Doyle Brunson Poker
08 Dec
Poker Hall of Famer Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has reported he’s successfully fended off cancer for the fourth time in his life. Posting on his @TexDolly Twitter account, the legendary mixed-games player and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner wrote that he’d been given an “all clear” after recent surgery for squamous cell cancer, a form of skin cancer. Brunson tweeted:
The 87-year-old “Godfather of Poker”’s recurrent battles with cancer have become a part of his legend, in particular his original and nearly-fatal episode back in 1962. Brunson had only recently married his wife, Louise, who would soon become pregnant with the couple’s first child, but near that year’s end physicians discovered a malignant and metastasized tumor in Brunson’s neck, with a grim prognosis.
Brunson’s physicians decided to operate in hopes of extending Brunson’s life long enough to see his newborn child, but after that initial operation, Brunson went into complete remission and was able to resume his poker career, and within years he would become one of the world’s most famous poker players.
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Brunson credited his faith for his remission and recovery, as did his wife, who underwent her own cancer battle (with a similar tale of medically unexplained remission) a few years later.
Brunson’s later battles with cancer over the past two decades have involved skin cancer, which is one of the most treatable forms of the disease, if caught early. Squamous cell cancer is the second most form of skin cancer, and as with any such cancer, it can metastasize. Further complicating the issue is that even if successfully treated, such forms of skin cancer have an increasing likelihood of recurring, as has happened with Brunson. Nonetheless, the good news means that he can continue holding court at the newly renamed “Legends Room” at the Bellagio, his near-exclusive home for playing poker in recent years.
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In the second of a 10-part series, the Paul Phua Poker School recalls how 10-2 became the luckiest hand in World Series of Poker history
With the sheer number of hands that have been played during all the successive World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments, you would think that anything could happen. But of all the unlikely strokes of fortune over nearly 50 years of the WSOP, there cannot be anything to rival Doyle Brunson taking down the championship two years running – with the very same lucky hand!
Who is Doyle Brunson?
Doyle Brunson, nicknamed “Texas Dolly” or “The Godfather of Poker”, is one of the last of the old poker greats still standing – or at least sitting, since you’ll often see him in a motorised chair these days. He’s 83 years old, and has been plagued for most of that time by the bad knee that ended his youthful dream of becoming a professional basketball player.
Basketball’s loss is poker’s gain. Brunson has won 10 WSOP bracelets, and his poker strategy book Super/System, originally self-published in 1978, became the bible for a whole generation of poker players. In 2006, after Super/System 2 was published, Brunson was voted by Bluff Magazine the most influential force in the world of poker.
1976: Doyle Brunson wins the WSOP Main Event
In the 1976 WSOP Main Event, Doyle Brunson was heads-up with a player called Jesse Alto. Unlike Brunson, Alto was a keen amateur rather than a professional: his day job was as a car dealer. As a result, he had not fully learned to keep cool in tight spots, and Brunson said he was looking to exploit that weakness.
Jesse Alto bet out with A-J, an excellent starting hand when heads-up. Brunson called with 10-2 suited. The flop came A-J-10, giving Alto two pair. Brunson went all-in with the weaker hand, Alto of course called.
The story of the 1976 WSOP could have been about how an amateur car dealer bested the world’s top pros… but the poker gods decided otherwise. In one of the worst bad beats in Main Event history, Brunson caught runner-runner 2s on the turn and river to make a full house!
1977: Doyle Brunson wins the WSOP Main Event again – with the same hand!
They say lightning never strikes twice. Perhaps it does in Texas. The very next year, Doyle Brunson was defending his title heads-up against Gary “Bones” Berland when he looked down at 10-2 – again. Berland was dealt 8-5.
Yet again Brunson found himself behind when the flop of 10-8-5 gave him a pair, and his opponent two pair. Yet again, the 2 hit on the turn to give Brunson two pair, and this time he was ahead. When Berland pushed all-in, Brunson gladly called. Incredibly, Brunson yet again made a full house on the river when a 10 hit, and he was crowned world champion for the second year in a row.
The “Doyle Brunson hand”
There are many colourful names for different poker hands. Aces are nicknamed “bullets” or “pocket rockets”; pocket Kings are nicknamed “cowboys”; J-5 is known as “Jackson Five” or just “Motown”.
To this day, if you show 10-2, another player around the table is likely to nod wisely and say, “Ah, the ‘Doyle Brunson hand’”.
Doyle Brunson Poker Network
Who is Doyle Brunson? Poker player profile
Doyle Brunson Poker Website
- Born in 1933, Doyle Brunson is nicknamed “Texas Dolly” or “the Godfather of Poker”
- He is second equal in WSOP bracelets, with 10
- He won back-to-back WSOP Main Events in 1976 and 1977
- Doyle Brunson is the author of several books on poker including Super/System and Super/System 2
Read the first blog in our World Series of Poker mini series on how the World Series of Poker was born, and how “the Grand Old Man of Poker” earned his name.
Or come back tomorrow and read abouthow the tournament phrase “a chip and a chair” was born at the WSOP.