continues push ahead with the specific goal of
staying active in the poker world until he reaches the age of 80. When
considering his 40+ year poker career, it's obvious that many of his
competitors weren't even born as he was working his magic in the 60s and
70s. His beginnings were humble, growing up poor in a tiny Texas town, his
story is worthy of movie script. He is at the very least a competitor, and
at best; quite possibly the greatest ambassador the game of poker has ever
known.
An elite athlete in his youth, he attended college on a basketball and
track scholarship and began enjoying the game of poker with friends. Upon
graduation, the Minneapolis
Lakers took a great interest in Doyle and he planned to play with the team
in
their upcoming season. Tragically, his career was ended before he ever
donned a Lakers jersey and got to the
NBA. While moving
sheet-rock at a factory job, a load became unbalanced and Doyle tried to
get the immense amount of weight under control. Ultimately, his leg was
shattered and remained in a cast for a period of two years; to this day it
has never fully recovered. Doyle's life direction shifted, but he remained
optimistic; he went back to school and received a Masters degree in
Education.
Throughout the 50s and 60s, Doyle became part of a group known as the
Texas Rounders. They scavenged for any high stakes game available within
driving distance. This of course took them out of state, and into illegal
gambling situations, but if there was action available, they would find a
way to be a part of it. Eventually, Doyle pooled his resources with his
fellow journeymen Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts, and the three took on
Vegas. Vegas won. It was a hard but necessary lesson learned for the
progression of Doyle Brunson's poker career. Once he rebuilt a bank roll
and was ready to try again, he had mastered the skills that so many would
come to emulate. The 1970s proved to be Doyle's decade as he racked up 6
WSOP bracelets as well as publishing the most in depth poker book of an
era: Doyle Brunson's Super System. It raised eyebrows of the casual player
and the tempers of some fellow professionals.
Doyle has continued his winning ways to the present, and has even dipped
his toe into the mighty sea of Internet gaming with his own poker room,
Doyle's Room. A bright poker star that's friendly at the table and owns an
infectious smile; no wonder he's taken so much from so many! Here's to
hoping he'll continue to shine into his career twilight."
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