Also known as "Tex Dolly" Doyle Brunson can be considered the most influential force in poker for a variety of reasons
Without a doubt, if there was one person to be named the most representative for the game of poker and everything it stands for, that person should be Doyle Brunson. Born in 1933, in Longworth, Texas, Doyle is the father of Texas Holdem as we know it today. He is the first player ever to earn more than $1 million exclusively off poker, he was the first player ever to stitch together back-to-back WSOP Main event victories, and he used to hold the record at the number of WSOP bracelets won until overtaken by Phil Hellmuth.
He is currently tied in second place with Johnny Chan as far as WSOP bracelet numbers go with 10, one behind Hellmuth, but he, unlike Hellmuth, didn’t just garner Texas Holdem Event victories.
Even as a child, Doyle proved to be an excellent athlete. Because Longworth was an extremely small community, ties with surrounding towns were extremely important. Doyle did a lot of running back and forth in those days. No wonder he became a top athlete at school, and one of the state’s best basketball players. He won a 1 mile event in 1950, in the Texas Interscholastic Track meet, but he had always been more interested in playing basketball than in running and that didn’t change after his success as a track athlete either.
Despite the fact that many high profile colleges offered to have him as their student, he ended up choosing Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, due to its proximity to his home. After college, he was bound to play for the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA, but an unfortunate summer job accident ended his dreams of playing professional sports.
Once it became clear his sports career would never take off, he set his sights on poker. He had played poker before, but with his broken leg confined to a cast for 2 years, his interest in it skyrocketed. Together with a friend of his, he began playing in illegal games in Forth Worth. Back in those days, playing poker was not accepted as a legit activity one could make a living off of, and most games were run by organized crime. Rules were loosely enforced, and Doyle himself had admittedly found himself in a tight-spot numerous times with a gun pulled on him, or even taking a beating.
Soon the duo was joined by two other players: Sailor Roberts and Amarillo Slim. Together they began traveling in search of poker games and gambling on just about anything in-between.
After 6 years of living on the edge they finally considered they had enough money to go to Vegas and make it big on the Strip. They did, and they lost all the money they had pooled for the trip. The gang broke up, but they remained friends. Doyle stayed in Vegas, and the rest – as they say – is history.
Doyle Brunson has 10 WSOP bracelets, out of which 2 are Main Event ones. He’s won NL Holdem, Deuce to seven Draw, Seven Card Stud, Razz and H.O.R.S.E. events. He has 31 WSOP money finishes.
He also has a WPT title and 4 WPT final tables.
He has written numerous books on poker, out of which Super/System, first published in 1979 is the best known, as it has become the bible of poker, admittedly costing Doyle a lot of money (because the information posted in it radically changed the way poker was played).
Doyle is still active today, and he still takes part in some of the biggest live tournaments as well as in some insanely high-stakes live cash-games.