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According to Doyle |
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February 2005
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He’s the Godfather of poker, a living legend and all-round
southern gentleman. When Bluff met Doyle, we overcame
our nerves just enough to throw the grandmaster a curveball
or two. Ensure you read Doyle’s responses in a warm
Texas drawl to get the full effect.
What first got you into playing poker?
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 Masters
degree and I had to play poker to pay for the tuition
and room and board. So I started playing.
Did you ever have a ‘real’ job, or did you go right
into poker after your Masters degree?
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.
You’ve said before that the poker scene was pretty
dangerous when you were a young man...
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.
What song was on the radio when you started playing?
(We get Doyle chuckling) I think Young Love by Sonny
James was my favorite back then – it may have been a
little later, but I really liked that song.
What car were you driving?
I was driving a 1955 Chevrolet. A lot’s changed for
you since then.
What does Doyle Brunson drive now?
I drive a Lincoln Town Car. I love them. I wouldn’t
trade it for any other car in the world. I wouldn’t
trade it for a Bentley or Lamborghini or a Rolls Royce.
Lincolns are the greatest cars on the road.
You’re currently writing a book about your 50 most
memorable hands. Could you tell us about one of them?
I remember when I first started playing poker on the
Texas circuit; I called Johnny Moss with a Jack high
– no pair, after the cards were out. That stands out
more than anything else because it gave me credibility
amongst the pros. They saw me do it and they knew I
understood the game very well. I was treated with a
lot more respect after that. I can picture that hand
like it was yesterday.
What’s the largest amount of money you’ve 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.
And you’re sure you don’t want a Bentley?
(Laughs) Me, I stick with my Town Car.
Who lost the $770,000 at that game? It was back
in the late sixties, early seventies. There were some
drug dealers in town who were throwing money around
like crazy; and some of the hotel owners back in the
early days of Las Vegas, they all played poker. They
were really the only people who could afford to play
for the stakes we were playing for. There were a lot
of big games back then.
So it sounds like poker was still dangerous – with
drug dealers running around and all?
Not in the way that it was back in Texas. It was still
in a controlled environment – you were protected to
a certain extent, whereas when you were out on the road,
you didn’t have any protection from anything. The law
was after you, as were the robbers and the highjackers
and the cheaters. Once it came into the casinos where
it was legal, it became a totally different thing.
It was the real Wild West, then. How did you keep
yourself safe?
Well, I didn’t. When I think back on it now it does
sound kinda dangerous. But, I was a young man, I was
single, didn’t have any real responsibilities. I was
traveling all around the South and you had to be on
the lookout all the time. I was robbed four times in
Texas. I remember up in Oklahoma, we played out on a
farm once, and when we drove up, these guys called to
us up off the rooftops, “Who is it?” and we replied
who it was – it was Sailor and Slim and myself – and
they said, “Okay, go on in,” and they had two guys sitting
up on the roof with machine guns to protect us from
the robbers. It was that bad sometimes.
You mention Sailor Roberts and Amarillo Slim. But
who’s the best poker player you’ve ever seen?
It’s kinda like when you start talking about who’s the
best fighter: is it Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis or Cassius
Clay, or these guys today? You have to judge players
according to the time they played. I think Johnny Moss
was probably the best No Limit Hold ‘em player that
I ever played with. He was well ahead of his time. Moving
on a few years, Crandall Addington and Jack Strauss
were great players and, when I came to Vegas, Puggy
Pearson was an outstanding player. Chip Reese and Barry
Greenstein are probably the best players today.
Is today’s game tougher now there are so many players
around?
Not in the cash games, but in the tournaments now, there
are hundreds of good players. Most of them are young
kids, and they’re all pretty imaginative and they all
know the moves, and it’s tough. You got to be very lucky
to win one of these major tournaments.
Does luck have more to do with it than it used to?
It’s got a lot more to do with it. At the World Series
there are 2,600 players and you’ve got to be lucky to
win. You have to be lucky not to run a big hand into
a big hand. When those blinds and antes get up so high,
I don’t care who you are – if you get two Kings and
someone else gets two Aces, you’re more than likely
finished.
Since Super System was the definitive poker book,
what was left to go into in Super System II?
A lot of the games we talked about in the first book,
7 Card Hi/Lo Split, Limit Lowball, they’re kind of extinct
today. So, I put in all the new games that are being
played in the casinos – Omaha, Omaha 8 or Better, 7
Card Stud 8 or better, I re-did the Limit Hold’em with
Jennifer Harman, and there’s a chapter about internet
poker, a chapter about tournament strategy and the history
of poker. There are a lot of different things. If you’re
buying it for the No Limit Hold’em section, well it’s
updated a little from the first one, but there wasn’t
a lot I could change. I hadn’t read the original in
years and when I did, I said to myself: “Damn, that’s
good.” I didn’t change a lot because I’d be a hypocrite,
and because I still believe that that’s how you should
play poker. But there’s lot’s of good new stuff. I think
it’s better than the first one.
Some ‘older’ pros seem to look down on the internet
game. But you seem to have embraced it.
Well, the internet, along with the media, is what’s
started this whole poker explosion. The internet creates
a lot of new players – people who are too shy to go
into the casinos to play in person when they start off.
They can practice the game and play what I call the
‘microlimits’, and they can advance that way as fast
as they want to. The internet’s invaluable in creating
players and generating interest in the game.
Which type of spam email is more annoying: Poker
ads or Viagra ads?
(Laughs) I think poker ads. I’ve actually got a book
coming out about internet poker. It’s finished and on
it’s way to the printers right now. It should be on
the bookstands in a couple of months.
You’ve certainly been energetic recently. We hear
you’re writing your autobiography too. What’s the title?
No title yet. It’s almost finished, but I’m so busy
that I don’t have time. There’s this great writer in
Texas who I actually went to college with, and he’s
helping me put it together. Hopefully it’ll be finished
by the end of the year.
Will we see ‘Doyle Brunson the Movie’ coming out
soon?
Well, there are some scripts that they’ve done, but
I’ve never given approval. You know what film people
are like - because I was a professional gambler they
bend the truth and try to make out that I was some kind
of gangster or hoodlum, and I wasn’t.
Who would play you in Doyle Brunson the Movie?
(Laughs) Robert Duvall. He’s from the South and he’s
a great actor.
Who would play your leading lady?
Ashley Judd. I like Ashley.
How many leading ladies would we need?
Well, I‘ve been happily married for 43 years. But before
that…(Laughs)
We could get Angelina Jolie as one of the early ones…
She would fit right in.
Who’s the sexiest poker player on the tour today?
That’s a loaded question. I think I’ll pass. No wait
- I’d have to say my son’s wife Angela. She plays at
the Bellagio. Angela Brunson. She’s a total fox. My
son, Todd, trained her to play. He’s the best young
player around, in my opinion.
Which casino has the best steak, which has the best
buffet and which has the best rooms?
The Horseshoe, Tunica has the best buffet – it’s the
best buffet I’ve ever eaten. Most casinos have good
steakhouses, but I think the Bellagio is probably the
best. I think they’ve probably got the nicest rooms
too.
Tell us about DoylesRoom.com
I think Doyle’s Room is going to be one of the premier
sites. We’re signing up hundreds of players every week.
If everything keeps going according to plan, we’re going
to be a major force out there. I’m very pleased with
the software and we’ve got some great promotions going
on.
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