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Where does one begin when writing about Doyle Brunson? Words can never
possibly do this man justice. For he is the foundation upon which the game
of Texas-Hold'Em has been built. He is the man. He is Jack Nicklaus, Arnold
Palmer and Tiger Woods rolled into one. All of the young millionaires
playing on the internet today should kneel down and kiss Doyle's feet. He
has seen the game of poker revolutionized, but he has not faded away like an
Amarillo Slim. Doyle has taken on all comers and he has remained on top. He
has playing poker for over 50 years, and he has played more hands than any
other person alive.
Doyle's list of accomplishments is staggering. To start, there are the ten
WSOP bracelets, more than any other man (with the exception of Johnny Chan,
who also holds ten). There is his WPT Legends of Poker title in season
three, when he bested 665 other players and took home a cool $1.2 million.
There is his continued success in the highest-stake cash games, where he has
been a big winner for over 30 years. And then there is Doyle and the WSOP
Main Event. In a seven year span, Doyle made the final table an unbelievable
five times. He won back-to-back titles 1976 and 1977, and then took 2nd, 3rd
and 4th over the next five years. Granted the fields were smaller in those
days, but one can't deny that Doyle elevates his game when the stakes are
highest.
Doyle Brunson has literally written the book on poker. His Supersystem (and
its sequel, Supersystem 2) is considered to be the bible of poker. The most
famous piece of advice to emerg from Supersystem is Doyle's assertion that
great poker players force their opponents to make decisions for all their
chips (this is a theory that has been embraced by many top modern players,
most notably hyperagressive stars like Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen) And Doyle's
poker knowledge is hard-earned. He cut his teeth playing poker at a time
when it was very dangerous to be a successful player. Poker was nowhere near
the mainstream, and games were populated by all sorts of seedy characters.
Doyle has said that many times in the early days he had a shotgun put in his
face and his winnings stolen. Whenever that happened Doyle would simply
travel to the next game.
The other night I caught the WPT Season 3 Legends of Poker final table on
television. I was very curious to see Doyle play. I had watched him earlier
this year in the Poker Superstars Invitational and I wasn't impressed with
his game. I thought he seemed old and tired, and he was always a step
behind. Gus Hansen, in particular, really manhandled Doyle. At the Legends
of Poker, however, Doyle brought his "A" game. He came into the final table
with about $1.6 million in chips, and he started heads-up play with roughly
the same amount. Lee Watkinson was a monster stack at the table, and Doyle
expertly manouevered his way around him. He chopped out small pots, and he
waited. Doyle let Lee do all the hard work, because he knew if he got Lee
heads-up he could make his move. Once heads-up play began, Doyle sprang into
action. He doubled up on the first hand when he made a straight, and all of
a sudden the chip count was even. From there, Doyle started taking bites out
of Lee's stack by consistently outplaying him post-flop. By the end Lee was
completely exasperated and he eventually moved all-in when his Q 3 hit top
pair. Unfortunately for Lee, Doyle had the Q 9 and it was all over. Doyle
Brunson had won again. Along the way he played the most flawless game poker
I have ever seen. He never made a mistake at any point. It has been said
that poker is a game of mistakes, and whoever makes the least number of
mistakes wins. Well, on this day, Doyle never made a wrong step. Watching
this 71-year old legend slice and dice the table was an absolute privilege
to watch, and I can't wait to get this episode on DVD.
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