If poker had a poster boy, it would definitely be Doyle Brunson. From his trademark Stetson hat to his Texas drawl, one could not mistake that Brunson is definitely a poker player from head to foot. We caught up with Brunson in an interview and found out a few things about the man behind the game.
Many youngsters today may be wondering what got the legend started in poker. When asked about it he said: "When I was a junior in college I broke my leg. I'd been an athlete all my life and I was making an effort to get into the NBA. The Minneapolis Lakers -- it's the Los Angeles Lakers now, but then it was the Minneapolis Lakers -- they came down to see me and had a definite interest in me. But I broke my leg severely and was on crutches for two years. I went back to school and got my degree, and was still on crutches. I didn't know what to do with myself, so I went back to get a master's degree, and I had to play poker to pay for the tuition and room and board. So I started playing."
After trying his hand on poker, and being successful at that, one may wonder if he ever got a "real job". Brunson tells us: "I was going to be a teacher and a coach, but the pay was so bad that I went to work for Burroughs Corporation, which was a bookkeeping machine company. I was a salesman and I had the north side of Fort Worth, Texas as my territory. I started traveling around, and everywhere I went, I kept finding these poker games. I started playing in them and realized I was better than almost anyone I played. I worked for Burroughs for about a year, but I didn't like selling, so I quit. I started playing poker professionally at the age of 23."
Brunson also recalls that there was a time when poker seemed to be like a scene from the old Wild West and not the civilized game that is being played on TV now.
"There were a lot of volatile people around. It wasn't supervised in any official capacity. It was just played in a bunch of pool halls and nightclubs, and there were plenty unsavory characters hanging around all the time. I saw five people get killed out on the street where I was playing -- it was just a way of life to those people. It's a completely different animal now. Everything's supervised. You're in a legal atmosphere and everything's regulated. It's just an entirely different experience."
Brunson has seen a lot of money during his long career at playing poker, and he gamely answered when asked about the largest amount he ever won in one sitting. "I think it was $770,000, and that was a long time ago. It was a cash game. I'm not counting tournaments."
