Doyle Brunson “Texas Dolly“

Birthplace
Longworth, TX

Hometown
Las Vegas, NV

Birthday
August 10

Total Winnings
$2,081,824

Doyle Brunson is a living legend of poker. Brunson has been beating the odds his whole life, and he's still working to stay ahead of the game. Brunson was born into a poor family in Longworth, Texas. He went to college on both track and basketball scholarships. He was drafted to play for the then-Minneapolis Lakers, but his professional basketball career was cut short when he shattered his leg in a factory accident. Playing the cards he was dealt, Brunson left the NBA and went back to the classroom. He went on to get an MBA in administrative education. Only one week into his job after graduation, Brunson decided to take a major gamble. He left his regular job behind and decided to make his living playing poker. It was a decision that set the course for the next five decades of his life. In 1962, Brunson suffered another major life blow. Doctors diagnosed him with cancer and gave him three months to live. Brunson opted for a risky surgery that got rid of the cancer and saved his life.

Brunson was a professional poker player long before it was cool. He worked his way up through the underground card rooms in his home state of Texas in the 1950s and 60s. Those rooms were often filled with people who were on the wrong side of the law, and Brunson found himself in many dangerous situations on his path to poker greatness. Brunson led a group called the Texas Rounders, which included Sailor Roberts and Amarillo Slim. These friends traveled to poker games together. They even combined their winnings into one large bankroll. The group later disbanded, and Brunson moved his family to Las Vegas where poker was legal and plentiful.

Brunson won the first and second of ten World Series of Poker bracelets in 1976. He won the $5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw tournament and the $10,000 No Limit Hold 'em World Championship. The following year, Brunson became the first person to win back-to-back WSOP titles. Phil Hellmuth is the only person who has earned more than Doyle Brunson's ten WSOP titles. In 1978, Brunson wrote "Super System," the so-called Bible of poker that has helped countless people improve their game. It's the bestselling poker book of all time. The follow-up, Super System II, came out in 2005. In a victory fitting of his reputation in his profession, Brunson won the World Poker Tour's Legends of Poker event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles in 2004. Brunson's television appearance during that tournament showed thousands of new fans to the game what it really meant to be a legend.