There is hardly a poker player living today who doesn’t know Doyle Brunson’s name, his favorite poker hand, or some legendary tales from his life.
Yet, it wasn’t always so, as Doyle Brunson was once one of a group of poker pioneers, balancing the thin line between underground poker games and the phenomenon that poker would become someday.
Brunson was a part of the original crew of players who “invented” the World Series of Poker, along with Benny Binion, and was a third-place finisher at the 1972 WSOP.
Yet, it wasn’t until his incredible success in 1976 and 1977 that Doyle Brunson officially became “The Godfather of Poker,” and that his place in the poker history books was cemented forever.
The Legend of Ten-Deuce Is Born at the WSOP
In 1976, the WSOP was still in its beginnings, and its events were mostly frequented by a small group of professional poker players, along with a few interested amateurs who loved to compete with the pros.
After deciding to forfeit his chance of winning the 1972 WSOP Main Event to Amarillo Slim to avoid media attention and falling short over the next few years, Brunson found himself ready to win his first official poker silverware in 1976.
He won the $5k No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw tournament on May 5, and a few days later found himself playing heads up for his second WSOP bracelet with an amateur player by the name of Jesse Alto.
In the final hand of the tournament, Doyle held 10♠2♠ against Alto’s A♣J♥ on a flop that read A♥J♠10♥. Alto bet, and Doyle raised him all-in with the worst of it, only to get snap-called by the amateur.
On most runouts, Doyle would have missed out on his chance to become a world champion, but fate wanted the turn 2♣ and river 10♦ to give Doyle his big moment.
Winning with the worst hand is not unusual in poker, but winning two WSOP Main Events in back-to-back years with the same hand is a feat that only one player ever managed.
The very next year, Brunson got down to heads up play in the Main Event once again, this time after beating 33 players to get there, only to once again play for the title holding T2.
Doyle was a chip leader this time around, but his T2 once again made a full house to give him his second consecutive world champion title.
The hand became known as “Texas Dolly” or “Doyle Brunson” within the poker circles, and is still called that by players around the world.
Brunson almost managed to win the Main Event again in 1980, but ended up losing the heads up battle to Stu “The Kid” Ungar, who was well on his way to writing a poker legend of his own.
Brunson Writes the “Poker Bible”
Originally titled “How I won Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker,” and later commonly published under the title “Super System,” Doyle’s first poker book is one of the most important books in poker history.
Shortly after winning his back-to-back WSOP Main Event titles, Brunson wrote the legendary book, outlining the strategy that made him the world champion he was.
The strategy showcased in Super System seems fairly simple by today’s understanding, but was game-changing back in the late 70s, and it helped hundreds of players reach elite levels over the years.
The book included chapters on Limit Texas Hold’em by Bobby Baldwin, Draw Poker by Mike Caro, Seven Card Stud by Chip Reese, and High-Low Split by David Sklansky, among others, while the main section on No Limit Hold’em was written by the master himself.
Brunson wrote a sequel to the book in 2004, shortly after the first days of the Poker Boom, which further bolstered his status with the younger generations of poker players who were just coming up in the game.
Five Decades at the Poker Tables – A Legendary Poker Legacy
There are many players today we consider poker legends, but none can compare to Texas Dolly in longevity or their overall impact on the game of poker.
Over his tournament poker career, Brunson won over $6,000,000, long before the days of super high rollers. Instead, he grinded it out by being consistently the best in multiple poker formats for years.
On top of his success in tournaments, Doyle was known as one of the best cash game players in the world, and it’s at the cash game tables that he built his fortunes and truly cemented his legacy.
Winnings aside, what made Brunson a true poker legend is that even decades after winning his back-to-back titles in the WSOP Main Event in the late 70s, he was still considered an elite player in the 2000s, and even won his final WSOP bracelet in 2003.
Doyle remained a cash game crusher until his final days, and famously said, “We don’t stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing,” in an intro to one of the greatest televised poker shows of all time.
Doyle’s Passing Showcased His Greatness
Doyle Brunson passed away at the age of 89 on May 14, 2023, in Las Vegas, the city he called his home for a good part of his life.
Mainstream media like the BBC, CNN, and The New York Times reported on his passing, once again showing that Doyle was not just another poker player, but rather a pop culture icon whose name reached well beyond the green felt of the poker tables.
The likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Phil Ivey all joined his son, Todd Brunson, a poker Hall of Famer himself, and the rest of his family in grieving arguably the best poker player who ever lived.
While Brunson’s inevitable passing was a sad day for the poker community, the legendary stories and legacy he left behind will continue to live for as long as poker itself does.
