In the spotlight: Doyle Brunson
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Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) 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.
Brunson was born in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas, a town with a population of approximately 100, the eldest of three children. Because of Longworth’s small size, Brunson frequently ran long distances to other towns, and became a promising athlete. He was part of the All-State Texas basketball team, and practiced the one-mile run to keep in shape in the off-season. Although he was more interested in basketball than running, he entered the 1950 Texas Interscholastic Track Meet and won the one-mile event with a time of 4:43. Despite receiving offers from many colleges, he attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, because it was close to his home.
The Minneapolis Lakers were interested in Brunson, but a knee injury ended his playing days. He had taken a summer job and was unloading some sheetrock; when the ton of weight shifted, Brunson instinctively tried to stop it, but it landed on his leg, breaking it in two places. He was in a cast for two years, and the injury ended his hopes of becoming a professional basketball player. He still occasionally requires a crutch to get around because of the injury. Brunson changed his focus from athletics to education and obtained a master’s degree in administrative education.
Brunson had begun playing poker before his injury, playing five card draw and finding it “easy”. He played more often after being injured and his winnings paid for his expenses. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s the following year. After graduating, he took a job as a business machines salesman but, on his first day, he was invited to play in a seven-card stud game and earned over a month’s salary in under three hours. He soon left the company and became a professional poker player.
Brunson started off by playing in illegal games on Exchange Street, Fort Worth, Texas with a friend named Dwayne Hamilton. Eventually, they began traveling around Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, playing in bigger games, and met fellow professionals Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts. The illegal games Brunson played in during this time were usually run by criminals who were often members of organized crime, so rules were not always enforced. Brunson has admitted to having a gun pulled on him several times and that he was robbed and beaten. Poker was not a socially accepted career path during this time and, given the reputation of those running the games he was playing in, he had little legal recourse.
Hamilton moved back to Fort Worth while the others teamed up and travelled around together, gambling on poker, golf and, in Doyle’s words, “just about everything”. They pooled their money together for gambling and after six years, they made their first serious trip to Las Vegas and lost all of it, a six-figure amount. They decided to stop playing as partners yet remain friends.
Brunson finally settled in Las Vegas.
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 continues to play in the biggest poker games in the world, including a $4000/$8000 limit mixed poker game in “Bobby’s Room” at the Bellagio. He also plays in many of the biggest poker tournaments around the world. He won his ninth gold bracelet in a mixed games event in 2003, and in 2004 he finished 53rd (in a field of 2,576) in the No Limit Texas hold ‘em Championship event. He won the Legends of Poker World Poker Tour event in 2004 (garnering him a $1.1 million prize) and finished fourth in the WPT’s first championship event. Early in the morning on July 1, 2005, less than a week after Chan had won his 10th gold bracelet – setting a new record – Brunson tied the record at the 2005 WSOP. He is now one bracelet behind Phil Hellmuth, who earned his 11th bracelet at the WSOP on June 11, 2007.
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.
Brunson endorses the online poker room Doyles Room.
As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceeded $5,300,000.
Everythingaboutpoker.com · Filed Under Professional Players
In the spotlight: Scotty Nguyen
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Thuan “Scotty” Nguyen (born October 28, 1962 in Nha Trang, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship.
This win also made him the first and currently only player to win both the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. events. He also stated that the only type of World Series of Poker event he has yet to win is 2-7 lowball. Nguyen is one of the most active players in professional poker today, and from 2000 to 2004 he finished in the money in more than 100 events.
Nguyen is noted for playing with lots of emotion. On the final hand of the 1998 World Series of Poker’s Main Event, a full house was dealt on the table (9-9-8-8-8). Nguyen made the memorable quote to his opponent Kevin McBride: “You call, gonna be all over, baby!” McBride called, saying “I call. I play the board.” Nguyen beat McBride with a better full house (9-9-9-8-8).
Nguyen’s Main Event triumph in 1998 was followed immediately by tragedy—the very next day, one of his brothers was hit by a car back home in Vietnam, and killed. For this reason, Scotty does not wear his 1998 WSOP championship bracelet.
Nguyen made an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in April 2004.
After making several World Poker Tour final tables, Nguyen eventually won a WPT event in January 2006, defeating Michael Mizrachi heads-up in the fourth season Gold Strike World Poker Open on the very first hand of heads-up round. With this WPT victory, Scotty became one of only 5 people to win both the main event of the World Series of Poker and a World Poker Tour title.
Nguyen earned a second place finish at the 2007 World Series of Poker in the seven card stud high low split eight or better event won by Eli Elezra. Scotty stated after the event that he hadn’t played cash games in over two years because he enjoys a friendly environment which is difficult in serious cash games. Scotty also nearly made the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 11th place out of a field of 6,358 and earning $476,926.
At the 2008 $50,000 World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. event, Nguyen exhibited what many have considered objectionable, and even rule-breaking behavior. In the broadcast of the prestigious event, Nguyen is shown drinking numerous alcoholic beverages while swearing and scolding others at the final table, drawing criticism from commentators.
Following the event, Nguyen issued an apology to his fans and stated that the event’s editing depicted him unfairly. He also cited issues like exhaustion, frustration with the perceived gloating of Michael DeMichele, and pressure to succeed as reasons for his unconventional behavior.
As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,700,000.
Everythingaboutpoker.com · Filed Under Professional Players
In the spotlight: Dan Harrington
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Dan Harrington (born December 6, 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is a professional poker player. Harrington chose his own nickname “Action Dan” even though he is known for being a tight conservative player. He is a distant cousin to both professional golfer Pádraig Harrington and NFL quarterback Joey Harrington.
Currently residing in Santa Monica, California, Harrington is a former champion backgammon player, U.S. chess master (he won the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship), and bankruptcy lawyer. During his time at Suffolk University, he was part of an MIT team that gained an advantage over casinos at roulette. Shortly after the MIT team disbanded he was part of a different one which specialized in blackjack. He also played poker against Bill Gates while Gates was at Harvard. Some of his earlier poker experience came from the Mayfair Club in the mid-1980s where he played with Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow, and Erik Seidel. In addition to being a successful professional poker player, Harrington also works in real estate and the stock market.
Sporting his iconic green Boston Red Sox cap, Dan Harrington is known as a crafty, tight-aggressive player, employing starting hand standards that are stricter than most professionals. When he reached the final table at the 1995 main event, he set the runner-up, Howard Goldfarb, to bluff for all his chips in the final hand. According to Barry Greenstein; When Dan made it to the final table of the 1995 World Series of Poker, he proposed a nine-way settlement to the other players. He explained how they would each get enough money that they could invest it and be rich. Chuck Thompson, one of the players, rejected the idea and told the other players that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a million dollars. One by one, as each player got knocked out, Dan tried to sell the idea, even offering investment counseling. There were no takers and eventually Dan came away with the full million.
His solid play allows him to make it to many final tables at large events. He won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event in 1995 for $1,000,000 and made three other main event final tables, placing 6th in 1987 for $43,750, 3rd (out of 839 players) in 2003 for $650,000, and 4th (out of 2,576 players) in 2004 for $1,500,000. The same year as his main event win, he also won a bracelet in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $249,000 and the Seven-card stud event at European Poker Open in London. He made his first final table at the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2005, winning $620,730 for his second place finish to Minh Ly in the Doyle Brunson North American Championship. In 2007, he won the Legends of Poker for a prize of $1,634,865.
As of 2008, his live tournament winnings exceed $6,500,000.
Harrington, Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen and Joe Hachem are the only five people to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event and a World Poker Tour title.
Everythingaboutpoker.com · Filed Under Professional Players
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