Doyle F. Brunson is an iconic American poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several highly influential books on poker.
Brunson is the first player to earn $1 million in poker tournaments and has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan for second all-time, one behind Phil Hellmuth's 11. He is also one of only four players to have won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker multiple times, which he did in 1976 and 1977. In addition, he is the first of five players to win both the WSOP Main Event and a World Poker Tour title. In January 2006, Bluff Magazine voted Brunson the #1 most influential force in the world of poker.
Other than his poker success, his greatest achievement is probably his book, Super/System, which is widely considered to be one of the most authoritative books on poker. Originally self-published in 1978, Super/System was the book that transformed poker by giving ordinary players an insight into the way that professionals such as Brunson played and won, so much so that Brunson believes that it cost him a lot of money. An updated revision, Super/System 2 was published in 2004. Besides Brunson, several top poker players contributed chapters to Super/System including Bobby Baldwin, Mike Caro, David Sklansky, Chip Reese and Joey Hawthorne. The book is subtitled "How I made one million dollars playing poker", by Doyle Brunson. Brunson is also the author of Poker Wisdom of a Champion, originally published as According to Doyle by Lyle Stuart in 1984.
Brunson's nickname, "Texas Dolly", came from a mistake by Jimmy Snyder. Snyder was supposed to announce Brunson as "Texas Doyle", but incorrectly pronounced the first name as Dolly. It stuck and many of Brunson's fellow top pros now simply refer to Brunson as "Dolly".
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. In both 1976 and 1977, he was an underdog in the final hand, requiring Brunson to come from behind both times. 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." He changes his wording in SuperSystem2, however, noting that he "tries to never play this hand". However, it has been seen on episodes of High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark, the Professional Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour that he does play it. He was also eliminated from the 2007 World Series of Poker main event while holding A-Q.
As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceeded $5,300,000.
Trivia: Doyle Brunson
Author of the "Super System", also known as the poker bible.
Has nearly $5 million in tournament winnings.
Shares a record with Johnny Chan: Holding 10 gold WSOP bracelets.
Won his first two WSOP events with a 10-2 hand.
Sometimes referred to as "The Godfather of Poker".
