Why Will Doyle Brunson Never Be Able To Retire From Poker?

We’ll assume you’re familiar with Doyle Brunson because, if you’re not, you’re not really a poker player.  Regardless of how many pots you take down, how many bluffs you pull off and how long you can sit at a table without a potty break: If you don’t know Doyle Brunson, you don’t know poker. 

In many ways, the story of Doyle Brunson is the story of poker…as well as being the quintessential American-dream story of a “small town boy done good.”  Doyle made a career out of playing poker long being it became cool or even socially acceptable.  He was playing poker for a living before half of the current top players were even born.  Despite all that success, however, it looks like Doyle will never be able to retire…

Born during the depression in Longworth, Texas, Doyle Brunson shared his town with about 100 other people.  He was an accomplished athlete during his youth and, after finishing college, he was drafted into the NBA by the Minneapolis Lakers (a team that has since found a sunnier place to reside). 

However Doyle was born to dominate a felt-covered table and not a well-polished floor.  A knee injury forced him out of basketball and he got a job selling office equipment.  Having paid his way through college playing poker, Doyle was less-than-impressed with his first paycheck and quit to play poker professionally.

He’s never had another job since.

While the average American kid now watches poker on television and can imagine a career playing cards and pulling pots under television lights, Doyle started playing in a very different America.  It wasn’t uncommon for a poker game to be the target of cops and robbers (and sometimes they were the same folks) and Doyle saw his share of firearm-based action. 

One table left Doyle Brunson with an unforgettable memory and, sadly, it had nothing to do with a monster pot.  Instead, the player sitting next to him caught the ultimate “bad beat” when he was shot and killed during the game.  You don’t see that much in an Internet poker room, eh?

Doyle himself had a brush with the reaper, though it happened in a hospital and not a card room.  In the 1960s, a tumor in his throat was found to be cancerous and the tumor was declared incurable because it had spread so much.  Doyle’s wife, Louise, was pregnant at the time and the doctor’s believed an operation would keep him alive long enough to see his baby born.

The surgery was successful far beyond their wildest expectations and Doyle was declared cancer-free afterward.  Oddly enough, Louise herself was soon diagnosed with a tumor and had her own surgery planned.  The doctors began the surgery but then found that the tumor had disappeared on its own.  Doyle is obviously lucky in a lot more than just poker.

By this time, Doyle was married with kids and had to do what any other father of the time did: earn a living.  The difference, of course, is that for Doyle it meant playing poker which was something other fathers only did on the weekends. 

For years, Doyle roamed the Texas landscape with mentor Johnny Moss and fellow legends Amarillo Slim Preston and Sailor Roberts.  After awhile, however, the four of them were considered basically unbeatable high stakes players.  There are positive effects and negative effects of a reputation like that and, in the mid-seventies, Doyle decided that he’d won enough Texan money.

The family moved to Las Vegas which was a town in which you could poker legally…which must have been a nice change.  Aside from all the legal games you could find in casinos along the strip, Las Vegas also had something else Doyle couldn’t find in Texas.

The World Series of Poker.

Just because Doyle couldn’t find that particular event in Texas doesn’t mean he didn’t play in it, of course.  In fact, he was the first WSOP event in 1970 which was invitation-only.  While it bears the WSOP moniker, the early years of the tournament were very different from what we watch today.  That first game only had 7 players and the winner, Doyle’s mentor Johnny Moss, was decided by a vote among the players.

Aside from his amazing track record at the tables, including 10 WSOP bracelets, Doyle also published one of the greatest poker books ever written.  The book, Super/System, is a thick and heavy volume which is considered by many to be the Poker Bible.  First published in 1978, it actually contains contributions from many other legendary poker players and should be required reading for any player.

Doyle has proven, time and time again, that he can walk the talk laid out in the 600-plus page book.  Having won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets puts him in a very elite club with only 3 members: only Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth have won as many (no one has won more). 

Two starting hands in Texas Hold’em are named after Doyle (though he wishes one of them wasn’t).  The first hand, ace/queen of any suit, earned his moniker because he wrote in Super/System that he never plays that hand.  The other hand is 10/2 of any suit which is generally considered a weak starting hand.  While he’s not in love with having such a weak hand carry his name, it’s probably worth it considering the explanation:

The hand is named after him because he won back-to-back WSOP championships with a full-house, tens over deuces.  Not a bad finish for a crappy starting hand when you think about it.

Aside from a few other books (including the recently released sequel to Super/System), Doyle has focused primarily on winning poker games and spending time with his wife, two daughters and his son who is also a professional poker player.  The fact that Doyle has managed to keep his family together after decades of playing poker professionally is a feather in his cap as well.

With DoylesRoom.com, Doyle ventured out into the wonderful world of online gaming.  He does sit in on the games himself which gives the average player the ability to be beat by a legend.  Recent changes in U.S. laws have made life a lot harder for online poker room owner, but the site is still up and running.

Worldwide success, legendary poker status, bestselling books, a historic bracelet collection and a happy family are only a few of the achievements Doyle can count when he looks back over his life.  He’s now in his mid-seventies and most people his age are busy enjoying their well-earned lazy Golden Days.  Doyle, however, is still at the table and can still there taking money for 15 or 20 hours if he wants to.

When asked about retiring, Doyle Brunson has frequently replied that he’ll only retire when he quits winning.  Since he’s been making a living as a poker player for 5 decades, give or take, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

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