Eventually, they began traveling around Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, playing in bigger games, and meeting fellow professionals Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts. Poker career Brunson on the way to his 1976 WSOP Main Event titleīrunson started by playing in illegal games on Exchange Street in Fort Worth with friend Dwayne Hamilton. He soon left the company and became a professional poker player. On his first day, he was invited to play in a seven-card stud game and won more than a month's salary. After graduating, he took a job with Burroughs Corporation as a salesman for their business machines. He played more often after being injured, and his winnings paid for his expenses. īrunson had begun playing poker before his injury, playing five-card draw. Brunson obtained a bachelor's degree in 1954 and a master's degree in administrative education the following year with plans to become a school principal. He occasionally required a crutch because of the injury and had said that breaking his leg ruined his lifetime dream of playing in the NBA.

The Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA showed interest in Brunson, but a knee injury ended his hopes of becoming a professional basketball player. After receiving offers from many colleges, he attended Hardin–Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. In the 1950 Texas Interscholastic Track Meet, he won the one-mile event with a time of 4:43. He went to Sweetwater High School where he excelled at athletics. Early life ĭoyle Frank Brunson was born in Longworth, Texas, on August 10, 1933, as one of three children. He made the final table and finished in sixth place, earning $43,963. That day, he entered the $10,000 2–7 Single Draw at the 2018 WSOP. On June 11, 2018, Brunson announced he was retiring from tournament poker that summer. In January 2006, Bluff magazine voted Brunson the most influential force in the world of poker.

In addition, he is the first of six players to win both the WSOP Main Event and a World Poker Tour title. He is also one of only three players, along with Bill Boyd and Loren Klein, to have won WSOP tournaments in four consecutive years. He is also one of only three players to have won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker multiple times, which he did in 19. He won ten WSOP bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey for second all time, behind Phil Hellmuth's seventeen bracelets. He was a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.īrunson was the first player to win $1 million in poker tournaments. Brunson at the 2006 World Series of Pokerĭoyle Frank Brunson (Aug– May 14, 2023) was an American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years.

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