Doyle Brunson

Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson is one of poker’s most prominent and long-standing ambassadors. In 1976 and 1977 he was the WSOP champion and since then has won eight more times. Doyle’s last bracelet came in 2005, almost 30 years after the first one. His back to back titles were both won with tens full of deuces, a fact that has led Hold’em players to call a Ten-Two pocket a “Doyle Brunson.” Brunson also was at the final table in the first World Poker Tour Championship, and won the Legends of Poker WPT Season Three event.

With contributions from many other of the top players, Brunson published Super System, a well-recognized treatise on poker, in which he explains in detail how he plays.

A native of Longworth, Texas, Doyle was born in 1933. As a gifted athlete, he was slated to enter professional basketball until an injury sidelined him, and he turned his competitive energies to poker. He had a master's degree in Administrative Education. It was not long before his poker winnings overtook his 9-5 salary. Doyle and his wife of 45 years, Louise, had four children: three daughters, one of whom died tragically at age 18 of a defective heart valve, and their son, Todd, who is himself a winning poker professional. Doyle Brunson makes his home in Las Vegas. Doyle Brunson is the "Doyle" behind popular online poker room Doyle's Room.