(Featured image: courtesy of LasVegasVegas)
Doyle F. Brunson is a senior pro poker player who has over 50 years of experience in the field. Having played the game more than half of his life, he deserved all the wins and titles he received so far.
He won the WSOP main event twice, and he was also the very first person to rake a $1 million earning in tournaments. Not only that, but Texas Dolly is also one of the very few people who were able to win in WSOP tournaments for four years straight.
Brunson finally ended his 50-year professional career by officially announcing his retirement in June 2018. Since then, he has focused on producing Poker Pro Training Course together with his son, Todd. We’ll be talking more about that a little later.
Is Doyle Brunson still playing poker? As it was mentioned, he officially retired in 2018, however, he did make his appearance in WSOP in 2021.
Is Doyle Brunson still alive? Unfortunately, the “Godfather of Poker” passed away at age 89 on May 14, 2023. RIP.
| Full Name: Doyle F. Brunson | |
| DOB: August 10, 1933 | |
| Birthplace: Longworth, Fisher County, Texas | |
| Profession: Retired professional poker player, author, actor | |
| Wife: Louise Brunson | |
| WSOP Bracelets: 10 | |
| Net Worth & Career Earnings: $75+ Million |
Table of Contents
Doyle Brunson Bio
Texas Dolly grew up in Longworth, Texas, USA with his two other siblings. Aside from this fact, there’s just so little information about his early family life.
When he was younger, he initially played basketball and was a member of the All-State Texas team. In fact, he was spotted by the Minneapolis Lakers (NBA) and they had high hopes for him back then. Unfortunately, he acquired a knee injury that made his dream of becoming a pro basketball player impossible.
(Sounds similar to Ali Imsirovic‘s experience.)
In college, he went to Hardin-Simmons University and got a bachelor’s degree. Shortly after a year, he also got his administrative education master’s degree. Who would have thought that this very well-educated man will end up being one of the most legendary poker stars we can ever have today?
Poker Career
There’s no exact date on when he started playing cards, but we know for a fact that already knows how to play even before he got his knee injury.
Later when he graduated and worked as a sales rep, someone invited him to play seven-card stud. He raked a lot of winnings from that game, and that was his turning point in becoming a pro card player.
Shortly after that incident, he decided to pursue a professional career in the industry and left his job for good. Now, he got more than what he bargained for. Sweet!
As an amateur, Texas Dolly went to illegal poker games operated by criminals. As he recalled, there were difficult times when he was beaten up and robbed, and there was even a time a gun was pointed at him. Later on, he teamed up with his friend Dwayne Hamilton and they joined bigger competitions.
While his friends and partners decided to leave Las Vegas, Doyle never did and he decided to settle there. After trying more than too many times, he was able to step up his game.
He played regularly at each WSOP main event, ever since 1970. Within his 50-year career, he managed to win 2 WSOP championship events and earned 10 bracelets.
In 2005, at the WPT Bellagio event Doyle Brunson played with Patrik Antonius, who was still fresh to the poker scene. At first, the young lad had was leading, but later Doyle went all in and ultimately got the $4.8+ million pot.
Doyle was also featured in Poker Star’s TV show “The Big Game” with Amanda Leatherman as a host, and other well-known names in the poker world.
Brunson Poker Pro Training Course
Doyle, together with his son Todd, decided to produce what they thought was the ultimate beginner’s guide to poker. This entire package includes an audio guide, a book, access to training website, some flash cards, and other things you need in order to learn the basics.
This training promises to let you learn the game in a short period of time. After taking the course, you would have learned all the things pro players do to win. They offer effective winning strategies to make sure you don’t go home broke.
Aside from this course, it’s also worth mentioning that he authored two books with the same name: Super System and Doyle Brunson’s Super System 2. This is one of the highly acclaimed books ever made about poker, and it’s considered an authority guide in the industry. It was originally released in 2002.
Personal Life
Brunson met his wife way back 1959. Three years later, they decided to tie the knot. They are blessed with three children – Todd, Pamela, and Doyle (died at 18 due to heart valve complications).
In case you didn’t know, his son Todd also plays poker.
During the early stages of his wife’s pregnancy, he was diagnosed with cancer.
They opted for surgery thinking it would help extend his life so he could see their baby. Miraculously, after the surgery, the cancer was no longer there and he is still living cancer-free until today.
Doyle Brunson Net Worth
So, for a man who have had a 50-year career playing poker, how rich do you imagine him to be?
Well, a lot of reports say that his net worth is valued at around $75+ Million. That’s a combination of his earnings through poker live cash games and tourneys, his course, and royalties from the books he published.
In a span of 50 years, he has accumulated total winnings of over $2 Million from World Poker Tour and over $3 Million from WSOP tournaments.
Also, here are his top cashes in WSOP:
- 1st place 2004 Legends of Poker – $1,198,260
- 3rd place 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic – $563,485
- 1st place 2005 36th Annual World Series of Poker – $367,800
Do you know of any other interesting facts about Texas Dolly? Share them in the comments section below!
May 14, 2023 update:
For those of you asking “Is Doyle Brunson still alive?”, unfortunately the answer is no. One of the iconic names in the poker world passed away on May 14, 2023, at the age of 89.
At the time of this writing, there are no details of his passing and cause of death.